Pushback just got so much easier
Canadians fired up over Trump’s tariffs outburst
The trade war against American gherkins and strawberry jam will start on Canada Day, which is when the government’s retaliatory action against U.S. steel tariffs will come into effect.
The date is no coincidence. It was picked to optimize unity among patriotic Canadians in opposition to Donald Trump’s policies and public statements. But it turns out there’s no need to artificially stoke the anger — a new poll by Abacus Data suggests nearly 80 per cent of Canadians oppose Trump’s tariffs.
The president has made the government’s job that much easier by saying in Singapore he intends to punish “the people of Canada” for the comments made by Justin Trudeau in his post-G7 press conference (where the prime minister repeated his opinion that tariffs levelled on national security grounds against Canada were “insulting” and that Canadians, while polite, would “not be pushed around.”)
“That’s going to cost a lot of money for the people of Canada,” said Trump.
It would have been unimaginable 18 months ago to have the leaders of Canada, France, the U.K., Germany, Italy and Japan pleading their case on one side of the table, while the president of the U.S. sat on the other with his arms crossed.
But we are now in a world where Trudeau, the leader of America’s great ally and trading partner, is “weak” and “dishonest,” while Kim Jong Un, the leader of the world’s most repressive regime, is “a great personality” and a “very talented man.”
Recall this is the same man who executed his uncle using an anti-aircraft machine gun, before incinerating his body with flamethrowers, and also had his estranged brother murdered at an airport in Malaysia (and that is without delving into the network of gulags or use of food as a tool to enforce political loyalty).
Many Canadians have deduced this is a president who sympathizes with authoritarian strongmen and detests the “weakness” of democrats.
They have also concluded that their government has had few options but to hit back. And the Abacus poll suggests that, if Trump is intent on punishing them, they are prepared to cost American companies a lot of money too.
Abacus said 15 million Canadians have said they will avoid U.S. wines (84 per cent say they will or will consider a boycott), cross-border shopping (81 per cent) and pleasure trips to the U.S. (76 per cent).
Millions will also avoid products with “made in the U.S.” labels (79 per cent), avoid U.S. produce (73 per cent) and stop buying from U.S. companies (66 per cent).
“People often overstate the actions they will personally take in response to an issue of concern, so care should be taken in forecasting a northern customer backlash,” said Bruce Anderson, chair at Abacus. “But that having been said, the potential for customers to look for simple ways to tell Americans how upset they are is there — and for some segments of the U.S. economy, the impacts could easily be meaningful, depending on how things unfold.”
This grassroots boycott is likely to get a gentle nudge from a federal government that can’t afford to have its fingerprints on the murder weapon but would undoubtedly be very happy to see civil and business groups ramp up their efforts to send a message to the Trump Administration.
If the Trudeau Liberals were smart, they wouldn’t let this crisis go to waste. It is the best opportunity any Canadian government is likely to have to build a rational exit ramp for supply management.
A twin-pronged approach that offered concessions on tariff-free dairy quota, in exchange for Trump dropping his demand for a five-year sunset clause, is the best prospect of a de-escalation in trade hostilities.
Trump may act as uncontrollably as the fourth wheel on a supermarket cart, but there is a consistency there, grounded in the belief that destabilization of friends and adversaries creates an advantage for America. All this nonsense is a negotiating ploy to get the best possible terms for Trump. The only counter-strategy is to turn up the pressure on the president.
But a deal is always possible with such a mercurial figure.
Brian Mulroney is of a similar view.
The former prime minister was in Ottawa Monday night and suggested “this too will pass.”
He dismissed the grounds for Trump’s complaints. “How the hell can you have an unemployment rate of 3.8 per cent if your trade arrangements are so bad? The answer is they’re not,” he said. “I told (U.S. Commerce Secretary) Wilbur Ross that if I had a 3.8-per-cent unemployment rate, I’d still be prime minister of Canada.”
But he said Trudeau should wait until Trump returns from meeting Kim in Singapore, “when he will be happier with himself,” before calling to renew talks about NAFTA.
“This is a pretty big storm, but it is not lethal,” he said.
The great patriotic trade war may be averted yet. But if it is not, Canadian consumers have declared themselves ready, aye, ready.