Honest Differences
| Date | 01 December 1998 |
| Published date | 01 December 1998 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209805300411 |
| Subject Matter | The Readers' Column |
THE
READERS'
COLUMN
Honest
differences
Gordon
Ritchie
responds
to
Allan
Gottlieb
Iam
compelled
to
respond
to
Allan
Gotlieb's
review
of
my
book,
Wrestling
with
the
Elephant:
the
Inside
Story
of
the
Canada-
US
Trade
Wars,
in
your
summer
issue.
Gotlieb
devotes
roughly
the
first
half
of
his
review
to
a
personal
attack on
me
for
my
'anti-American
animus'
and
for
my
attempts
to
aggrandize
my
own
role
and
distort
the
contributions
of
others
to
the
Canada-US
free
trade
agreement.
This
invective
is
surely
unworthy
of
a
statesman
of
Gotlieb's
stature.
As
I
stressed
in the
introduction,
my
book
is
'strictly
my
own
account
of
what I
saw
and
felt
and
believed
as
I
took
part
in
Canada's
redefinition
of
our
trade
relationship
with
the
United
States over
the past
thirty
years
and
more.'
It
was
certainly
not
my
intention
to
belittle
the
contribution of
others.
I
will
leave
it
to
read-
ers
of
my book
to
judge
the
fairness
of
Gotlieb's
comments.
I
welcome Gotlieb's
presentation
of
his
own, personal
account
of
the
final
days
that
led
to
the
Canada-US
free
trade agreement. In
great
events,
the action
encompasses
many
individuals
playing
in
many
dif-
ferent
arenas.
Each
has
his
own,
unique
perspective
which
he
believes
to
be
the
truth
-
but
not,
if
he
is
wise,
the
whole
truth.
Gotlieb's
account
is
rather
breathtaking,
entailing
no
less
than
the
orchestration
of
both
sides
of
the
negotiations,
formulating
breakthrough
proposals
which
he
persuades
the
Americans to
put
forward
and
the Canadians
to
accept.
Even
allowing
for
some
hyperbole,
this
reinforces
the
assessment
in my
book
that
his
contribution
was
truly
indispensable.
It
is
perhaps only natural
that
I
should
feel
that
Gotlieb
goes
out
of
his
way
to
minimize
my
role,
as
ambassador
for
trade
negotiations
and
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Autumn
1998
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