On Eve of Tariffs, Canadian Government Says They Will Hit Back

The Canadian government is saying that they will respond if the US decides to go ahead with their stupid tariff ideas.

It feels like deja-vu, but we are once again on the eve of the wave of tariffs Canada and Mexico was supposedly going to get around the same time last month.

Previously, Canada faced 25% on pretty much everything last month. This for no actual real reason. Of course, American fascist dictator, Donald Trump, needed a legal reason to carry through with these tariffs. So, he spun a giant wheel of excuses and landed on border security and ran with that. To be clear, these tariffs are highly illegal and violates the USMCA/CUSMA – the very trade agreement Trump signed in his previous administration. Obviously, border security was all a red herring, but the mainstream media up here in Canada at the time was flipping between whether or not it was all some sort of negotiating tactic or Trump just being “bombastic”. Spoiler alert: in this case, it was neither. It was just pure stupidity.

So, how to I know all of this? Trump himself said it in the oval office the day the tariffs were said to take place, saying that he’s not looking for concessions and that there is nothing Canada can do about it. Luckily, politician’s here in this country knew the score (with exception to the Alberta premier who seems content with just surrendering the country) and threatened to lay massive counter tariffs to fight back. That got Trump to notice and he backed off, issuing a 30 day delay.

For what it’s worth, I sent an open letter to the Prime Minister and my Premier urging them to form a NATO-like alliance with affected countries where a tariff against one is a tariff against all. This in the unlikely event that they would listen to reason that is highly strategic in fending off an aggressor who has way more economic might than Canada.

Now, fast forward a month and it’s as if the Canadian mainstream media decided to have collective amnesia. They went back to believing that maybe Trump is being bombastic and that it really is about the border after all. I have no clue why they think that way because they had last month to learn from, but apparently, they decided to forget all of that and flip between Trump being “bombastic” and if he just needs the right concession so that Trump will finally be happy (spoiler alert: he’s never going to be happy about anything). As if to add insult to injury, a Trump official was going to the extreme of redrawing the Canadian border in their belief that they are on the verge of conquering Canada altogether. That should really tell you everything you need to know where their mindset is at.

Now, on the eve of the tariffs coming into effect, it seems that politician’s are threatening counter tariffs on the US. Chrystia Freeland said that Canada will hit back. Now, I rarely agree with Freeland on much, but in this case, this is the absolute correct response to have in this situation. After all, threatening counter tariffs last time got Trump to back down before and it’s probably the only response that has any shot of working this time around as well.

Ontario Premier, Doug Ford, for his part, apparently also renewed threats to cut off energy to the US in response. From CBC:

“If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do anything — including cutting off their energy — with a smile on my face,” Ford said during his first news conference since winning a third majority last week. Ontario is a major electricity exporter to New York, Michigan and Minnesota.

“They need to feel the pain. They want to come at us? We’ve got to go back twice as hard,” Ford continued.

Whether or not this is enough remains to be seen. Still, it’s the only actual thing that worked in the past. Hopefully, it will bring about another 30 day delay.

To muddy the waters, apparently, another Trump official suggested that the tariffs might not be 25%. From Global News:

U.S. President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary said the tariffs on Canada and Mexico are still coming Tuesday, though he appeared to suggest there could be changes to the original 25 per cent plan.

Howard Lutnick said in an interview on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures that there would be tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting on the announced March 4 date, though Trump would determine at what levels.

“There are going to be tariffs on Tuesday on Mexico and Canada,” he said. “Exactly what they are, we’re going to leave that for the president and his team to negotiate.”

The secretary’s comments come just three days after the president said his threatened 25 per cent tariffs against both countries were going ahead as scheduled.

Now, whether he meant that it could be lower than 25% or that he simply isn’t getting ahead of the president and it’s going to be 25% after all is unclear. It does sound a bit like media types are grasping at straws. Still, it’s not a terrible thing to find some reason to be hopeful even if a reduced round of tariffs isn’t exactly going to make much of a difference in the situation. After all, economies are going to hit either way over some fantasy Trump dreamt up of making Canada cease to exist.

We’ll be, of course, watching to see what ends up happening tomorrow. Whether last minute drama takes place so Trump can shove his dumb face in front of the cameras again or if these tariffs just move ahead as planned. Hopefully, the powers that be in this country have actually been doing something to better prepare for this potential hit.

Drew Wilson on Mastodon, Twitter and Facebook.