Trade warfare

President Trump is treating trade as a form of warfare. Every American president in my lifetime seems to have needed a war of some sort; Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Kuwait, Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Even the much-loved President Obama recorded the most remote, extraterritorial drone killings of any previous administration. I can’t remember what President Carter’s war was, but he only lasted one term, so perhaps he didn’t order one.

“Donald’s” war seems to be on the trade front. It’s probably the only war that American’s would put up with him waging. I cannot imagine that many American families would tolerate putting their children in harm’s way to fight a war with North Korea , for example, with President Trump as the commander-in-chief.

So, what is the state of readiness of Canada’s trade agreement paratroopers at global affairs Canada? Not very good in my simple judgement. Perhaps they excelled in an era of rules-based, gentile, bureaucratic negotiations with their academic economic training, but they are not the Canadian Forces trained in warfare and battle ready. Canada has clearly lost the first important USMCA melee with their polite, but tough, negotiating strategy. I would recommend they broaden the leadership team with strategists from the Department of National Defense and a few junk yard dogs at the negotiating table for the next time.

Prime Minister Trudeau did not hesitate to put the Canadian dairy industry in harm’s way. That was crystal clear. To all my fellow farmers who depend on trade to convert the production of your labour into cash, godspeed, I hope it lasts. We are in different economic times now and when push comes to shove, if they have to, Canada will shove you. Watch your back.

Randall Affleck, Lower Bedeque