Those NAFTA nuts

I was quite surprised by some data I came across recently. I had been carrying a figure of $20 million in my head as the value of Canada’s nut import bill from the US. I had been quoting it as justification for the definition of a nut market niche, in which, I was sure, there was space for my black walnuts. Imagine my surprise, therefore, when I came across some US data justifying the benefits of NAFTA to Americans when I learnt that the real figure is far higher. In 2002

(http://www.fas.usda.gov/htp/Hort_Circular/2002/02-08/U.S.Canada Hort.FEA.htm) the value was almost $110 million, or 10% of the global value of US nut tree exports.

So, I conclude that there really must be a niche here, and suggest that Barack Obama go easy on the idea of renegotiating NAFTA unless his purpose is to allow even more US nuts across the border.

Speaking of which, the last time I went south, the Homeland Security officer (associate? customer service agent?) in my traffic lane said, when I responded “nut producer” to his question ”profession?”, “We’ve got enough of those in our Universities…”