That reduces consumer choice and drives up prices. They sell those products abroad and buy the things they can't produce efficiently. The explosion in global growth since the Second World War is the result of the explosion in global trade, they say. But as trade becomes increasingly liberalized and Canada makes gains in foreign markets, those gains can be offset by losses at home. To stay afloat against more competitive rivals, costs have to be cut, and those cuts are made in worker salaries and benefits, goes the counterargument.
Countries protect their industries for various reasons.
They might want to protect their farmers, for example, because they don't want to be dependent on other nations for their food supply. Or, because a particular industry couldn't survive against more foreign rivals who pay their workers developing world wages. But that comes at a price. The problem, say the WTO skeptics, is that equal standards mean lower standards on environmental protections, health care, human rights policies and labour issues. To protect those things, you need laws.