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Face Mask Dispute Strains U.S. Canada Relations In Covid-19 Crisis

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“Every man for himself,” said the elephant to the ants dancing on the dance floor with him.

That is essentially what President Trump is saying to other nations like Canada, with his America First policy and his recent Defense Production Act order to 3M not to ship face masks that Canada was buying from the company. Evidently, the president missed the lesson that the great Zig Ziglar taught that, “You can get anything you want in life, so long as you help enough other people get what they want.” The synergy of working together to tackle life’s challenges is being lost in Trump’s foreign policy. A simple example will make the point: two horses working together can pull about 9000 pounds. But four horses working together can pull not only 18,000 pounds, but can actually pull about 30,000 pounds. Pulling together works better because of synergy. It is one thing to say America First when it comes to people potentially bringing Covid-19 across the border. It is quite another matter to apply it to essential goods and services such as face masks or food being trucked across, or doctors and nurses coming across to help in the health care epidemic in Detroit or even essential migrant workers to do farming.

The logical direction that Trump’s economic policy is heading is the disintegration of the international advantages provided by the division of labor and the law of comparative advantage. Elementary economics teaches us that we are better off as a world when each person and by extension each country specializes in what they do best rather than in a world of self-sufficiency. To take the example of Robinson Crusoe with his friend Friday on a deserted island. It is better for Crusoe to do one task, such as building huts, than for him to build huts and fish. It is better for Friday to fish and leave the huts to Crusoe than for both of them to work at all the tasks on the island. By specializing, each becomes better at his strength and the benefit accrues to both of them. In the case of the law of comparative advantage, it is better for a surgeon to spend his time doing surgery eight hours a day than for him to do surgery and wash all his surgical instruments. It is more useful for him to apply his skills at work that pays $ 1000 per hour than work that pays $ 15 per hour. It is better for the surgeon to hire someone to wash his instruments paying that person $ 15 per hour.  By working together, both people benefit. These same principles of economics apply to the relationship between Canada and the United States.

The way Trump is leading America is along the principle of divide and conquer as he pits one state governor against the other in the scramble to secure personal protection equipment (PPE equipment) and ventilators. The logical extension of America First is New York state first. And if it is to be New York state first, why not New York City next. And then why not Manhattan first? And then why not New York Presbyterian Hospital first. Why not stock up on whatever you can get from the stores and descend into a survival of the fittest gun battle on the streets? The reason is because nobody is an island and we all need each other. We each contribute our best and in turn enjoy the advantages brought to the marketplace by others. The same is true for relations between nations such as Canada and the United States.

What sense is there in opening up a trade war across the Canada-U.S. border? Is it really necessary for Prime Minister Trudeau to remind Trump of the value of the two or three thousand Canadian doctors and nurses crossing the Windsor/Detroit border to work in the USA to fight Covid-19 in Detroit hospitals – one of the American hot spots for the virus? Is it necessary for Canada to remind the U.S. that some of the materials that went into the manufacturing of the 3M face masks came from Canada? Does Canada really have to deal with the distraction of applying a full-court lobbying effort on U.S. officials to sort out this problem when both countries are already overwhelmed by the mounting challenges being posed by the Covid-19 pandemic? Really?

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