First, let's get one thing straight. "Trade war", "Economic domination", "Tarrif threat", "Retaliatory measures", etc. are misnomers. "Threat", "Domination", "Retaliation" and "War" do not apply to the field of economics. These are military terms employed by the media to get the public's attention. Tariffs are simply an economic policy. The Government of Canada will treat them as such.
To the American people I say this: Tariffs are bad. The tariffs planned by your President are very bad for your trading partners, whether it's Canada, China, Mexico or any other nation. No question about that. But they are also bad for you, for the American people. No question about that either. This is a fact acknowledged by virtually all economists, regardless of their political inclination. The presumed benefits of tariffs are limited in scale, ephemeral and insignificant when compared to the damage they inflict on your economy, and ultimately on each and every single one of you. Your President would like you to believe that they are a good thing, a giant leap towards making America great again. Not true. Let's take steel, for example. As soon as the steel tariff takes effect, the first thing American steel producers will do is to increase the price of their products. Since the products of their competitors have become overnight 25% more expensive, increasing their price by only 20% is the smart thing to do for the American producer. Nothing stops them from doing it. It is actually part of their fiduciary duty. This will temporarily benefit the American steel producer, its employees and its shareholders. But it will negatively impact its customers, those in constructions, car manufacturers, ship builders who will have to pay a higher price for the steel products. The extra cost will have to be paid with money that would otherwise go into new investments, new projects, new employees. Layoffs will likely become a daily occurence. If their economic sector allows, they could also raise the price of their own products - buildings, cars, ships. That is, YOUR apartment, car and boat. Including the apartments, cars and boats of steel workers. That will maybe make great again the America in your President's imagination, but not the real America in which you live. President Trump either truly believes tariffs are good, which proves his utter ignorance in economics, or he's lying to you. Not sure which one is worse.
To the American Congress and the American Courts of Law I say this: Please, I beg of you, make sure your President does not acquire enough power to single-handedly take military action, of any kind. No one takes seriously his ridiculous suggestion that Canada might become the 51st State. He's not, yet, likely to send Special Forces to stealthily take Ottawa. But it's not ridiculous to imagine him ordering the Coast Guard to delay Canadian ships on their way to Mexico. Or ordering armed ICE officers to more thoroughly investigate Canadian truck drivers. Again, I beg of you, do everything in your power to avoid this. Despite your President's sustained efforts to filter out rational individuals from all branches of your Government, I am sure there are still enough of you left to take significant, apropriate action. Please, I beg you, do so.
To the American companies I say this: Your President's tariffs will be imposed on the grounds of an Economic Emergency that he, himself, has imagined and declared, followed by annulling, overnight, the Free Trade Agreement that he, himself, has signed, during his first mandate, with Canada and Mexico. Regardless of how irreproachable your reputation might be, the risk of doing business with you is now unmitigatable. I can only imagine how much more difficult your endeavours have become. If I were you, I'd start looking for a better place to conduct business.
And finally, to the Canadian people I say this: Tariffs are bad. Bad for all, including Canadians. The Canadian Government does not have the mandate to hurt the Canadian economy, regardless how good it might feel to stick it to them in return. Therefore it will not impose ANY tariffs on the United States. On the contrary, it will unilateraly remove all tariffs with all trading partners. Canada will, overnight, become a Free Trade Zone with the entire world. This action might seem to hurt some sectors of the Canadian economy. But the presumed damage will be limited in scale, ephemeral and insignificant when compared to the enormous beneficial effects it will have on the overall economy. Just take the steel example above and apply it in reverse.
