BEFORE YOU LASH OUT ....
Take a breath
Smoke is coming out you ears and you can only see red.
Completely understandable.
But don’t let rage overcome common sense.
Like many of you, my blood boiled when I heard that President Donald Trump was threatening to put a 50 per cent tariff on a host of Canadian product because he’s upset that U.S. booze was pulled from the shelves by most provinces more than a year ago.
Screw him.
Why not cut off power to the northeastern United States, stop sending our oil to the U.S. or at least increase the cost by 50 per cent. Our how about putting a 50 per cent tariff on softwood lumber bound to south of the border.
But upon further reflection, that’s exactly the kind of reaction Trump wants leading up to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, better known as CUSMA, negotiations.
Trump thrives on chaos and bullying techniques.
It’s entirely possible he has turned his attention to Canada because he obviously doesn’t have a clue how to end the war with Iran.
Naturally, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was taken aback by the latest Trump threat.
“If these tariffs proceed, Canada should respond tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar,” Ford said in a statement moments after the president’s announcement.
And then Ford got caught up in his own rhetoric.
“We are an energy powerhouse and we could dismantle the U.S. if we wanted to,” said Ford, stressing he wasn’t speaking for the others attending the annual premier’s conference in Prince Edward Island, the Toronto Star reported.
Sometimes you can duke it out with a bully or decide to play the long game, and beat him at his own game. Now is the time. But please note that I am not suggesting we kiss Trump’s butt like so many others already do in Washington.
Sure, at some point we may have to put a little water in our wine to get the best deal possible, but Canada must stop well short of selling the farm to appease Trump or any of his other acolytes.
In the interim, Canadians can continue to do their bit by refusing to buy U.S. products, fruits and vegetables as well as shunning America-made booze.
”No CUSMA, no booze-ma,” says Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew.
As for travel to the U.S., CBC reported July 14 that for the third month in a row inbound travel from the U.S. by Canadians has increased, following a rise of 9.5 per cent in May and 1.4 per cent in April, while return air travel from the States for June decreased 3.8 per cent year-over-year.
Even so, the small car-travel jump doesn’t bring U.S. travel by Canadians anywhere close to normal levels — so while some in the U.S. tourism industry are hopeful, it might not give a major boost to businesses any time soon, according to the CBC report.
For some reason, Trump has got it into his head that Canadians are just a bunch of patsies. He has confused Canuck politeness with weakness, and that, at that end of the day, will be his folly.