Trump’s tariff talk threatens Canada and his own country

There are dozens of reasons why Donald Trump’s pledge to put crippling import duties on steel and aluminum could be hollow.

He’s known for being bombastic one day, conciliatory the next. Many of his promises and threats have been hollow to date — the infamous Mexican wall, for instance. He likes to intentionally sow misinformation, believing it keeps his opponents off balance.

Trump doesn’t like to upset the stock markets, and he did that in spades with his off-the-cuff tariff announcement earlier this week. U.S. markets tumbled immediately and threaten to do worse if he actually goes through with the threat.

He has to know that such penalties will hurt Americans as well as producing countries.

Beer maker Miller Coors said in a tweet: ‘We buy as much domestic can sheet aluminum as is available, however, there simply isn’t enough supply to satisfy the demands of American beverage makers like us. American workers and American consumers will suffer as a result of this misguided tariff.’

According to the Financial Times: “The heads of the National Tooling and Machining Association and the Precision Metalforming Association were among many steel users that warned of the damage that could be done by the import duties … They added that 6.5m people were employed in the U.S. in businesses that use steel and aluminum, compared to just 80,000 working in the steel industry … Thom Dammrich, president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association, said the proposed aluminum tariffs could end up ‘destroying our members’ ability to

It’s not a good time to be in a row with India. New diversity in trade partnerships needs to become reality, especially with Donald Trump in the White House.

build boats in the U.S.’”

Toyota Motor Corp., issued an unusually blunt statement condemning the White House move. “The administration’s decision to impose substantial steel and aluminum tariffs will adversely impact automakers, the automotive supplier community and consumers.”

Trump’s premise is that driving up price of imported goods will give American industries a competitive edge. That’s beyond simplistic.

Even if the American steel industry could be revived, it couldn’t make steel as cheaply as India and China can, so consumers suffer again.

And if imports are reduced drastically, as they would be under such tariffs, the job losses would be massive — shipping, port businesses, trucking, secondary manufacturing and supply chains that are inexorably linked would all suffer.

And yet, here we are. This part of Ontario, especially Hamilton and, to a lesser extent, Niagara and surrounding region, would be devastated by damage to the steel and aluminum industries. Thousands of jobs. Pensions. Consumer spending. Investor confidence.

There is very little we or the government can do, other than hope level heads prevail. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland has said Canada will respond in kind, and that’s appropriate, but we don’t have the heft to hurt the U.S. the way they can hurt us.

This points out, again, the need for Canada to broaden its trading base with other partners.

It’s not a good time to be in a row with India. The need for new diversity in trade partnerships is no longer a nice-to-have.

It needs to become reality, especially with Donald Trump in the White House.