Aluminum, steel, lumber, zinc, potash – a critical fertilizer for farmers, uranium.
“Plants will close down in Michigan within a week.”
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A new chapter in 1984 – “We have always been at war with Canada..”
The U.S. imposed tariffs of 25 percent of Canadian goods—except for energy products, which face a 10 percent tariff. It also put a 25 percent tariff on imports from Mexico and an additional 10 percent on Chinese goods.
According to figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Canada is by some margin the largest source of American energy imports, with 59 percent of all crude oil imported into the U.S. in 2019 coming from the country. So energy imports give Canada a powerful lever to hit back at the Trump administration in a way that is likely to raise prices and stoke inflation in the U.S.
“I don’t start a tariff war, but we’re going to win this tariff war,” he said, adding, “If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything—including cut off their energy with a smile on my face, and I’m encouraging every other province to do the same.”
Ford added: “They rely on our energy. They need to feel the pain.”
In an NBC interview on Monday, Ford said Canadian energy kept “the lights on for 1.5 million homes and manufacturing [facilities] in New York, in Michigan and in Minnesota.”
Trump said the tariffs were being introduced in response to Mexico and Canada failing to stem the tide of fentanyl and illegal migrants across their respective borders. He also argued that Mexico and Canada, which had trade surpluses with the U.S., had been taking advantage of the country.
It goes without saying that Trump’s economic policies make no sense in the short or long term. So I won’t say it.