Editors at National Review Online lament President Donald Trump’s approach toward our northern neighbor.
It is a tradition for celebrities to threaten to move to Canada if a Republican is elected president. Now, they may have to look farther afield. In his latest escalation of his trade war with Canada, President Trump has again referred to the possibility of bludgeoning the country into incorporation into the United States.
It was inevitable that Trump would have to deal with foreign crises when he was elected, but no one thought Canada would be among them.
In response to Ontario Premier Doug Ford placing a 25 percent surcharge on electricity exports to Michigan, Minnesota, and New York, Trump said he’d impose an additional 25 percent tariff on Canada’s exports on steel and aluminum on top of the already planned 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum from all foreign countries. For those doing the math, that would be a 50 percent tariff.
Trump also threatened to keep automobiles manufactured in Canada out of the U.S., and suggested Canada becoming our “cherished Fifty First State” was the only solution to the contention between the two countries.
Of course, the ongoing drama with Canada is fundamentally a Trump production. There was no reason to make a threat of enormous tariffs on Canada a month or so ago, or to inflame Canadian public sentiment with outlandish talk of a sovereign nation — a friendly one, no less — giving up its independent existence rather than deal with the economic pain of U.S. tariffs.
This latest flare-up abated after Ford relented. The weakened state of (blessedly) outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau creates the space for the freelancing of a figure like Ford. It is hard advice for Canadians to hear or heed, but retaliatory tariffs and bombast of their own probably don’t help their cause. Still, there is more where that came from. Trump has ensured that there will be a premium on tough-on-U.S. rhetoric in the impending election between Trudeau’s Liberal replacement, Mark Carney, and the talented Conservative populist Pierre Poilievre.
