Trump’s tarriffs – So, here we are on Tuesday, March 4th, and we are now living with Trump’s Tariffs. I’m just as mad about it as you are. Trump was miles away the best candidate for the American people to elect as President, although yes, it could have some challenges for us Canadians. Sleepy Joe Biden wouldn’t have bothered anybody as long as his kickbacks kept coming in.
But before we get to the tariffs, I think it would be good to notice that while Trump may throw some curves in our direction, he may also help us. There are some things that have needed doing inside Canada that probably only Trump can get done, and yes, from outside Canada.
Here’s my list.
First of four things: Trump is probably the only person in the world who can unite Canadians. No prime minister has done it. No premier has done it. But Trump will.
Unity, of course, is a motherhood-and-apple-pie kind of issue, but there are some things that should have been done in the past that haven’t been done only because we couldn’t get our act together in Canada amongst ourselves.
It’s too bad that we would have to be unified by a non-Canadian outside our borders, and primarily because we don’t like him, but that may be the way it is. JFK wasn’t that great a president at all; he got the US into Vietnam, which cost 58,000 American lives, but all of Canada loved him because he was good-looking and a great speaker. He never did one iota of good for Canada. So that’s one thing: Trump will unify Canada because we hate him.
Second, Trump will eliminate internal Canadian tariffs and trade barriers. Well, he won’t do it, but he will cause it to be done. We should have done it a long time ago, but we didn’t because we couldn’t get along with each other. See #1 above. For as long as forever, it has often been easier for Canadians to deal with other countries than other provinces. How smart is that?
Third, Trump will probably get a pipeline built from Alberta to the East Coast so that our Maritime provinces can use Canadian oil instead of imported oil. We never got it done on our own because Quebec wouldn’t let a pipeline cross its borders, and the rest of the country let the idea die.
But since Trump has been talking about us becoming their 51st state, although we would never stand for that, nor should we, now we’ll probably give the green light to the eastern pipeline, which died on the Canadian drawing boards in 2014.
And fourth, Trump will probably provide the political spinal fusion that Canada needs to get the above things done, and many other things that would make us more independent.
So, what should we do with Trump’s tariffs today?
First of all, let’s let them play out for a little bit. Any effective early pressure against the tariffs is going to come not from Canada, since Trump will ignore them, but from upset Americans protesting higher prices.
Second, let’s generate some resolve within Canada to develop a long-term strategy to protect ourselves against the vulnerability that Trump has been able to use. Trump has said that the most beautiful word in the English language is ‘tariffs.’
Our line should be that the most strategic word in the English language is ‘vulnerable’ because that is what we have allowed ourselves to be, and we should start changing that so that our most beautiful word is ‘independent.’ Too much trade with one partner is risky, and we are seeing the results of that right now.
We can start down that road today, not by booing the US national anthem, by threatening to cut off electricity to the US, or even by imposing retaliatory tariffs, but by getting on with the second and third things above. Get rid of internal trade barriers and get planning for that pipeline with an all-Canadian route.
The federal government and the provincial Maritime governments may have to become involved with pipeline ownership to get the eastern pipeline built.
I’m not really of the opinion that we shouldn’t do retaliatory tariffs; we don’t want to be seen as a bunch of pansies up here, but our smart thinking will not be on what we do short-term but what we do long-term.
If we would establish a ministry of the federal government whose mission was to lay out a path for Canadian economic independence, it may amaze us on what good things we could do, using the things that we have in excess, like oil and gas, to convert them into things which we don’t have.
It has been very convenient in the past to always take the easy road in managing our economy. And our economy, meaning today’s breakfast, lunch and dinner, are important. But it might be time to be thinking about next year’s lunch and dinner.
It might be time.
Duane Crandall is a retired newspaper publisher, having owned and operated The Golden Star from 1982 – 1987 and the Golden News from 1992 – 2003. He served as MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke from 1986 to 1991.
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