The Country Music Television Dispute: An Illustration of the Tensions between Canadian Cultural Protectionism and American Entertainment Exports
![handle is hein.journals/mjgt6 and id is 591 raw text is: The Country Music Television Dispute: An
Illustration of the Tensions Between
Canadian Cultural Protectionism and
American Entertainment Exports
Andrew M. Carlson
The United States is the dominant producer and exporter of
entertainment and popular culture throughout the world.' The
largest2 and arguably most important trading partner of the
United States, in entertainment as well as other goods and serv-
ices, is Canada. Like many other countries, Canada is fearful
that American culture and entertainment will displace its own
national culture and weaken its entertainment industries. In
response to this fear, Canada has implemented subsidies, dis-
criminatory taxes and tax deductions, and quotas against Amer-
ican cultural imports. Canada has also excluded entertainment
goods and services from its responsibilities under the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the central trade
agreement binding it and the United States.3 Furthermore,
Canada, aligned with many other countries, has excluded cul-
l. Canadian Ambassador to the United States Raymond Chr~tien re-
cently asserted that the contents of more than 64% of television programs, 60%
of books, 90% of records, and 94% of films present in Canada originated abroad,
almost entirely in the United States. Canadian Ambassador Defends Curbs on
Imports of U.S. Magazines, TV Shows, 12 Int'l Trade Rep. (BNA) No. 4, at 178
(Jan. 25, 1995). See generally David Rieff, The Culture That Conquered the
Earth: Why Conformist Consumerism is America's Greatest Export, WASH.
POST, Jan. 2, 1994, at C1.
2. Donald S. Macdonald, The Canadian Cultural Industries Exemption
Under Canada-U.S. Trade Law, 20 CAN.-U.S.L.J. 253 (1994). In 1989, $200
billion worth of goods and services flowed between the two nations [Canada and
the United States]. In that same year, shipments from the U.S. to Canada ac-
counted for more than 20% of the value of all U.S. exports of merchandise and
nearly equalled total U.S. exports to the European Community. Stephen R.
Konigsberg, Note, Think Globally, Act Locally: North American Free Trade, Ca-
nadian Cultural Industry Exemption, and the Liberalization of the Broadcast
Ownership Laws, 12 CARDozo ARTS & ENT. L.J. 281, 283 (1994), citing U.S.-
Canada Free Trade Agreement Biennial Report, available in 1991 WL 329550,
at *1 (Jan. 1991).
3. North American Free Trade Agreement, Dec. 17, 1992, U.S.-Mex.-Can.,
32 I.L.M. 605 (1993) [hereinafter NAFTA].](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/mjgt6&div=19&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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