by Evan Duggan
VANCOUVER, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Canada's case against the United States at the World Trade Organization (WTO) aims to show that it won't be bullied at the trade table and the case could proceed if Washington terminates the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a Canadian trade expert said Monday.
While trade tensions between the two nations appear to be ratcheting up, Canadians shouldn't panic over this latest development, said Michael Manjuris, chair of global management studies at Ryerson University.
Last month, the Canadian government launched a wide-ranging 32-page complaint to the WTO, accusing the United States of imposing unfair anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties against Canadian products.
"We want to fight (those actions) directly," Manjuris told Xinhua in an interview.
In its complaint, Canada said the United States broke the WTO Agreement on Anti-Dumping, the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes.
This isn't the first such case against the United States brought to the WTO by Canada, Manjuris said.
"We've done this five times at least," he said. "I think even six for the softwood lumber industry, and every single time at the WTO level we've won."
He said similar, successful complaints have also been raised by Canada at the NAFTA arbitration level. "Again, five times we've gone and we've won," he said.
In the official complaint, Canada cited nearly 200 examples of what it framed as inappropriate duties and tariffs, including those the United States has applied against other trading partners, including India, Brazil and the European Union.
Canada says it has been falsely accused of dumping softwood, newsprint and Bombardier's C Series commercial jets into the United States and this complaint aims to rebuke those punitive import duties with facts, Manjuris said.
Ultimately, Canada wants to use this complaint to show the United States that it won't be bullied at the trade table amid the NAFTA renegotiations, Manjuris said.
Canada raised the stakes in its December complaint, highlighting U.S. trade missteps against other countries. The United States is not just taking these actions against Canada, he said.
"They're doing it to China, they're doing it against South Korea and Japan. That's more concerning," he added.
In a statement last week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer called Canada's case an ill-advised attack on the U.S. trade remedies system, saying the complaint could lower U.S. confidence that Canada is committed to mutual beneficial trade.
"Canada is acting against its own workers' and businesses' interests. Even if Canada succeeded on these groundless claims, other countries would primarily benefit, not Canada," he said.
Washington has 60 days to try to settle the complaint or Canada could request an adjudication by the WTO.
Despite the rhetoric that has laced this dispute, Canada and the United States remain friends, Manjuris said. "I don't think that the United States and Canada (have) ever not been friends ... I think right now however, the seriousness of NAFTA and modernizing a free trade agreement means there's going to be some pretty hard-core negotiation."
The relationship is likely strained, but is likely not headed for disaster, said Manjuris, adding that he expects a solution to be reached before the WTO is forced to weigh in.
But if U.S. President Donald Trump indeed cancels NAFTA as he has threatened, then Canada would likely push forward with the WTO case, noted the expert.
"We're serious about it, but we would also use it in terms of leverage to get the negotiations back on the table in what I would call a more reasonable approach," he said.
