Donald Trump, tariffs, bullying and Canadian sovereignty

On Jan. 6, the fourth anniversary of the violent attack on Congress, president-elect Donald Trump proclaimed that Canada should be annexed as his country’s 51st state. Trump accused Canada of being dependent on American largesse and subsidy. He would use economic tools, such as very high tariffs to apply pressure on Canada.
On Jan. 9, former President Jimmy Carter received a state funeral. Very early in his mandate, Carter granted presidential amnesty to tens of thousands Vietnam era war resisters.
That included me.
Both events triggered thoughts of my own struggle with nation-identity. I lived in Canada between 1968 and 1977 as a fugitive from the American justice and military system. Canada provided me with sanctuary. Afterwards, I chose to remain in Canada and have led a relatively purposeful life (which includes writing articles for the Advocate.)
Over many years, I witnessed an aggressive American foreign policy. It spans from Vietnam, Cambodia, Grenada, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Chile and Iraq to name a few. The American government engaged in illegal intrusions and wars. According to former Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara, an architect of the Vietnam War, “…we were wrong, terribly wrong. We owe it to future generations to explain why.” In 2003, under the presidency of George W. Bush, the American government lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to justify yet another incursion.
As I write this, three countries are threatened by Donald Trump; Greenland (Denmark), Panama and of course Canada. Our sovereignty is being challenged by a president with a record of exaggeration, lying, and bullying and from a country with a long history of forcing its presence and will on several parts of the world.
Should we be worried? Indeed. If Trump goes ahead with the tariffs, in violation of the CUSMA trade deal our economy will be ravaged, particularly in southern Ontario. Much of our manufacturing base participates in continental supply chains.
Canadian national identity has frequently been a focus of political discussion and elections. In the 1960s and 1970s, along with the appearance of a nationalist movement in English Canada, we read the Gordon Report and the Watkins Report, both critiques of the American dominated branch-plant economy. In the 1980’s there was a strong opposition to the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, an opposition that feared the subordination of our economy and politics. In the early 2000s, many of us cheered the Canadian absence from the U.S. led invasion of Iraq. We stood offside American antagonism to Cuba and Nicaragua. And of course, our national identity gets periodically challenged by Quebec nationalism, particularly with the two referendums.
The ‘who are we’ question is too often defined by who we are not; that is, not being Americans. Yet In English Canada, the similarities are pretty obvious. We watch the same movies and television, we read the same books, our standards of living are reasonably close, and we speak the same language. There are unfortunately similarities in our mistreatment of the First Nations. Yet we take pride in our differences; more accessible health care, more democratic campaign financing rules, stronger gun control, more universal social programs such as childcare and pharmacare.
The difference was once described by Margaret Atwood as (my words) living in the United States means living in the heart of the empire, while living in Canada means living next to it.
Are we a better country? I vote ‘yes.’ Are we dependent on American handouts? Not really. Given our population size, our economy is quite large and self-sufficient. Our trade surplus with the United States probably has much to do with our extraction exports and the relative strengths of our currencies, not U.S. charity or subsidy.
Regardless of the obvious merits of our continued existence as a sovereign country, we still must deal with Trump. He is not very strong on the facts of the case – any case. He likes to disrupt. He does not like opposition. Well, that’s just too bad for him. Recent polls indicate that the vast majority of Canadians like being Canadians and do not like Donald Trump. I check both boxes.
Unfortunately, there are signs that our political culture is slowly drifting towards the intolerance and nastiness of American political culture. We should not allow this unwelcome Trump intrusion into our political discussions to pave the way for more of the nastiness that we witness with the continuing presence of protesters in Ottawa harassing Members of Parliament, as they recently did to the NDP leader. And like Jagmeet Singh, we should stand up to the bullies. And that means defending our sovereignty on our terms.
–David Rapaport is an adjunct professor of Sociology at Trent University. He lives in Lindsay.
Thank you for this overview of the situation we face. Agreed, we need to stand up to the bully, not cosy up to him, like Alberta’s Danielle Smith, who will be attending Trump’s inauguration. Similarly Durham MP Jamil Jivani will be attending. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has already said Jivani could be in his cabinet, if they form the government.
Thanks, David, for putting it all together so clearly. I vote with you on all counts: YES to Canada, NO to Trump and those who like what he wants to do. And YES we can and will and must stand up to bullies and tyrants and fascists.
One bully.
My gut tells me this is so wrong.
Nightmare scenario.
“How to stand up to a narcissist bully”
Do not engage. Ignore them. State facts with references.
Guaranteed to infuriate them and they will huff and puff and show their ignorance even more.
Smile. That really ticks them off.
Be better than them and do not lower yourself to their level. Look down and smile.
Oh, and a good offence is a great defence. 👏👏
Sooooo, let me get this straight…faux pas for foreign government to tax canadians….25%…but, we are all good when Mr. Trudeau and the hive mind taxes, and borrows us into infinity…glad to have Mr. Trump finally address the borders thus motivating our government to DO ITS JOB!
You go guy! David, you tell it like it is better than any of the numb nuts in this mire that used to be the United States of America!
Canadians need to stand together to make it loud and clear that our sovereignty will remain intact despite the threats. Canada and the U.S. have shared the world’s longest undefended border (not an imaginary line) for a long time, and it would be nice to continue that. The plan is to send us economic hardships to make us surrender, and when that does not work, and it won’t, what is the next bully tactic? Oh Canada 🇨🇦 the true North strong and free we stand on guard for thee! God keep our land glorious and free!
Thank you for your story, nicely embedded in the current disaster. It appears the democratic ship has sailed into the sunset for the US, and it appears inevitable for Canada, too.
It took Hitler 53 days to dismantle democracy and replace it with tyranny and dictatorship. Good people are too trusting. But the billionaires own the media and the message now. See articles in National Observer re the musket’s meddling, the right wing media take-down of Trudeau, the commercial ownership of Canada’s “news” by the Postmedia machine.
Trump has said many times that there will be no tariffs if countries, like Canada, secure their borders and pay their fair share (the amount they agreed to pay) on defence, so they don’t have to rely on the American military for protection. Trump, and several other leaders around the globe, have seen the decline of western nations because of liberal policies. He’s fed up with it. He has said this many many times. Weird that these facts aren’t mentioned in this article. If Canada is truly a friend of America, we have to start acting that way.
Stand up to a bully so interesting giving FEW stood up to chairman Trudeau and the people’s RED party of canada. Where were all the captain Canada’s when our truckers needed them?
The 51st State is a practical impossibility, and we all know that. We all know that Trump thinks of himself as a dealmaker, and leads with bluster.
This is a negotiation opportunity for Canada, not a merger and not an acquisition of Canada by the USA.
It could be a financial and economic problem for Canada, we could get squeezed hard for a while, but Canada will come out the other side just fine.
Many people are annoyed by Trump’s boldness, calling him a bully.
Emotions and Negotiations should never be at the same table. Your feelings about Trump mean nothing in this negotiation.
Trump will bring his emotions to the table – he’s very dependable that way. He will draw arbitrary lines, have a pet peeve or a few, and if we can solve a few of those at low cost to Canada and give him a win, he will get a press/speaking/bragging opportunity about how he won – Like he won the last time by rewording NAFTA to USMCA, on what is basically the same agreement.
All Y’all need to put every kilogram of effort into Canada negotiating the best possible deal and coming away from the bargaining table with more than we had. We wont get everything we wanted, but we can get things of greater value in total because Trump is not a disciplined negotiator.
Canada needs to run an orderly and data-driven negotiation with the US, and you do that by preparing for negotiaton and knowing as much about your opponent and their business as the opponent knows about themselves and their business.
The US Government Administration is very orderly and the US Trade Representative already has a public document listing Americas trade issues with Canada. But that doesnt mean that Trump will be orderly.
Here’s the list of USTR issues about Canada:
1.The Canadian Digital Services Tax (3%). The United States is home to several of the world’s largest digital services providers and they do not like Canada taxing them and has filed a compliant under USMCA, formerly NAFTA. Also worth noting that when Trump is ranting on about Trade Imbalances, he tends to gloss over the “Services” trade which is primarily US companies selling to Canadians and is imbalanced in favor of the US.
2. Canada’s Online News Act allows Canadian news outlets to collectively bargain with digital platforms (e.g., Google, regarding payments for the use of news content. That’s why you cant post news articles on Facebook Canada any longer.
IMHO this is the dumbest implementation possible by Canada, and Candians would prefer it scrapped also.
3. Online Streaming Act. The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requires television and radio companies operating in Canada to fund and broadcast a certain percentage of Canadian content. The CRTC would like to regulate entities that broadcast through social media (e.g., Facebook) or online streaming services (e.g., Netflix, YouTube).
IMHO the CRTC is no longer relevant and acts like a censor, limiting what Canadians have access to.
Abandoning the CRTC and letting consumers and the free market decide what is available, and letting end consumer decide what media they want to consume would be my preference.
4. Automotive and Critical Minerals. USMCA tightened content requirements for duty-free automotive trade (“rules of origin”) in North America. In December 2022, a USMCA panel decided in favor of Mexico and Canada but did not determine how the issue was to be resolved. The decision cannot be appealed and the parties have not reached a resolution.
This is all about making sure that Mexico and Canada are not importing auto parts from China, assembling a car, and then slapping a made in Canada/Mexico sticker on it.
5. Dairy and Supply Management. Canada supports its dairy, poultry, and egg sectors by limiting production, setting prices, and restricting imports (“supply management”). Under USMCA, Canada committed to provide greater access for U.S. dairy exports through 14 U.S.-specific tariff-rate quotas (TRQs), which allow specified quantities to be imported into Canada at preferential duty rates. USTR has challenged Canada’s dairy TRQs twice under USMCA.
This is going to hurt Canada. Our dairy farmers are very well compensated and that’s because retail milk prices in Canada are significantly higher than retail milk prices in the US.
Canadians with nationalistic pride will spout things about growth hormones in cows and better treatment of cows in Canada. That’s an emotional argument, clearly US milk is safe, 300 ish million drink it, including your college age kid who went to the US for University, and your brother in law’s son who took that fancy job with the tech company in Silicon Valley..
If you want all the other benefits of a free trade agreeement with the US, it has to include all the products, not just a cherry picked list. If you still want to employ 10’s of thousands of Ontarians manufacturing vehicles in Ontario, of which 70% are shipped tariff free to the US, and ship them to the US, you might not be able to keep giving Dairy Farmers that extra special treatment and shielding them from the open market with supply management of Milk. Clearly Dairy farmers wont like this, but do Auto workers like exporting 70% of the cars they make to the US?
6. Softwood Lumber. The United States and Canada have had a decades-long dispute over trade in softwood lumber—primarily used in residential construction, remodeling, and repair. The last agreement governing U.S.Canada softwood lumber trade expired in October 2015. Since the agreement’s expiration, the United States has imposed antidumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVD) on imports of Canadian softwood lumber. Canada has filed challenges against the AD/CVD duties through NAFTA, USMCA, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the U.S. Court of International Trade.
The heart of the dispute is the claim that the Canadian lumber industry is unfairly subsidized by federal and provincial governments, as most timber in Canada is owned by the provincial governments. The prices charged to harvest the timber (stumpage fee) are set administratively, rather than through the competitive marketplace, the norm in the United States.
In the United States, softwood lumber lots are privately owned, and the owners form an effective political lobby.
There are other items in play as well.
Canada and the US differ on whether the Northwest Passage is exclusively under Canada’s control, or whether other countries can have free transit through the Northwest Passage.
Canada cant defend the Northwest Passage as is, and cutting a deal with the US where the US recognizes Canada’s calim on the Passage, while allowing the US to use the NW passage would likely solve this, and gain US help to defend it.
Canada wants the US to do more on protecting the environment. Joint Stewardship of our shared water and air is how Ottawa phrases it.
That’s all well and good, but Trump is the wrong president on the wrong mission to raise these concerns with. Trudeau and Biden should have fixed this over the last 4 years as it would have been the best possible political climate to do so.