An Exercise in Futility

That is what tariffs are when the offending party has a population of 328,012,549 and is experiencing an $18 billion trade deficit with you, when you have more Chinese goods in your own market than you do Canadian or American-produced ones and when you've buggered up so badly that a former prime minister has to step in and clean up your mess.


To wit:

Canada struck back at the Trump administration over U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs on Friday, vowing to impose punitive measures on C$16.6 billion ($12.63 billion) worth of American goods until Washington relents.

The announcement by Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland marks a new low in ties between the neighbors and trading partners which have become increasingly strained since U.S. President Donald Trump took power in January 2017.

The Canadian tariffs will come into effect on July 1 and largely target U.S. steel and aluminum products, but also foodstuffs such as coffee, ketchup and whiskies, according to a list by the Department of Finance.

"We will not escalate and we will not back down," Freeland told reporters at a Stelco Holdings Inc plant in the Ontario steel city of Hamilton.

Talk is cheap, Little Miss Cries- A-lot. 

Consider that, due to NAFTA, both Canada and Mexico rely on Chinese-produced goods which are then transported to the US. The US does not need to do this and they certainly have the numbers that Canada and Mexico combined do not have.

No amount of taxed ketchup will change that.

This might have been avoided if Justin hadn't been a douche to Trump and - instead of "growing the economy from the heart outwards" (I swear to God he said that) - tried to build Canada up and make it a co-operative entity with the US and not give it away piecemeal with trade deals he wasn't smart enough to make.

Also:

That has been made extremely clear after a new Ottawa Citizen report which notes that Canada’s new navy supply ships are being built with American steel, not Canadian Steel.

As noted in the report, “The supply ships are being built at the Vancouver shipyards of Seaspan, which is owned by a U.S. company. The Department of National Defence confirmed the steel is being purchased from a mill in Alabama, a solidly Republican state that voted 62 per cent for Trump.”

(Sidebar: why not wave the flag a little bit, Justin?)

**

After Trump signed massive tax cuts into law, Canada lost our business tax advantage over the US. Trump has also removed tons of job-killing regulations, further improving the climate for businesses in his country.

What has Trudeau done in that time?

He’s forced through an unpopular carbon tax that hurts consumers and makes doing business far more expensive. He’s imposed excessive regulations that stifle investment. And he’s hit Canadian family businesses with new taxes, putting a leash on the small business sector.

If I didn't know better, I might think that Justin wants Canada to fail.

(Merci)