The Softwood lumber dispute stands to decimate one of Canada's largest industries. It will have a major impact on British Columbia in particular, where over 100,000 people are employed in the lumber industry. Softwood lumber makes up more than half of the provinces exports. Thousands of jobs nationwide will be lost. The Canadian economy is completely dependent on trade with the US; 85% of Canada's trade is directly with its larger neighbour to the south. As devastating as this is to Canadians, the softwood lumber dispute is just a small example of protectionist measures being put in place around the world. The threat of a global trade war is growing. This would destroy any possibility of an economic recovery in the short term and force capitalism into an even deeper crisis.

The tariffs imposed on Canadian lumber will devastate the British Columbian economy. Over twenty thousand people have been laid-off as a result of the tariffs, and this protectionism is expected to wipe out another fifty thousand jobs in British Columbia alone. Softwood lumber makes up 52% of British Columbia's exports to the United States and is the backbone of many rural communities. Logging towns are expected to simply disappear; softwood lumber is the life of over 300 towns in Canada. The unemployment rate in places like Port Alberni (one of British Columbia's many logging towns) has soared to a staggering 25%, and this is only the beginning. There are 350,000 people in Canada employed directly in the softwood lumber industry and another million with indirect softwood jobs. The tariffs are expected to take three billion dollars out of a ten billion dollar a year industry.

Considering the present state of the world economy, the softwood lumber dispute should come as no surprise. In times of economic crisis, the national ruling class of any given country often puts in place such measures to protect their national industries. Canadian softwood lumber is cheaper than American softwood lumber, partly because of the weak Canadian dollar. This is no problem during a boom when the markets demand more than producers can supply, but during a slump the lumber markets contract. Less people are buying lumber and the cheap goods sell first. Without these tariffs the American lumber industry would feel the brunt of the storm. The American ruling class puts its national interests above the interests of the Canadian ruling class; this is the economic foundation for protectionism.

There are only two reasons to buy foreign products; one - they are cheaper than those produced domestically, or two - there is not enough produced domestically. In America there is certainly not a shortage of lumber. In fact, the current problem is caused by an overproduction; the supply has grown larger than the demand. Canadian lumber is, however, cheaper than American lumber and so in an attempt to rescue their own industry, the American ruling class has imposed these tariffs. The idea is that the American market will then purchase the domestic products first because the economic advantage of the foreign products will be eliminated. Although this may cause temporary relief for the American softwood lumber industry, it is extremely harmful in the long term. This short-sighted tactic will only serve to plunge the economies of both countries into deeper turmoil.

The problem lies in the capitalist mode of production. The bosses pay the workers to make a product. They then sell the product for a much higher price than the cost of both the labour and the materials put together. But workers can only spend as much as they're paid. This means that there will inevitably be too much product for the market. The capitalists are forced to close their factories and lay off thousands of workers, but this only cuts the markets even more. As long as capitalism exists, every boom will be followed by a devastating recession. These tariffs are a desperate attempt by the American ruling class to protect their markets from foreign products.

Protectionism doesn't work. Today's global economy is so interdependent that it is impossible to isolate one industry, in one country. The softwood dispute is a very concrete example of this. Softwood lumber makes up a large chunk of Canada's heavy industry, but 10% of American exports to Canada are machinery for heavy industry. Canada's lumber industry spends nearly two billion dollars a year on machinery from the US. The results are obvious. The Canadian demand for products like forklifts and large conveyor belts will fall dramatically. The same holds true in every other industry. Of the thousands and thousands of lumber workers be left idle in Canada, who will be able to buy a new house, or a new computer, or a new car? By attacking the industries of foreign countries, the American ruling class only injures the market for their own products!

The capitalists make big profits in every industry during economic booms. In the lumber industry, the average worker makes over $80,000 per year in profit for his boss. But, these booms can't last forever. It is only a matter of time before the inevitable overproduction of the capitalist system sets in and when it does, the workers feel the brunt of the crisis. Thousands of workers are laid-off as the capitalists desperately try to keep their businesses competitive. The ruling classes of different countries fight amongst themselves over who gets what's left of the markets. This is the ugly nature of the capitalist system.

The softwood lumber dispute is only a small example of the protectionism being put in place around the globe. America has also imposed tariffs on steel from most of the world. In response, many countries have imposed their own tariffs on American steel. Brazil has slapped on an import tariff of fifty percent to US steel; Japan's tariffs are double that. The EU has filed a complaint with the WTO and has threatened tariffs on other industries in the US as retaliation. This is the most likely battleground for a trade war: NAFTA versus the European Union. The EU has also imposed import tariffs on steel from countries like China, Brazil and South Korea to prevent steel that was destined for the US from reaching Europe. Canada and Mexico, who are excluded from the American tariffs, have also put tariffs up to "prevent dumping". It is estimated that there is over 100 million tonnes of excess steel on the global market. This is a serious problem! Once again, the capitalist mode of production has produced much more than the markets can handle. That means that somebody has to weather the storm, but nobody is willing to take the fall. The same pattern can be seen in many different industries.

The whole situation is like two drowning people pushing each other under water in a desperate attempt to keep their own heads above the surface. Thousands of workers will loose their jobs because of the selfishness of a select few. In times like this it is essential that workers of all countries unite against this foolishness. The workers must reach across the national barriers to their brothers and sisters to fight against a system that oppresses all of them. But what is the leadership of the unions saying about the softwood lumber dispute?

The IWA (Canada) has issued a seven-point action plan:

The following is a seven-point action plan to fight the U.S. imposed tariff, which is being supported by the Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers of Canada, CLC (the "IWA") and other groups:

1. Raise the profile of the issue with American consumers.

2. Raise the profile of the issue with the Prime Minister.

3. Boycott American products and American companies that do not support the Canadian forest industry.

4. Tax all resource products currently being exported to the United States.

5. Provide extended EI and assistance to laid off workers affected by the duties.

6. Seek support from the Canadian workforce to protest the countervail.

7. Locate and develop alternative markets for Canadian forest products.

The IWA action plan is the exact opposite of what they should be doing. They are calling for more protectionism including tariffs and a boycott, as if this will convince the American ruling class to lift the tariffs. The IWA is actually planning to help the bosses find new markets for their products! They have sided completely with the ruling class. On the IWA's website they even have quotes posted from people like Pierre Pettigrew (Canada's International Trade Minister) and Gordon Campbell (right-wing premier of British Columbia who has been the target of mass demonstrations on a monthly basis)! The IWA has confined itself to a fight within the capitalist system and thus doomed itself to failure. Instead of calling for workers' internationalism they pit workers of Canada against workers of the US by calling for boycotts of American products and export tariffs on Canadian resources that are in short supply in the US. Instead of taking up the fight against Gordon Campbell and the rest of the British Columbian Liberals who have spent the last year raping this province, they quote the wise premier on their website and even invite Liberal MLAs to speak at their rallies! SHAME!

The problem of protectionism cannot be solved under the capitalist system. Ten years worth of free trade agreements have proven to be worth exactly nothing. They're falling apart at the beginning of the first recession. The only way to eliminate protectionism is to eliminate the boom-bust cycle of capitalism. And the only way to eliminate this cycle it to defeat capitalism itself. We must move forward to a system that will not create a crisis every few years by exhausting its markets; a system that produces for the good of all people, not the profit of a few.

"If capitalism is incapable of satisfying the demands inevitably arising from the calamities generated by itself, then let it perish!" - Leon Trotsky