Search -
From Free Trade to Forced Trade: Canada in the Global Economy
From Free Trade to Forced Trade Canada in the Global Economy Author:Peter Urmetzer Since 1988, when a Federal election effectively served as a plebiscite for a free trade agreement with the United States, the topic of free trade has become an increasingly divisive issue -- not only in Canada, but also around the world. And as the number of free trade agreements has increased, opposition and acrimony have grown in lockstep. — Pe... more »ter Urmetzer skillfully redirects current debates by showing that there are neither great advantages nor disadvantages to free trade. Combining historical research with incisive analysis, he shows that, economically speaking, free trade is a neutral activity -- no matter how much a country trades, it is not likely to become much richer or poorer in the process. The author argues that free trade is nothing more than the Big Idea of our time, readily adopted by politicians and pundits because it provides a simple, even simplistic, prescription for many of the domestic and international problems facing Canada today. "From Free Trade to Forced Trade" brings much-needed balance and perspective to an issue too often dominated by exaggerated viewpoints.« less