Responding to the Trump Tariffs:
1. A nation that tolerates tariffs restricting free trade within its own borders has little right to get upset about a sovereign nation doing the same.2. Having said that, if there are USMCA agreement violations, they should be prosecuted.
3. Canada has failed to meet its NATO obligations for decades, pushing its security cost burden onto the USA. A country that has failed to meet its obligations has little right to complain against the nation that shoulders its load.
4. With a national debt of $37 trillion dollars, the US can little afford to carry NATO countries on its back.
5. The collapse of the US Dollar would be far more devastating to the world economy and world order than trade tariffs. The economic collapse - or even decline - of the US economy would make present tariffs look like a walk in the park. The single most important thing the US can do to promote stable prosperity in the world at the present time is to get its economic house in order.
6. Since WWII, the USA has provided Canada with a protective military shield against hostile foreign powers. Canada has been, effectively, a military protectorate. This protection has been worth billions and is largely what has enabled Canada (as well as European nations) to become a welfare state. It is high time for Canada to "step up."
7. The US has also kept the world's shipping lanes open for commerce at its own expense. This has been of incalculable value to benefitting nations such as Canada.
8. There is no intrinsic reason why American cars ought to be made in Canada. This has been a "gift" from the US that has funded Canadian prosperity for two generations. Canadians should be grateful.
9. Canada's protective trade tariffs on its dairy and poultry industries benefit Quebec at the expense of every poor and modest-income person in Canada.
10. We could have eliminated inter-provincial trade barriers. We didn't. We could have built an east-west pipeline. We didn't. We could have agreed to sell Europe our natural gas. We didn't. Instead, we chose to hamstring our oil and gas economy and chase economically harmful Net Zero fantasies. The present PM is 100% committed to doing this - once elected.
Canada can, and must, do better.
