IT’S A TARIFF PARTY!

Four interesting facts about today’s tariff party:

1. More people crossed illegally into Canada from the U.S. in 2023 (the last year we have statistics for) than the other way around.
2. According to border patrols, 10.8 pounds of fentanyl was smuggled into Canada from the U.S. and 32.1 pounds of fentanyl was smuggled into the U.S. from Canada during the first 10 months of 2024. In contrast, over 21K pounds was seized at the Mexican border. Looks like Canada and the U.S. are doing just fine together at combatting drug smuggling at their shared border.
3. 12 million U.S. jobs rely on trade with Canada.
4. 55% of Americans do not know what ‘tariff’ means.

‘Tariff’ means Americans will spend more on gas, pasta & other wheat products, as well as car parts the next time we have our vehicles serviced… unless U.S. suppliers of those products decide to eat the extra costs and reduce their profits. Hint: they don’t tend to do that. Trump is worth $6.2Billion, so he could care less. He has even admitted the tariffs will cause short-term disruption to the U.S. economy. I somehow doubt the president’s definition of short-term is the same as the everyday Joe.

Donald Trump claims the tariffs are to punish Canada for illegal immigration and drug smuggling, which the statistics show shouldn’t cause anyone alarm because the U.S. and Canada share a similar level of prosperity. The new U.S. Secretary of State says the tariffs are not meant to punish Canada (they could knock up to 2.5% off Canada’s GDP) and that Canada is a good friend whose interests align with the U.S. In fact, Canada is strengthening its presence in the Arctic to dissuade incursions by our mutual rivals China and Russia. So, what are the tariffs for then? And how is Canada supposed to further increase its defence spending (highly suggested by the U.S.) as part of NORAD and NATO if it takes a hit to its GDP?

Could this all be because Donald Trump simply hates Justin Trudeau and wants to make his last days in office miserable? That’s my bet. But for Trump to act without Congress, he had to declare an emergency, and fentanyl is the word of the day.

Constitutional monarchy was born when England’s parliament stripped the king of his powers of taxation. It was a bizarre step backwards for the U.S. Congress to have handed the power of taxation through tariffs to the executive in the 1970s. While other countries spent the last 100 years stripping the executive of powers, America has transferred powers away from the legislative branch. In 2023, a global sample of Gen Z showed that 42% of these young people thought military rule was a good form of government. Maybe the next generation will get rid of Congress altogether.

I could give a damn about the cultural dog whistles and identity politics. Those are distractions intended to capture the votes of an ill-informed and angry electorate. (54% of Americans read below a 6th grade level, and it’s a similar case in other western countries.) I care about business. A trade war with our closest allies, while the trading bloc of our rivals (BRICS) now accounts for 41% of global GDP, is akin to shooting oneself in the foot. The GDP of the G7 (us; the good guys), by the way, is only 30%. DeepSeek sent the markets reeling earlier this week, and I lost a little money because of it. It is China’s ‘Sputnik moment’. Imagine what the West could achieve if it stopped infighting and presented a more coordinated front against China? These are perilous times and, divided, we will lose the AI race.

Just because a weak president has been replaced by one with a vendetta doesn’t mean Americans’ economic interests should be a slave to that retribution. I couldn’t care less if anyone worships the ground Donald walks on… but maybe it is in all of his supporters’ interests to convince the president not to play politics with their pocketbooks. A few boos at his next rally when he mentions the word ‘tariff’ should do the trick. Tell him to vent his anger on someone like Nancy Pelosi (worth over $114million), instead of working and middle-class people. He could target her investments, and she could retaliate with leading another charge for impeachment. We could all watch from the sidelines, knowing it won’t affect how much a loaf of bread costs.

In the meantime, I’ve heard coupons help during such times. Ralph’s sends me awesome ones! The $15 off kind. Mind you, they’ll probably raise the cost of my next trolley-load by around $15 because of the tariffs.