My arguement is not so much that COOL is a trade barrier, but that it is a violation of an existing trade agreement. :!:
Call it what you like, the result is the same.
Does this mean that an American government signature on a treaty is not worth the paper it's written on? What I would like our government to do is quit believing everything it's told by the U.S. government and realize that trade with the U.S. always has been and always will be run on American terms. We both sign an agreement, and before the ink is dry, someone south of the border is finding a way to get out of it.
For example, after years and years of arguing against it, by Manitoba as well as Minnesota, the state of North Dakota decided that was above the International Water treaty, and put drains into Devil's Lake so the excess water would run north by the Red River and all the way to Hudson Bay.
Same with NAFTA. The ink was still wet when the challenges began. And they have never quit, no matter how many times the verdict comes out the same. Just keep plugging away and chipping it down.
If America is not going to live up to NAFTA, then scrap it and we'll go back to the old days so we can put up a few barriers ourselves. :wink: Maybe we could start with those cattle that come from a country with in outdated feed ban? :wink: Or a country that processes downers? :shock: No beef from cows that don't speak French!

Our own MCOOL? :wink: It wouldn't take much to do that. 8) How about that subsidized American corn that's pouring up here by the trainload because it's still cheaper than ours? And another dollar a gallon or so tariff on fuel might be a good idea, and for good luck a couple of hundred dollars on a ton of fertilizer to boot.
Now just how long does anyone think that we could get away with stuff like that before the hammer fell????? :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
Not too long. :shock: