It’s a pivotal moment for the auto sector, and U.S. politicians want an excuse to ‘Buy American’
Canada’s economy has billions of reasons to hope that recent border blockades get quickly forgotten as a fleeting phenomenon by decision-makers in the United States.
This country’s second-most valuable export industry, automobiles, depends even in normal times on being perceived as reliable by its main customer and not as some incident-prone flake.
And these aren’t normal times. In fact, it’s an abnormally sensitive time, as American politicians and the auto industry have big decisions to make about the future of the sector.
Look to history for some uncomfortable lessons on what could happen when Americans start having fears over the long term about disruptions to their vital industrial imports.
It happened to the oil industry. The effect lasted decades…
This was excerpted from the 15 February 2022 edition of CBC News.