tariff

Tuesday February 4, 2025

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay – Tuesday February 4, 2025

Free trade with the U.S. is effectively dead

The final report on foreign interference in Canada reveals serious threats from various nations, yet it's the economic pressures from Trump's policies that unexpectedly drive Canada's political focus.

January 28, 2025

The 30-day reprieve that Trump is granting isn’t intended to benefit Canada; rather, it’s a lifeline for bourbon distilleries and potash-dependent states, buying them time to adjust to the harsh reality of Trump tariffs. The future of the auto sector remains uncertain, with Trump and his oligarchs seemingly oblivious to the potential devastation ahead. He needs to fund significant tax cuts for his wealthy supporters, which means imposing higher consumer taxes on Americans. This approach also involves dismantling federal bureaucracy, as Elon Musk has been tasked with finding “efficiencies” that could wipe out countless livelihoods—all to make America “great” for those demanding tax cuts. Meanwhile, Trump and his allies continue to tout their notion of “winning.”

Regarding tariffs, Trump will persist in using threats as a bargaining tool, falsely claiming that foreign countries bear the cost, rather than U.S. importers and consumers. He claims to care about lives destroyed by the fentanyl crisis – sure- believe that lie, as much as he claims the problem is due to it coming in from Canada. Soon, he’ll demand that Canada relax its banking regulations, then turn his attention to Canadian water resources. Ultimately, quips for Canada to cede its sovereignty and become the 51st state goes from delusion to conquest.

June 30, 2021

What Trump has inadvertently done is unite a nation. Canada’s patriotism, which had waned over the years, has revived. We recognize that we can no longer afford to be complacent; we must stand strong against this playground bully. We are building our own defences.

Canadians are rallying together to support local businesses, explore the beauty of our country, urge politicians to eliminate domestic trade barriers, foster connections with friendly partners, and promote unity within our communities.

Sadly, it took a bully from a foreign land to motivate us to take these steps. The reality is that the relationship between the U.S. and Canada is diverging, a trend that may soon resonate globally as America risks isolating itself, joining the ranks of hermit kingdoms like North Korea.

As for tariffs, it seems Lil’ Donald never grasped the moral of the famous fable. Originally published on Friday June 1, 2018.

Friday May 24, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 24, 2019

If Trudeau called about detainees, Chinese president wouldn’t pick up: ex-ambassador

Former Canadian Ambassador to China Guy Saint-Jacques says he has “limited expectations” a Canadian delegation currently on the ground in China will successfully lead to the release of two detained Canadians.

Animated!

During an interview on CTV’s Power Play on Tuesday, he said the group, which includes foreign affairs parliamentary secretary Rob Oliphant, won’t have a lot of power to make waves. But even if they did, it wouldn’t matter.

“Nobody in the Chinese government wants to meet with a Canadian minister or special envoy — even if the prime minister were to phone [Chinese] President Xi Jinping, he would not take the call,” Saint-Jacques said.

Last week Chinese officials formally arrested the two Canadians who have been detained since December 2018, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, on the suspicion of stealing state secrets for foreign power. The two men were detained after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver, following an extradition request from the United States.

Saint-Jacques even suggested that Xi would refuse a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the upcoming G20 meeting in Japan in June.

March 1, 2019

“But so far, the Chinese have been adamant that unless we promise to release [Meng], they don’t want to meet with anyone.”

Speaking with reporters after touring an aluminum plant in Quebec, Trudeau admitted Canada is in a “difficult situation with China” despite ongoing diplomatic efforts.

He said that Canadian officials continue to engage their Chinese counterparts, but criticized China for “making stronger moves” in an effort to “get its own way on the world stage.”

The prime minister said that Canada is still pushing for the release of the two men, who Trudeau described as being “arbitrarily detained for political reasons.”

Trudeau vowed that Canada is “going to continue to hold strong… to stand up for our values and our principles.”

There is a currently a parliamentary delegation in China discussing the detention of the two Canadians as part of their visit. (CTV) 

 

Thursday May 16, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday May 16, 2019

Freeland renews push to remove steel, aluminum tariffs during Washington trip

July 27, 2018

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is bound for Washington to meet with Trump trade czar Robert Lighthizer in a renewed push to get punitive steel and aluminum tariffs lifted.

The meeting at the United States trade representative’s Washington office is to take place on Wednesday but Freeland will also venture to Capitol Hill for a meeting with the influential Republican chair of the Senate finance committee, Chuck Grassley.

“We continue to lobby very assertively for the lifting of the tariffs. We’re at a point where we need to do everything we can and talk to everyone we can about why we see these as unjust,” a senior government source said Tuesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ongoing dispute.

June 1, 2018

The meetings come after a pair of telephone calls on consecutive days late last week between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in which the controversial 25-per-cent duty on Canadian steel and 10-per-cent levy on aluminum was a major subject of conversation.

On Tuesday, Grassley suggested to reporters in a conference call that an end to the tariffs might be close. Last month, Grassley tweeted that Trump must remove the tariffs before the new North American trade deal can be ratified.

Trump imposed them in the first place using a section of U.S. trade law that gives the president powers to put duties on imports on national-security grounds.

Freeland, Trudeau and others in Canadian government have derided the tariffs as absurd, illegal and insulting.

But Freeland has said she’s heartened by the recent comments of both Republican and Democratic American lawmakers who say the new North American trade agreement that includes Mexico can’t be ratified with the “Section 232” tariffs in place. (Global)

 

Wednesday June 13, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 13, 2018

Trump says he’ll punish ‘the people of Canada’ because of Trudeau’s news conference

Escalating his attack on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Donald Trump is now pledging to punish “the people of Canada” economically because of the post-G7 news conference in which Trudeau criticized Trump’s tariffs.

“That’s going to cost a lot of money for the people of Canada. He learned. You can’t do that. You can’t do that,” Trump said Tuesday in Singapore after meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Trump repeated the vague threat in an interview with ABC.

“I actually like Justin, you know, I think he’s good, I like him, but he shouldn’t have done that. That was a mistake. That’s going to cost him a lot of money,” Trump said.

Canadian leaders responded with restraint. Trudeau briefly addressed the latest barb on his way into Tuesday morning’s cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill.

“Obviously we support the continuing efforts by the president on North Korea. We look forward to looking at the details of the agreement. On his comments, as I said, I’m going to stay focused on defending jobs for Canadians and supporting Canadian interests,” Trudeau said.

This is the first time Trump has threatened to take out his frustration with Trudeau on the Canadian people.

The threat comes as the two countries attempt to negotiate a new North American Free Trade Agreement and as Trudeau both seeks an exemption from Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs and attempts to avoid the automotive tariffs Trump is now floating.

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday that the government is “prepared for any eventuality” on the possibility of auto tariffs, and that she and Trudeau raised the issue with Trump and other American officials during last weekend’s G7 summit in Quebec. She pointed to Canada’s planned response to the steel and aluminum tariffs — responding duties on a range of U.S. imports worth more than $16 billion — as evidence the government is prepared to be “absolutely resolute” in defending the national interest as trade talks continue.

“From day one, we have said that we expected moments of drama and that we would… keep calm and carry on throughout those moments of drama,” Freeland said. (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

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Friday June 1, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 1, 2018

Canada responds to U.S. steel, aluminum tariffs with ‘countermeasures’ of its own

Canada is imposing dollar-for-dollar tariff “countermeasures” on up to $16.6 billion worth of U.S. imports in response to the American decision to make good on its threat of similar tariffs against Canadian-made steel and aluminum.

June 1, 2013

The tariffs, which apply to a long list of U.S. products that includes everything from flat-rolled steel to playing cards and felt-tipped pens, will go into effect July 1, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told a news conference Thursday.

“This is $16.6 billion of retaliation,” Freeland said.

“This is the strongest trade action Canada has taken in the post-war era. This is a very strong response, it is a proportionate response, it is perfectly reciprocal. This is a very strong Canadian action in response to a very bad U.S. decision.”

December 8, 2017

Freeland made the announcement alongside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau following word from the White House that the U.S. will slap tariffs on Canadian, Mexican and European Union steel and aluminium as of midnight Thursday night.

She called the U.S. measures illegal and counterproductive, and both she and Trudeau expressed how hard it is to imagine how Canada could ever be a national-security threat to an ally as close and important as the United States.

“That Canada could be considered a national-security threat to the United States is inconceivable,” said Trudeau, adding that the people of the U.S. are not Canada’s target , and that the federal government would far prefer that its hand not be forced.

October 10, 2015

Canada, Mexico and Europe had been exempted from import duties of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum when they were first imposed in March, but those exemptions will expire as scheduled on Friday.

“The government of Canada is confident that shared values, geography and common interests will ultimately overcome protectionism,” Trudeau said.

“We will always protect Canadian workers and Canadian interests.”

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross confirmed Thursday that the United States would end the temporary exemption on Canadian, Mexican and European Union steel and aluminum as of midnight, as scheduled.

That means that President Donald Trump will be face to face with a number of leaders who have taken retaliatory action against the U.S. when he makes his closely watched Canadian debut at the G7 next week in Quebec. (Source: CP)