Obamamania Reaches the Borders

Thursday, 22nd January 2009

Seriously. You cannot escape Mr Obama. The splash in this week's edition of The Southern Reporter, out today, is headlined "Hope and fear as Parker and Moore welcome Obama". That's David Parker, leader of Scottish Borders Council and Michael Moore MP. For good measure, the new president claims the main picture on the front page too.

That said, Mr Parker has sensible things to say on trade:

“A range of trade unions and economic experts in the US are advising Obama and his team to be more protectionist and there is a danger that this could happen – the Clinton administration previously had protectionist policies which did impact on the world economy.

“The type of thing I am alluding to here is that protectionist policies, if pursued, can sometimes have consequences that reach beyond America’s shores and people will remember the ‘Banana War’ which significantly impacted on the Borders textile industry. [Tariffs were raised on Borders-made cashmere garments.]

Relatedly: France reacts with horror to swingeing new tariffs on Roquefort (introduced on account of EU restrictions on the importation of US hormone-fed beef). One idea? A retaliatory tariff on Coca-Cola.

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robert

January 22nd, 2009 7:55pm Report this comment

Since no one much seems to be commenting on your blog (except for some chums that seem to have arrived from your previous domain), I thought it seemed churlish not to at least do something to add to the 'total comments' register. Looking forward to hearing about Scotch cricket... but wondering why we really need a blog on "British and Scottish culture".

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