President Obama took his first trip abroad as #44 this week; he visited Canada. Apparently, the President’s past rhetoric has him in trouble once more, as reported in time for Friday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal. Fortunately, President Obama, who met with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during this visit, clarified his previously inconsistent position by warning against protectionism.

Nonetheless, the events of recent weeks have left legitimate concerns in the minds of many of just what President Obama plans to do. Just as European allies and trading partners expressed similar concerns regarding an American slide towards protectionism, frustration grows with the lack of substantive differences between how the Obama administration is handling state power with respect to civil liberties in the fight against terrorism and how such matters were handled under President Bush.

While the President is right to distance himself and his administration from aspects of the Bush years, on issues of trade, further liberalization is what is needed. If Alan Greenspan is right that the current recession will be the worst since the 1930′s, then initiating a trade war would do more to harm than help. First as a candidate, and now as president, Barack Obama has broken many promises; hopefully his latest statements regarding trade won’t be among them.

Last 5 posts by James Kane

• A November to Remember - November 8th, 2010
• On hope and fear - October 18th, 2010
• Expecting Different Results - September 12th, 2010
• A glaring omission on Iraq - August 31st, 2010
• Employing a losing strategy - August 7th, 2010