The trade war between Canada and the United States has officially kicked into high gear after high stakes talks between the two countries collapsed last weekend.
President Donald Trump’s escalated tariffs came into effect on Saturday and a series of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Cabinet members unveiled roughly $27.6 billion in counter-tariffs on Tuesday, to take effect on Sept. 8.
In the weeks leading up to the collapse of trade talks, Canadian politicians took to U.S. airwaves, warning that Trump’s plans to increase tariffs on Canadian goods entering the United States would backfire by raising costs for U.S. consumers.
“A tariff on Canada is a tax on the American people,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford on American television just last weekend.
Those politicians, like Ford, were right.
Unfortunately, the federal government has chosen to respond to Trump’s tariffs by introducing tens of billions of dollars of tariffs of its own, which will only serve to raise costs for Canadian consumers.
“When the United States asked too much and offered too little, we chose to stand up for Canadians,” said Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne. “Our dollar-for-dollar, rate for rate counter-tariffs as well as a multi-billion-dollar support package will protect workers, farmers, families, and businesses as a we build a stronger, more resilient, and more diversified economy.”
But anyone who believes that tariffs are the solution to Canada’s trade problems, not to mention the present cost-of-living crisis, is kidding themselves.