Too close for comfort: On America's tariff and U.S.-Canada ties
America's action against Canada brings to mind a similar episode about a decade ago between close neighbours, India and Nepal. India closed land ports following the enactment of Nepal's new Constitution citing fears about the treatment of the minority Madhesi community that has had close ties to India. This action crippled Nepal's land-locked economy that was entirely reliant on Indian ports such as Kolkata and Visakhapatnam for its trade. Acute fuel and medicine shortages followed. Nepal's GDP collapsed from 3.3% in FY15 to 0.2% in FY16, and Nepalis began harbouring a deep resentment toward India. New Delhi's move forced Nepal to recalibrate its foreign and economic policy, eventually leading it to join China's Belt and Road Initiative in 2017 and accepting massive infrastructure funds from Beijing, much to New Delhi's dismay. This episode, between two vastly different nations, would serve Washington well to realise that mending a trade imbalance must not come at the expense of losing one of its closest allies with deep running cultural and linguistic ties, as Canada, with an economy that is one-eleventh that of the U.S. albeit with a trade surplus, now attempts to redraw its foreign and economic strategies.
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