Over the past few weeks we have all been bombarded with news story after news story focused on newly inaugurated President Donald Trump and his threats to impose hefty tariffs on Canadian goods. Because apparently Canada is a bad neighbour which takes advantage of the mighty USA. All I can say is poppycock.
I must give credit to President Trump, as he has managed to unite Canadians of all political stripes in a way that we have not seen in decades. Conservatives, Liberals, and everyone in between has banded together with a pledge to fight back against the recent lunacy from the south.
As a Canadian who does not align myself with any political party, it has been somewhat refreshing to see leaders, representatives, and supporters of all political parties come together to push back against Trump’s threats.
We are on the verge of entering into a trade war with our closest ally, our next door neighbour, and our largest trading partner, and there will be no winners, both countries will suffer. Though Canada, being the much smaller nation, could quite likely suffer more than the United States of America would.
Perhaps most frustrating of all is that there truly is no legitimate reason for this coming trade war, and though President Trump insists that Canada has long been a bad neighbour, and one that takes advantage of the United States, that is not a view shared by most Americans.
President Trump insists that because the United States has a trade deficit, that Canada is a bad neighbour. He claims that Canada is not doing enough to stem the flow of fentanyl across our border into the United States, in spite of the fact that the Canadian border accounts for less than one percent of all of the fentanyl entering the USA. Trump claims that the mighty United States subsidizes Canada, and for these reasons 25 percent tariffs should be imposed on all Canadian goods entering the United States.
Trade deficits (something President Trump seems to clearly misunderstand) aside, Trump’s claims about fentanyl are simply laughable. According to the United States government’s own numbers, just 0.2 percent of the fentanyl that enters the USA does so across the Canadian border.
As the CBC noted in an article published over the weekend, “Trump has claimed that fentanyl flowing into the U.S. from Canada is the reason behind his decision to impose the tariffs. Canadian officials have vigorously argued the amount of fentanyl flowing into the U.S. is minimal. Figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show the agency seized just 19.5 kilograms of fentanyl at the northern border last year compared to 9,570 kilograms at the southwestern one.”
Even more fentanyl enters the United States from China, with American citizens smuggling it into the country through typical ports of entry.
As for Trump’s concerns about illegal immigrants crossing into the United States from Canada, that does indeed happen, though it should be noted that for every one illegal crossing into the United States from Canada, there are ten illegal crossings over the Mexico border.
But since we are talking about border security, we Canadians would also like to see some improvements, particularly given that nearly all illegal firearms in Canada entered the country from the United States. Trump no doubt does not see that as his problem.
Trump has also frequently suggested in recent weeks that Canada should become the 51st state. He has referred to our prime minister as the “Governor of the great state of Canada”, and in a tweet he posted over the weekend, Trump suggested that if Canada joined the USA as the 51st state, there would be no more tariffs; sounds like extortion to me.
Whether Trump is ‘trolling’ as his supporters like to suggest, just joking, you know, about the sovereignty of his next door neighbour, or if he is serious, it is dangerous rhetoric that can quickly lead to a much more dire conflict. Trump expressed his desire to see Canada become the 51st state as recently as Monday afternoon during a media conference from the Oval Office.
While Canada is right to respond with retaliatory tariffs of our own, we are heading down a potentially disastrous road that will see significant economic casualties on both sides of the border, and for what? Why? Because there’s a madman occupying the White House.
In 1969, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau compared being neighbours with the United States to sleeping with an elephant.
“Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt,” he famously said.
I recall a Liberal candidate from Barrie by the name of Jack Ramsay, who, in the early 1990s during the at times contentious North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) talks noted that of course, if that elephant ever rolls over, we’re bound to be flattened.
Nothing good will come from this trade war. Barring some miracle that would bring an end to this madness early, we Canadians, and our American friends (can we still call them friends?) will suffer, and the longer the trade war lasts, the harsher that suffering is likely to be.
As I write this column on Tuesday morning, President Trump has reportedly agreed to hold off levying the tariffs for 30 days after discussions with our prime minister on Monday.
News reports on Monday afternoon suggested that the tariffs on Mexico would also be delayed until March 1 after Mexico agreed to bolster enforcement on its border with the United States.
In both cases, Trump released statements indicating that the 30 days will be used to ‘negotiate’ economic deals with both countries, in spite of the fact that Canada, Mexico, and the United States have been bound to the United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement (USMCA) since 2020, a trade deal negotiated by Trump and his team during his previous presidency.
While the implementation of the tariffs might be delayed for 30 days, the prospect of a potentially devastating trade war will loom over us like a dark cloud for all of those 30 days, and then Trump could simply delay longer, perhaps thinking it a good way to keep us Canadians in line.
Trump could very well move the goal posts within the next 30 days, conjuring up some new reason for Canada to atone.
Whether the tariffs are ultimately implemented or not, it would be fair to suggest that there is much damage already done, particularly to the relationship between Canada and the United States.
This ordeal is about power. Trump doesn’t want a good neighbour, he wants an obedient neighbour.
