EDITORIAL: A stupid, pointless, dangerous trade war

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We agree with the editorial in The Wall Street Journal — the paper of record of American capitalism — that this is “The Dumbest Trade War in History.”

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It insanely pits two long-time, democratic allies with one of the world’s largest and most successful trading relationships, against one another.

It means President Donald Trump has declared Canada not just an economic enemy but a security threat to the United States.

If not resolved quickly, Trump’s tariffs will cause a recession in Canada, add to our affordability crisis and throw hundreds of thousands out of work.

Because of inevitable Canadian countertariffs, it will increase the cost of living for Americans, flying in the face of Trump’s promise in the U.S. presidential election to lower those costs.

We got here because of an erratic American president who changes his reasons for what he’s doing often hour by hour — whether it’s his accusations Canada is an unfair trader, or we’re endangering American lives because of the illegal traffic in fentanyl and criminals coming from Canada.

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As if drugs, human smuggling and illegal handguns coming at us from the U.S, aren’t a two-way street.

We also got here because of Justin Trudeau, our lame-duck PM, along with many Liberal MPs, who foolishly dismissed Trump as a one-term presidential buffoon who could be mocked without consequences, by a president who doesn’t take mocking lightly.

To be clear — our criticisms of Trudeau are in no way an endorsement of Trump. We agree with politicians of all stripes federally and provincially that Canada’s counter tariff response to Trump must be swift, strong, targeted and strategic.

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The problem is the Trudeau government, by ignoring its own fiscal guardrails post-pandemic, doesn’t have the needed fiscal fire power to help Canadians weather the looming economic storm.

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That said we must fight this war with the weapons we have, while developing a long-term strategy that lowers inter-provincial trade barriers, finds new global markets and builds new pipelines, enabling Canada to sell our vast oil and gas reserves to the world and not just to the U.S. where we have to sell them at bargain basement prices.

But to do that, we need a federal election and a new government, not the one we have now.

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