Is that so?
The United States and Canada have a long record of trade disputes stretching back to the 19th century, even while they have remained each other’s largest trading partners.
Many of the same sectors keep recurring.
Early and Depression-era conflicts
The 1854 Reciprocity Treaty (Elgin-Marcy) allowed relatively free trade in agricultural products and natural resources. The United States abrogated it in 1866. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 then imposed steep U.S. duties that hit Canadian exports hard; Canada retaliated, and both economies suffered during the Depression. A 1935 reciprocal agreement later eased some of that friction.
Softwood lumber (the longest-running fight)
This dispute dates to the early 1980s and is often called a series of “lumber wars.” U.S. producers have long argued that Canada’s stumpage fees on Crown land amount to an unfair subsidy. There have been multiple rounds of U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties, Canadian challenges, and temporary settlements (1986, 1996, 2006). The last major Softwood Lumber Agreement expired in October 2015; duties have been in place since then.
Autos, agriculture, and other perennial issues
The 1965 Auto Pact created duty-free trade in vehicles and parts but was later found to violate WTO most-favored-nation rules. Dairy, wheat, tomatoes, potatoes, beef, and other farm products have generated repeated cases under GATT, NAFTA, and USMCA.
Is that so?
