U.S. president Donald Trump officially declared his tariff war on Canada today and ordered the suspension of all military aid to Ukraine. Elbows up. Slava Ukraini.
Faithful subscribers. I've fixed the inaccurate $125 billion figure for the total anticipated Canadian countertariff package by March 21; it's $155 billion. Caught it at the last minute, corrected in the web and app version but not before the emailed newsletter went out. Do forgive.
Even if concessions are made between canada and the us, the orange (pick a vile term out of a hat, he fills most of them) one has forever altered how I will act. I vigilantly look for Canadian made or at minimum not US made products when grocery shopping. I will avoid going to the US for anything other than required for work. The family has dropped our subscription services, changed spotify (invested in the inauguration, very bad judgement) to qobuz. Every dollar I spend will be spent with the intent to avoid sending money to the US, I don't shop at Walmart any more, no amazon purchases ever again, I will find local or Canadian store or won't buy the thing. And on top of this I know I am not the only person doing these things. Where we spend our dollars will make a difference. I never intend on relaxing these choices.
I keep hoping that we will be friends again, with our US cousins, about 203 weeks from now, when Mr Trump, or "Donald," as Mr Trudeau referred to him, is in the rear view mirror. In my twilight years Im not going to let this madman (for that is what he truly is) ruin my remaining days.
He is insane and I'm not sure if the framers of the US Constitution anticipated this and if there is a solution.
I appreciate what Kelly said, that's where my head's at, but my heart's with you, Marilyn. It's all so bloody awful. I've spent a great deal of my working life going out of way to criticize reflexive, Pavlovian anti-Americanism. I routinely ride south on my Triumph to Oregon, or go camping with my daughter down in what I like to call "the occupied Columbia territory," I have many American friends, and I have a great affection for the American people, especially country people, who are ordinarily hospitable and welcoming and generous to a fault. So this will pass, but at the same time everything has changed. We'll manage. If there is such a thing as the great Canadian virtue, it's "muddling through." Don't let this madman ruin a single moment of your life.
Knee-jerk anti-Americanism is a foolish reaction, for sure. But there's a business principle that says that it takes a lot of time and effort to find a new customer, so a wise business operation strives to keep that customer happy. If Trump doesn't back off quickly on the tariffs, Canadians -- businesses or consumers -- who have taken their business to other non-US suppliers will not come back to the US in any hurry, unless the US supplier makes it a deal too good to refuse.
I don’t understand your logic. Why would Canadian or other foreign businesses stop buying from U.S. suppliers? The U.S. is taxing imports (tariffs) not exports. If the Canadian dollar falls or if Canada does something foolish like tariffing stuff *we* import then yes American supplies will become more expensive. But that’s Trudeau’s fault, not Trump’s.
Since Canadians would have no reason to stop buying stuff from the States, except for patriotic zeal (which is something individuals might do but businesses should not, as it would hurt the shareholders), there would no issue of “coming back” to the U.S. supplier. If our dollar falls, it will more expensive to buy from all foreigners, not just the U.S.
Rather than spending time explaining to you why Canadian businesses and consumers might want to cease purchasing goods imported from the US, or spend vacations in the US, I will point out that all provincial and territorial premiers are supporting counter-tariffs, not just the dread Liberals and NDPers. In addition to supporting counter-tariffs, Danielle Smith has just announced that no additional pipelines will be built to take Alberta oil south to US markets.
Facts matter. The article does not mention anything about pipelines to the U.S. According to your CBC link, Premier Smith called for pipelines to be built east and west and to pull down interprovincial trade barriers but she did not announce that no new pipelines will be built south. It is not her call in any case. It would be up to pipeline construction companies to plan one and then attempt to get the federal regulator to approve it, which we know from Bill C-69 will never happen unless the Federal Cabinet (not the Alberta Government) intervenes. So far as I know -- perhaps you can correct me if you know -- there have been no plans to build new Canadian pipes south anyway. President Trump has called for Keystone XL to be finished in the United States from the Canadian border but it TC Energy is not interested in resuscitating the oft-canceled, on-again-off-again project. So if Premier Smith did say no new southbound pipelines she is referring to something that no one who puts up the money is interested in doing anyway.
Retaliatory tariffs are a bad idea, just as the American tariffs are a bad idea, no matter what the politicians feel they have to impose. They don't have to pay them, rather they collect the revenue to spend. If you are a business owner trying to import supplies to run your business, you do pay them. Hope you can weather them. Sincerely.
And of course both positions can be in harmony. While looking with hope towards a return to pleasant, respectful and mutually beneficial neighbourly relations, it's necessary in the short term to test and exercise the boundaries of our economic independence.
When buddy next door goes off his head, it's a good idea to double bolt the locks.
If Mr. Trump is mad, as in acting contrary to U.S. interests as determined by Americans, the Congress can either impeach him or, if he is actually medically insane, remove him under the 25th Amendment. Making life difficult or unbearable for foreigners is not part of the definition of insanity, though. All the worse for us.
It is better to assume that the President is acting rationally. He just doesn't like us much.
Last night on the CBC's coverage of Trump's speech, the team called upon a US presidential historian who believes that Trump wants to emulate Republican presidents of over a century ago - McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, etc., even though there's a reason why the world has moved on from the policies of those bygone days. But there's also the factor that Rex Tillerson articulated after Trump fired him from his position as Secretary of State: Trump is a f_cking moron.
On American comment boards this is coming up but it’s impossible because the Republicans have a majority in the both the House and Senate and are almost completely in lockstep behind Trump.
Yes, "The Resistance", who just know their country(wo)men should have elected someone else, and that is up to them to conduct themselves as if they had been.
Too bad Premier Ford didn't feel he could trust Ontario liquor consumers to make the same wise choices on their own as you are. He removed all American liquor from the LCBO shelves to make sure we don't make bad choices.
If the expectation is a retail-level boycott from the population wasting precious shelf space with unsellable goods is poor utilization of time and effort.
Well, why not find out if a retail-level boycott will actually materialize before removing American products from the shelves? Wouldn’t it be great theatre to show shelves and shelves of California wine and Kentucky bourbon, (neither of which I particularly like, fwiw), that wasn’t moving? And *then* make a big show of taking it off the shelves to make room for Ontario wine and rye whiskey that of course all good Canadians would prefer to buy anyway.
What Ford has done is to make it impossible for us to demonstrate how patriotic we are at the retail grass roots level. Walk right by that tempting bottle of Sonoma Cab and grab Le Chateau de Welland Canal.
No matter how you slice it, the truth is what the current federal government has already done to this country is far worse than what Trump has threatened to do. Economically, Trudeau has already done more damage to Canadians than a 25% tariff will ever do. It's not even close. Socially, he's done more to fracture this country than Trump has.
There will be many who will say, “We cannot win a trade war. We are too small compared to the US.” But we can if we get off our complacency, are carful and strategic in our response, and shop like the commenter above. Oh, and one more thing: get rid of the government who has refused to build pipelines, battered our national image and values, and done many other things to put us in this weakened position.
Hey Terry.... I have read your work over the years in the Post and enjoyed your interview with Dr. Peterson, and with all due respect, I think you are wrong on this one....The tariffs are a tool that Trump will lean on to get what he wants.... and that is to deliver the campaign promises of a secure border and an end to the poison of Fentanyl or at least make a significant dent in it. Trump is not a madman nor stupid. He understands the art of the deal and understands what it takes to win politically, or he would not be in the position that he is right now. I am not as well educated as you, nor have I the insight or access into the resources or sources you have, but I can tell you that I have very good friends in the US, and they were tired of being trampled on. Trampled on by their government and what they perceived to be no representation of their values in the last administration. They also believed that their involvement in foreign wars while the US was being overrun with 8 million undocumented migrants was a gross violation by the government that was elected to protect them first. This is from common people with university degrees who run ordinary lives, just like us Canadians, who want to be happy, safe, and prosperous. The Tariffs and subsequent trade war will be settled. NATO will hold its useless position but with a much even contribution structure. Canada has bigger fish to fry, like getting Parliament sitting again to call an election to unseat the elitists in power who have, in my humble opinion, ruined this Country for the last (almost) 10 years. You can despise Trump, but he and DOGE and the knuckle draggers are in power for a reason..... You are stretching to extremes, and from what I know about you as a columnist, your hatred for Trump has skewed at least this piece.
I think you’re both right and wrong. Americans had a horrible choice this last election - but I think many who voted Trump voted Trump because he wasn’t Harris. And this is where Trump misunderstands his political capital. He thinks people agree with him broadly, but they don’t. They agree about immigration, but not about 51st state stuff. I’m well connected in the US. My American friends have been apologizing for Trump for weeks now. The one who was uneducated that border issues flow both ways took the information I offered and changed her opinion.
Trudeau has utterly failed at defending Canada. He has been soft rather than calling out the guns, drugs, and illegal immigrants coming from the US. It’s a shared border. Both countries need to work on it. Tariffs aren’t the way to motivate it. uSMCA was already up for review next year. The current acts are acts of aggression, not protection.
The fart of a deal. Bankrupt 6 times, attempted a coup of his own country, toxified the electoral and judicial systems of the United States.
If Americans talk about a tough on a crime judicial system it is a joke. All you need to do is be an insurrectionist who has been funded by donations from supporters who pay for an army of lawyers.
The Biden Administration should have opened criminal investigations in 2021 and prosecuted Trump along with his cronies.
The border issues are going to get worse for the United States with cuts to USAID. Trump has no interest in helping build democracy in the countries of Central and South America which would help stabilize the situation in those countries. This would reduce the flow of migrants. He is merely treating the symptoms of the illness and not the illness itself.
I don't disagree with you regarding the issues around Canada
OK Bush.... amazing take. Now even Substack is devolving:
"The fart of a deal. Bankrupt 6 times, attempted a coup of his own country, toxified the electoral and judicial systems of the United States"
Entrepreneurs go bankrupt all the time..... You should look up real Coups or insurrections around the world and compare them to the protest that happened on January 6th. And, if you think it was Trump who toxified the judicial system and not Biden (really, it was Obama) then you are so delusional I am wasting words.
You can despise Trump all you want, and you clearly have TDS, but don't let that muddy the waters with the position and power the man has. He can ruin our Country, but he won't. He is just leaning on the dullards that are our Liberal leaders.
I don't have TDS. Read the congressional investigation into January 6th.
The investigations from January 6th were conducted by law enforcement investigators who used various evidence from interviews, videos, cell phone records and various other lines of inquiry.
I support NATO, democracy and the Ukraine.
I am not making any personal comments towards you.
If you disagree with me and you have made your points that is fine. But state your counter points but don't make personal attacks against me.
We can agree to disagree, yet we can have a dialogue and be respectful of each other's perspectives.
You seem to be uncomfortable with the freedom of the American voters to elect anyone to be their President whom they damn well please. His Democratic political enemies did their level best, with all the vast resources of the U.S. Government to nail him for something. Either they were incompetent or they decided there was no “there” there and choked in the third period, letting him slip through their fingers.
I don’t get why Canadians
and other foreigners think we have any right to criticize Americans for not electing the correct President. If I was Trump I’d be furious at Trudeau for saying that in public. If Trump was a nice guy he’d say, “Well, Justin, your career is over and mine is just getting its second wind. See ya.” But he’s not a nice guy. Boy is he not a nice guy!
President Trump was convicted of state felonies in connection with the Stormy Daniels hush-money case. No federal felonies. He might have been convicted of federal felonies which he was indicted for over Jan 6 and the documents at Mar-a-Lago if they had gone to trial, or he might not have. But he wasn't indicted for any insurrection offence. They were lesser accusations not rising to the charge of insurrection, much less a coup.
You might want to consider in criminal investigations that until a jury says he's guilty of something, he has the right to the presumption of innocence, and of course if he wasn't even indicted for something then clearly he's innocent of all those somethings that random people think he might have done.. The Jan 6 report makes fun reading on the john but is just pissing in the wind as far as the voters were concerned. Those darn voters!
I think everyone needs to chill out about President Trump. No matter how furious you are that an unworthy man is in the White House there is nothing, rien, nada, you can do about that. Work on making Canada more resilient to his tariffs and other economic measures. It will be more productive.
We will make Canada, the European democracies and the Ukraine more resilient. The Ukraine has more kit from Europe so they just need more to help them.
Canada and our allies just won't trust the United States.
Interesting you say we comment about the choice of US voters, yet Trump and recently JD Vance has been busy interfering in other countries electoral choices and there parties.
If the US have made their choice to elect their leader so be it. But the US and their Republican party can keep out of other countries electoral choices- the US can keep in their lane.
Since your great leader Trump has commented on the candidates in our country what gives him the right to conduct electoral interference in our country or lecture Europe about controlling Musk from spreading disinformation about other countries.
Trump and his cronies can stay out of other democracies business.
As an anglophone Quebecers, why should I pick one side over the other ? Ottawa lack of support for basic rights (Bill 22, 101, 178, 96) concessions offered during Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords . Our charter of rights are not worth the paper written on. Violations of our Charter Rights are ok, but we should become incensed over an external parties decision to place tariffs? A little introspection on our own standards of behaviour. When my people needed the federal government to take a stand and do the right thing they failed over and over again. Why should any Canadians be concerned with the Mandarins in Ottawa and Toronto being upset? Most Canadians would get better representation and more respect as Americans than they do now. Ask anyone west of Manitoba. We have weakened ourselves over the past 10 year. Now lack the strength to resist. The rot is our own doing.
I live west of Manitoba. The majority of the people west of Manitoba, including Albertans, are itching to break through Danielle Smith's red lines around export restrictions on oil, just for instance. You have an imaginary reading of Canadian public opinion. You're the one who lacks the will to resist. Fine. Speak for yourself. Surrender in your own name.
You also might want to unsubscribe, because you won't be happy with the findings of my research, and you won't like the opinions I occasionally express.
I'm done sugarcoating this stuff. My country is under attack. No patience with whingeing.
I moved west to escape the charade of having full citizenship in Quebec. My country just keeps throwing us under the bus. My country is now Alberta, the rest of Canada doesn’t share the same values and culture as the west. If Canada was interested in being “Strong and Free”, and unified we would have an elected senate for example. Canada had lots of opportunities to be great, and sadly here we are. The long slide from Lester Pearson to today. Isn’t it odd that only now are interprovincial trade barriers an issue ? There have been many papers written over the decades, and nada. I don’t want my children to fight the same fights over basic human and property rights. If the Americans offer a better deal, Albertans should consider it. We know the one with Canada won’t get better.
You misread that - or I wasn'tclear enough. Smith has drawn bright red lines around export restrictions that include Alberta oil. The polled majorities of each prairie province, including Alberta, say they'd support export restrictions on Alberta oil.
That maybe the case , hope she holds course on this. The long term impact to Alberta would be poor. Until there is sufficient pipeline capacity to tidewater, we have one major client. We can thank Ottawa for that.
Do you know if Ms Smith has made any comment with regards to Alberta implementing the previous Curtailment program used in 2018?
It seems that would help combat the tariffs in place of an out right ban or export tax. And has the added advantage of falling within provincial powers.
“ including Albertans, are itching to break through Danielle Smith's red lines around export restrictions on oil, just for instance. “
I’m confused by this statement as why would Danielle Smith be blocking any oil exports ? I’m not sure if this is a general statement or one impacted by the tariff insanity.
Over the past 50 years it never been the “right “ time to address the issue of minorities in Quebec. For that matter it always the right time in Canada to sacrifice rights and liberties for the sake of that days cause. It’s sound like the veterans affairs hotline, Defer, Deny and Death.
Premier Ford says he's going to have a smile on his face while he inflicts pain on New York, Michigan and Minnesota by cutting off the electricity.
Caution Mr. Ford:
1 ) Exports of Ontario electricity to the three states accounted for 3.9% of the electricity they generate (in aggregate) domestically. All three import electricity from other sources, notably Manitoba, Québec, and other states so you can't easily calculate the percentage of electricity they *use* that comes from Ontario. This varies moment to moment anyway. But you can say three states together generate more than 26 times as much electricity as they buy, collectively, from Ontario. For U.S. and Canada nationally the proportion is much smaller, < 1% because of course the states not close to Canada have little need for us at all.
3.9% ain't nuthin'. But it's not going to bring any of the three states to its knees. (Gov. Hochul (Democrat) by the way told a press conference today that she had an oral promise from Prem. Ford that he wouldn't do anything to hurt New York State.) Of note, both NY and Minnesota are blue states that President Trump would shed no tears for. Michigan went for Trump in 2016 and 2024, for Biden in 2020. The Governor is another Democrat and long-time Biden ally who wants to shut down Enbridge's Line 5, so call that one a draw.
(Out of interest, we actually export more electricity to Québec than we import,, and we export more to Québec than we do to New York.)
2) Ontario imports electricity from all three states as well, much less than we export but still not nuthin', either. The grids all talk to one another and shuttle electricity back and forth according to supply and demand to find the best price. What would most likely happen is that deprived of Ontario excess nuclear electricity at night, New York would crack open the throttles on its gas plants a bit more to take up the slack. This would derail their Net Zero dreams a bit, but hey, there's a war on. Ontario would probably do the same with even less difficulty if no electricity flowed in from New York. Michigan has nuclear plants but no hydro to speak off, so the back and forth works differently in detail but the same in principle. In no case are the lights going to go out. Retail electricity prices would go up some, especially in the States because they would be denied cheap Ontario electricity during our low-demand periods. But not a killer and unlikely to cause any blackouts.
3) Mr. Ford said today he was looking at laying an export surcharge on Ontario's electricity on top of whatever Uncle Sam levies as a tariff. It's not clear who would pay this, our IESO or the export customer in the States. If the IESO, who would then try to recover it as a price increase, this would further incent the Americans to decrease their reliance on Ontario electricity.
4) Messing with the grid connections makes the whole apparatus less stable and resilient during local overloads and blackouts especially with many more generators on the grid now being not load-following, i.e., doing their own thing like windmills. No doubt the IESO has warned Mr. Ford not to act like a bull in a china shop on this.
Numbers for those interested. (Formatting messes up.)
Ontario electricity exports (GWh) in 2023 to: Domestic Generation (GWh)
I don’t think export taxes on Canadian raw materials will help either. It will make it even harder for us to sell stuff in the U.S., (on top of U.S. tariffs), stuff our producing industries need to sell in large quantity to pay their workers and pay taxes on their profits. A beer-can manufacturer might suck up a U.S. tariff on aluminum but if Canada adds an export tax then the can manufacturer starts looking at aluminum from Iceland because it will have only the U.S. tariff. Or it would source domestic aluminum even though more expensive than Canadian aluminum used to be. For a Government to tax its own producers is also just a tax grab, which will hurt Canadians less directly.
That’s why Ford’s threat to mess with electricity is just dumb. The IESO doesn’t give away free electricity to the United States out of the goodness of its heart. They pay us for it. In U.S. dollars.
"In Canada - across the board, conservative to social democrat - the American president is seen as a threat to our national security, a foreign adversary and a menace to our very survival as a sovereign country."
Yes! And this is a great thing. We should not let ourselves get distracted by divisive online discourse, which is driven by a tiny minority of nutcases and foreign adversaries pretending to be us. This enfeebles us and our response, setting us up to fight amongst ourselves, wasting our time seeking out "traitors". As opposed to what we should be doing, which is honestly listening to one another and dealing with the issues to hand.
Here again comes that dusty old quote from that delightful classic:
“We own the right to be fed-up with anything we damn please and say so out-loud when we feel like it! And when things go wrong we can take it… and we can dish it out, too.” – Canadian soldier, 49th Parallel
Love him or hate him, Trump is a disruptor, completely contemptuous of historicwal precedent or established protocols. If creating uncertainty and upending the status quo was his objective, he has wildly succeeded. It feels like the days after 911. What comes next? At this early stage, I can't determine if he's a chess grand master or a 6 year old learning to play checkers. In either case, the hidden and unintentional benefit for Canada is the abrupt departure from an absurd ideological focus to policies reflecting harsh economic realities. Trump isn't our friend but no one can argue that we weren't overdue for a massive correction.
I’m guessing on this, but I’m wondering if what we are seeing right now is Trump “showing off” for his voters. To have any chance of keeping the Republican majority in the 2026 midterms Trump has to show results, the most impressive of which would be to balance the budget for,the first time in decades. DOGE is not enough, and not having America in or supporting wars is essential. Canada is a minor item on his ambitious list (we have made ourselves almost irrelevant). A tariff deal will probably be made.
I’m afraid dark days are ahead of us. It’s all the more depressing because I too have long railed against the reflexive anti-Americanism that infects our country. But now it’s fully justified, and it makes me sad and angry.
We are family, we largely share foundational values, culture, and a history that includes the bonds of shared combat. We also share North America with its wealthy, integrated economy that is the envy of the world. These things will continue after this damage is healed through time and saner heads. But will Canadians have learned anything? Will Canada be a more powerful, wealthier, more unified country better able to counter the strength and confidence of our bigger family member. Or will Canada return to cowering under the protection of big brother while signalling our own higher virtue, apologizing for occupying our own homeland and discouraging the development of our natural wealth, while encouraging the development of competing ethnic and colour tribes?
Terry I agree with you. Canada needs to ratchet up the tariffs with no reprieve until the US drops the tariffs.
In 44 days Trump has created the following:
1. Abandoned the Ukraine and the European allies for a Russian autocrat.
2. Abandoned NATO.
3. Attacked all democracies with tariffs.
4. Opposed condemning Russia at the UN for Russia's brutal invasion.
5. Junkyard Dog Vance and Mafia Don tried to shakedown the mineral rights to the Ukraine from President Zelenskyy.
6. Bypassed congress and the senate to turn the US into an autocratic regime.
7. Treats Canada the same way Putin treats the Ukraine.
8. Cut the CIA and USAID and reduce its global footprint.
It has pushed our democracies to be resilient and work together without the Dysfunctional States of America. Plus we need to help the Ukraine and stand with them.
We must also prepare for the collapse of United States government and the country itself due to the above efforts of the idiot occupying the White House. America's enemies could not be happier seeing the demise of the US. It is very tragic.
Has it occurred to you that if the US goes down, Canada will go down too? I can't see a way around it. We are intertwined with the US in many ways other than geographically. We are dependent on them economically, culturally, militarily/defence-wise etc.
We did this to ourselves (intentionally or not) because it was easy to let "Big Brother" do the heavy lifting. Even if we can drum-up the resiliance, determination, creativity and risk-taking required, these are not things that can be fixed overnight. Be careful what you wish for.
Faithful subscribers. I've fixed the inaccurate $125 billion figure for the total anticipated Canadian countertariff package by March 21; it's $155 billion. Caught it at the last minute, corrected in the web and app version but not before the emailed newsletter went out. Do forgive.
Even if concessions are made between canada and the us, the orange (pick a vile term out of a hat, he fills most of them) one has forever altered how I will act. I vigilantly look for Canadian made or at minimum not US made products when grocery shopping. I will avoid going to the US for anything other than required for work. The family has dropped our subscription services, changed spotify (invested in the inauguration, very bad judgement) to qobuz. Every dollar I spend will be spent with the intent to avoid sending money to the US, I don't shop at Walmart any more, no amazon purchases ever again, I will find local or Canadian store or won't buy the thing. And on top of this I know I am not the only person doing these things. Where we spend our dollars will make a difference. I never intend on relaxing these choices.
I keep hoping that we will be friends again, with our US cousins, about 203 weeks from now, when Mr Trump, or "Donald," as Mr Trudeau referred to him, is in the rear view mirror. In my twilight years Im not going to let this madman (for that is what he truly is) ruin my remaining days.
He is insane and I'm not sure if the framers of the US Constitution anticipated this and if there is a solution.
I appreciate what Kelly said, that's where my head's at, but my heart's with you, Marilyn. It's all so bloody awful. I've spent a great deal of my working life going out of way to criticize reflexive, Pavlovian anti-Americanism. I routinely ride south on my Triumph to Oregon, or go camping with my daughter down in what I like to call "the occupied Columbia territory," I have many American friends, and I have a great affection for the American people, especially country people, who are ordinarily hospitable and welcoming and generous to a fault. So this will pass, but at the same time everything has changed. We'll manage. If there is such a thing as the great Canadian virtue, it's "muddling through." Don't let this madman ruin a single moment of your life.
Knee-jerk anti-Americanism is a foolish reaction, for sure. But there's a business principle that says that it takes a lot of time and effort to find a new customer, so a wise business operation strives to keep that customer happy. If Trump doesn't back off quickly on the tariffs, Canadians -- businesses or consumers -- who have taken their business to other non-US suppliers will not come back to the US in any hurry, unless the US supplier makes it a deal too good to refuse.
I don’t understand your logic. Why would Canadian or other foreign businesses stop buying from U.S. suppliers? The U.S. is taxing imports (tariffs) not exports. If the Canadian dollar falls or if Canada does something foolish like tariffing stuff *we* import then yes American supplies will become more expensive. But that’s Trudeau’s fault, not Trump’s.
Since Canadians would have no reason to stop buying stuff from the States, except for patriotic zeal (which is something individuals might do but businesses should not, as it would hurt the shareholders), there would no issue of “coming back” to the U.S. supplier. If our dollar falls, it will more expensive to buy from all foreigners, not just the U.S.
Rather than spending time explaining to you why Canadian businesses and consumers might want to cease purchasing goods imported from the US, or spend vacations in the US, I will point out that all provincial and territorial premiers are supporting counter-tariffs, not just the dread Liberals and NDPers. In addition to supporting counter-tariffs, Danielle Smith has just announced that no additional pipelines will be built to take Alberta oil south to US markets.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/no-choice-but-to-react-to-u-s-tariffs-alberta-premier-says-in-supporting-federal-response-1.7474196
Facts matter. The article does not mention anything about pipelines to the U.S. According to your CBC link, Premier Smith called for pipelines to be built east and west and to pull down interprovincial trade barriers but she did not announce that no new pipelines will be built south. It is not her call in any case. It would be up to pipeline construction companies to plan one and then attempt to get the federal regulator to approve it, which we know from Bill C-69 will never happen unless the Federal Cabinet (not the Alberta Government) intervenes. So far as I know -- perhaps you can correct me if you know -- there have been no plans to build new Canadian pipes south anyway. President Trump has called for Keystone XL to be finished in the United States from the Canadian border but it TC Energy is not interested in resuscitating the oft-canceled, on-again-off-again project. So if Premier Smith did say no new southbound pipelines she is referring to something that no one who puts up the money is interested in doing anyway.
Retaliatory tariffs are a bad idea, just as the American tariffs are a bad idea, no matter what the politicians feel they have to impose. They don't have to pay them, rather they collect the revenue to spend. If you are a business owner trying to import supplies to run your business, you do pay them. Hope you can weather them. Sincerely.
And of course both positions can be in harmony. While looking with hope towards a return to pleasant, respectful and mutually beneficial neighbourly relations, it's necessary in the short term to test and exercise the boundaries of our economic independence.
When buddy next door goes off his head, it's a good idea to double bolt the locks.
If Mr. Trump is mad, as in acting contrary to U.S. interests as determined by Americans, the Congress can either impeach him or, if he is actually medically insane, remove him under the 25th Amendment. Making life difficult or unbearable for foreigners is not part of the definition of insanity, though. All the worse for us.
It is better to assume that the President is acting rationally. He just doesn't like us much.
Last night on the CBC's coverage of Trump's speech, the team called upon a US presidential historian who believes that Trump wants to emulate Republican presidents of over a century ago - McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, etc., even though there's a reason why the world has moved on from the policies of those bygone days. But there's also the factor that Rex Tillerson articulated after Trump fired him from his position as Secretary of State: Trump is a f_cking moron.
Trump may have been a moron but he was President, and Rex was not.
Just like Justin Trudeau was Prime Minister, and Jody Wilson-Raybauld was not.
On American comment boards this is coming up but it’s impossible because the Republicans have a majority in the both the House and Senate and are almost completely in lockstep behind Trump.
Much desperation ensues.
Yes, "The Resistance", who just know their country(wo)men should have elected someone else, and that is up to them to conduct themselves as if they had been.
Too bad Premier Ford didn't feel he could trust Ontario liquor consumers to make the same wise choices on their own as you are. He removed all American liquor from the LCBO shelves to make sure we don't make bad choices.
If the expectation is a retail-level boycott from the population wasting precious shelf space with unsellable goods is poor utilization of time and effort.
Well, why not find out if a retail-level boycott will actually materialize before removing American products from the shelves? Wouldn’t it be great theatre to show shelves and shelves of California wine and Kentucky bourbon, (neither of which I particularly like, fwiw), that wasn’t moving? And *then* make a big show of taking it off the shelves to make room for Ontario wine and rye whiskey that of course all good Canadians would prefer to buy anyway.
What Ford has done is to make it impossible for us to demonstrate how patriotic we are at the retail grass roots level. Walk right by that tempting bottle of Sonoma Cab and grab Le Chateau de Welland Canal.
No matter how you slice it, the truth is what the current federal government has already done to this country is far worse than what Trump has threatened to do. Economically, Trudeau has already done more damage to Canadians than a 25% tariff will ever do. It's not even close. Socially, he's done more to fracture this country than Trump has.
There will be many who will say, “We cannot win a trade war. We are too small compared to the US.” But we can if we get off our complacency, are carful and strategic in our response, and shop like the commenter above. Oh, and one more thing: get rid of the government who has refused to build pipelines, battered our national image and values, and done many other things to put us in this weakened position.
Hey Terry.... I have read your work over the years in the Post and enjoyed your interview with Dr. Peterson, and with all due respect, I think you are wrong on this one....The tariffs are a tool that Trump will lean on to get what he wants.... and that is to deliver the campaign promises of a secure border and an end to the poison of Fentanyl or at least make a significant dent in it. Trump is not a madman nor stupid. He understands the art of the deal and understands what it takes to win politically, or he would not be in the position that he is right now. I am not as well educated as you, nor have I the insight or access into the resources or sources you have, but I can tell you that I have very good friends in the US, and they were tired of being trampled on. Trampled on by their government and what they perceived to be no representation of their values in the last administration. They also believed that their involvement in foreign wars while the US was being overrun with 8 million undocumented migrants was a gross violation by the government that was elected to protect them first. This is from common people with university degrees who run ordinary lives, just like us Canadians, who want to be happy, safe, and prosperous. The Tariffs and subsequent trade war will be settled. NATO will hold its useless position but with a much even contribution structure. Canada has bigger fish to fry, like getting Parliament sitting again to call an election to unseat the elitists in power who have, in my humble opinion, ruined this Country for the last (almost) 10 years. You can despise Trump, but he and DOGE and the knuckle draggers are in power for a reason..... You are stretching to extremes, and from what I know about you as a columnist, your hatred for Trump has skewed at least this piece.
I think you’re both right and wrong. Americans had a horrible choice this last election - but I think many who voted Trump voted Trump because he wasn’t Harris. And this is where Trump misunderstands his political capital. He thinks people agree with him broadly, but they don’t. They agree about immigration, but not about 51st state stuff. I’m well connected in the US. My American friends have been apologizing for Trump for weeks now. The one who was uneducated that border issues flow both ways took the information I offered and changed her opinion.
Trudeau has utterly failed at defending Canada. He has been soft rather than calling out the guns, drugs, and illegal immigrants coming from the US. It’s a shared border. Both countries need to work on it. Tariffs aren’t the way to motivate it. uSMCA was already up for review next year. The current acts are acts of aggression, not protection.
The fart of a deal. Bankrupt 6 times, attempted a coup of his own country, toxified the electoral and judicial systems of the United States.
If Americans talk about a tough on a crime judicial system it is a joke. All you need to do is be an insurrectionist who has been funded by donations from supporters who pay for an army of lawyers.
The Biden Administration should have opened criminal investigations in 2021 and prosecuted Trump along with his cronies.
The border issues are going to get worse for the United States with cuts to USAID. Trump has no interest in helping build democracy in the countries of Central and South America which would help stabilize the situation in those countries. This would reduce the flow of migrants. He is merely treating the symptoms of the illness and not the illness itself.
I don't disagree with you regarding the issues around Canada
OK Bush.... amazing take. Now even Substack is devolving:
"The fart of a deal. Bankrupt 6 times, attempted a coup of his own country, toxified the electoral and judicial systems of the United States"
Entrepreneurs go bankrupt all the time..... You should look up real Coups or insurrections around the world and compare them to the protest that happened on January 6th. And, if you think it was Trump who toxified the judicial system and not Biden (really, it was Obama) then you are so delusional I am wasting words.
You can despise Trump all you want, and you clearly have TDS, but don't let that muddy the waters with the position and power the man has. He can ruin our Country, but he won't. He is just leaning on the dullards that are our Liberal leaders.
I don't have TDS. Read the congressional investigation into January 6th.
The investigations from January 6th were conducted by law enforcement investigators who used various evidence from interviews, videos, cell phone records and various other lines of inquiry.
I support NATO, democracy and the Ukraine.
I am not making any personal comments towards you.
If you disagree with me and you have made your points that is fine. But state your counter points but don't make personal attacks against me.
We can agree to disagree, yet we can have a dialogue and be respectful of each other's perspectives.
You seem to be uncomfortable with the freedom of the American voters to elect anyone to be their President whom they damn well please. His Democratic political enemies did their level best, with all the vast resources of the U.S. Government to nail him for something. Either they were incompetent or they decided there was no “there” there and choked in the third period, letting him slip through their fingers.
I don’t get why Canadians
and other foreigners think we have any right to criticize Americans for not electing the correct President. If I was Trump I’d be furious at Trudeau for saying that in public. If Trump was a nice guy he’d say, “Well, Justin, your career is over and mine is just getting its second wind. See ya.” But he’s not a nice guy. Boy is he not a nice guy!
Read the January 6th report and maybe understand how criminal investigations are conducted.
Trump attempted a coup of the US government.
He is a convicted federal felon.
He is chaos and is a Putin loving Thug.
President Trump was convicted of state felonies in connection with the Stormy Daniels hush-money case. No federal felonies. He might have been convicted of federal felonies which he was indicted for over Jan 6 and the documents at Mar-a-Lago if they had gone to trial, or he might not have. But he wasn't indicted for any insurrection offence. They were lesser accusations not rising to the charge of insurrection, much less a coup.
You might want to consider in criminal investigations that until a jury says he's guilty of something, he has the right to the presumption of innocence, and of course if he wasn't even indicted for something then clearly he's innocent of all those somethings that random people think he might have done.. The Jan 6 report makes fun reading on the john but is just pissing in the wind as far as the voters were concerned. Those darn voters!
I think everyone needs to chill out about President Trump. No matter how furious you are that an unworthy man is in the White House there is nothing, rien, nada, you can do about that. Work on making Canada more resilient to his tariffs and other economic measures. It will be more productive.
We will make Canada, the European democracies and the Ukraine more resilient. The Ukraine has more kit from Europe so they just need more to help them.
Canada and our allies just won't trust the United States.
Interesting you say we comment about the choice of US voters, yet Trump and recently JD Vance has been busy interfering in other countries electoral choices and there parties.
If the US have made their choice to elect their leader so be it. But the US and their Republican party can keep out of other countries electoral choices- the US can keep in their lane.
Since your great leader Trump has commented on the candidates in our country what gives him the right to conduct electoral interference in our country or lecture Europe about controlling Musk from spreading disinformation about other countries.
Trump and his cronies can stay out of other democracies business.
As an anglophone Quebecers, why should I pick one side over the other ? Ottawa lack of support for basic rights (Bill 22, 101, 178, 96) concessions offered during Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords . Our charter of rights are not worth the paper written on. Violations of our Charter Rights are ok, but we should become incensed over an external parties decision to place tariffs? A little introspection on our own standards of behaviour. When my people needed the federal government to take a stand and do the right thing they failed over and over again. Why should any Canadians be concerned with the Mandarins in Ottawa and Toronto being upset? Most Canadians would get better representation and more respect as Americans than they do now. Ask anyone west of Manitoba. We have weakened ourselves over the past 10 year. Now lack the strength to resist. The rot is our own doing.
I live west of Manitoba. The majority of the people west of Manitoba, including Albertans, are itching to break through Danielle Smith's red lines around export restrictions on oil, just for instance. You have an imaginary reading of Canadian public opinion. You're the one who lacks the will to resist. Fine. Speak for yourself. Surrender in your own name.
You also might want to unsubscribe, because you won't be happy with the findings of my research, and you won't like the opinions I occasionally express.
I'm done sugarcoating this stuff. My country is under attack. No patience with whingeing.
I moved west to escape the charade of having full citizenship in Quebec. My country just keeps throwing us under the bus. My country is now Alberta, the rest of Canada doesn’t share the same values and culture as the west. If Canada was interested in being “Strong and Free”, and unified we would have an elected senate for example. Canada had lots of opportunities to be great, and sadly here we are. The long slide from Lester Pearson to today. Isn’t it odd that only now are interprovincial trade barriers an issue ? There have been many papers written over the decades, and nada. I don’t want my children to fight the same fights over basic human and property rights. If the Americans offer a better deal, Albertans should consider it. We know the one with Canada won’t get better.
You misread that - or I wasn'tclear enough. Smith has drawn bright red lines around export restrictions that include Alberta oil. The polled majorities of each prairie province, including Alberta, say they'd support export restrictions on Alberta oil.
That maybe the case , hope she holds course on this. The long term impact to Alberta would be poor. Until there is sufficient pipeline capacity to tidewater, we have one major client. We can thank Ottawa for that.
Do you know if Ms Smith has made any comment with regards to Alberta implementing the previous Curtailment program used in 2018?
It seems that would help combat the tariffs in place of an out right ban or export tax. And has the added advantage of falling within provincial powers.
“ including Albertans, are itching to break through Danielle Smith's red lines around export restrictions on oil, just for instance. “
I’m confused by this statement as why would Danielle Smith be blocking any oil exports ? I’m not sure if this is a general statement or one impacted by the tariff insanity.
You should be concerned over an external threat. Now is not the time to rehash past grievances.
A divided country is ripe for Trump’s picking. Unless you want to become the 51st state?
Over the past 50 years it never been the “right “ time to address the issue of minorities in Quebec. For that matter it always the right time in Canada to sacrifice rights and liberties for the sake of that days cause. It’s sound like the veterans affairs hotline, Defer, Deny and Death.
Leslie here: Substack gets us mixed up.
Premier Ford says he's going to have a smile on his face while he inflicts pain on New York, Michigan and Minnesota by cutting off the electricity.
Caution Mr. Ford:
1 ) Exports of Ontario electricity to the three states accounted for 3.9% of the electricity they generate (in aggregate) domestically. All three import electricity from other sources, notably Manitoba, Québec, and other states so you can't easily calculate the percentage of electricity they *use* that comes from Ontario. This varies moment to moment anyway. But you can say three states together generate more than 26 times as much electricity as they buy, collectively, from Ontario. For U.S. and Canada nationally the proportion is much smaller, < 1% because of course the states not close to Canada have little need for us at all.
3.9% ain't nuthin'. But it's not going to bring any of the three states to its knees. (Gov. Hochul (Democrat) by the way told a press conference today that she had an oral promise from Prem. Ford that he wouldn't do anything to hurt New York State.) Of note, both NY and Minnesota are blue states that President Trump would shed no tears for. Michigan went for Trump in 2016 and 2024, for Biden in 2020. The Governor is another Democrat and long-time Biden ally who wants to shut down Enbridge's Line 5, so call that one a draw.
(Out of interest, we actually export more electricity to Québec than we import,, and we export more to Québec than we do to New York.)
2) Ontario imports electricity from all three states as well, much less than we export but still not nuthin', either. The grids all talk to one another and shuttle electricity back and forth according to supply and demand to find the best price. What would most likely happen is that deprived of Ontario excess nuclear electricity at night, New York would crack open the throttles on its gas plants a bit more to take up the slack. This would derail their Net Zero dreams a bit, but hey, there's a war on. Ontario would probably do the same with even less difficulty if no electricity flowed in from New York. Michigan has nuclear plants but no hydro to speak off, so the back and forth works differently in detail but the same in principle. In no case are the lights going to go out. Retail electricity prices would go up some, especially in the States because they would be denied cheap Ontario electricity during our low-demand periods. But not a killer and unlikely to cause any blackouts.
3) Mr. Ford said today he was looking at laying an export surcharge on Ontario's electricity on top of whatever Uncle Sam levies as a tariff. It's not clear who would pay this, our IESO or the export customer in the States. If the IESO, who would then try to recover it as a price increase, this would further incent the Americans to decrease their reliance on Ontario electricity.
4) Messing with the grid connections makes the whole apparatus less stable and resilient during local overloads and blackouts especially with many more generators on the grid now being not load-following, i.e., doing their own thing like windmills. No doubt the IESO has warned Mr. Ford not to act like a bull in a china shop on this.
Numbers for those interested. (Formatting messes up.)
Ontario electricity exports (GWh) in 2023 to: Domestic Generation (GWh)
Minnesota: 259 66,000
Michigan: 7718 121,000
New York: 4149 124,000
-------------------------------------------------------------
Total: 12,126 311,000
Ratio of Canadian imports to domestic generation: 3.9%
Source: IESO ("Ontario Hydro") for Ontario exports, US EIA for state generation.
Thanks for that detail Susan as it certainly adds some perspective to the potential threats that Ford is boasting about.
The Food Professor on “ X “ certainly had a good thread on the possible effects of counter tariffs.
https://x.com/foodprofessor/status/1897052519349858781?s=43
I don’t think export taxes on Canadian raw materials will help either. It will make it even harder for us to sell stuff in the U.S., (on top of U.S. tariffs), stuff our producing industries need to sell in large quantity to pay their workers and pay taxes on their profits. A beer-can manufacturer might suck up a U.S. tariff on aluminum but if Canada adds an export tax then the can manufacturer starts looking at aluminum from Iceland because it will have only the U.S. tariff. Or it would source domestic aluminum even though more expensive than Canadian aluminum used to be. For a Government to tax its own producers is also just a tax grab, which will hurt Canadians less directly.
That’s why Ford’s threat to mess with electricity is just dumb. The IESO doesn’t give away free electricity to the United States out of the goodness of its heart. They pay us for it. In U.S. dollars.
"In Canada - across the board, conservative to social democrat - the American president is seen as a threat to our national security, a foreign adversary and a menace to our very survival as a sovereign country."
Yes! And this is a great thing. We should not let ourselves get distracted by divisive online discourse, which is driven by a tiny minority of nutcases and foreign adversaries pretending to be us. This enfeebles us and our response, setting us up to fight amongst ourselves, wasting our time seeking out "traitors". As opposed to what we should be doing, which is honestly listening to one another and dealing with the issues to hand.
Here again comes that dusty old quote from that delightful classic:
“We own the right to be fed-up with anything we damn please and say so out-loud when we feel like it! And when things go wrong we can take it… and we can dish it out, too.” – Canadian soldier, 49th Parallel
What would be the point of making an agreement with this administration? They have no credibility.
Love him or hate him, Trump is a disruptor, completely contemptuous of historicwal precedent or established protocols. If creating uncertainty and upending the status quo was his objective, he has wildly succeeded. It feels like the days after 911. What comes next? At this early stage, I can't determine if he's a chess grand master or a 6 year old learning to play checkers. In either case, the hidden and unintentional benefit for Canada is the abrupt departure from an absurd ideological focus to policies reflecting harsh economic realities. Trump isn't our friend but no one can argue that we weren't overdue for a massive correction.
He's not a chess grand master.
I lean towards that view but it isn't over yet and the cast of Canadian politicians opposing him do inspire confidence.
I’m guessing on this, but I’m wondering if what we are seeing right now is Trump “showing off” for his voters. To have any chance of keeping the Republican majority in the 2026 midterms Trump has to show results, the most impressive of which would be to balance the budget for,the first time in decades. DOGE is not enough, and not having America in or supporting wars is essential. Canada is a minor item on his ambitious list (we have made ourselves almost irrelevant). A tariff deal will probably be made.
I’m afraid dark days are ahead of us. It’s all the more depressing because I too have long railed against the reflexive anti-Americanism that infects our country. But now it’s fully justified, and it makes me sad and angry.
To hell with them. Allons-y. Slava Ukraini.
Absolutely!
We are family, we largely share foundational values, culture, and a history that includes the bonds of shared combat. We also share North America with its wealthy, integrated economy that is the envy of the world. These things will continue after this damage is healed through time and saner heads. But will Canadians have learned anything? Will Canada be a more powerful, wealthier, more unified country better able to counter the strength and confidence of our bigger family member. Or will Canada return to cowering under the protection of big brother while signalling our own higher virtue, apologizing for occupying our own homeland and discouraging the development of our natural wealth, while encouraging the development of competing ethnic and colour tribes?
Terry I agree with you. Canada needs to ratchet up the tariffs with no reprieve until the US drops the tariffs.
In 44 days Trump has created the following:
1. Abandoned the Ukraine and the European allies for a Russian autocrat.
2. Abandoned NATO.
3. Attacked all democracies with tariffs.
4. Opposed condemning Russia at the UN for Russia's brutal invasion.
5. Junkyard Dog Vance and Mafia Don tried to shakedown the mineral rights to the Ukraine from President Zelenskyy.
6. Bypassed congress and the senate to turn the US into an autocratic regime.
7. Treats Canada the same way Putin treats the Ukraine.
8. Cut the CIA and USAID and reduce its global footprint.
It has pushed our democracies to be resilient and work together without the Dysfunctional States of America. Plus we need to help the Ukraine and stand with them.
We must also prepare for the collapse of United States government and the country itself due to the above efforts of the idiot occupying the White House. America's enemies could not be happier seeing the demise of the US. It is very tragic.
Has it occurred to you that if the US goes down, Canada will go down too? I can't see a way around it. We are intertwined with the US in many ways other than geographically. We are dependent on them economically, culturally, militarily/defence-wise etc.
We did this to ourselves (intentionally or not) because it was easy to let "Big Brother" do the heavy lifting. Even if we can drum-up the resiliance, determination, creativity and risk-taking required, these are not things that can be fixed overnight. Be careful what you wish for.
I agree with you that if the US fails it will be horrible and catastrophic for Canada.
There needs to be contingency plans for Canada and our allies should this occur to deal with this event.
It is a dire and terrible scenario.
The US is our neighbour and ally.
"President Donald Trump’s says Canada is not a “valid” country."
Of course he did. After all, that is what Trudeau has been saying since 2015.
"Vladimir Putin says Ukraine is “not a real nation.”"
Russia has claimed Ukrainian territory to be theirs since time immemorial.