USA

As Canada barrels through one of the stormiest periods in its history toward an April 28 federal election, there’s a name that’s not on the ballot but is on people’s minds: Danielle Smith.

Ms. Smith, the premier of Alberta, the Western province often called the Texas of Canada because of its oil, ranches and conservative politics, is referred to as “divisive” by supporters and critics alike: People love her, people hate her, people love to hate her.

An unapologetic MAGA-aligned conservative, she has riled Canadians across the country by speaking admiringly of President Trump and focusing on her province’s fortunes, particularly its oil exports, even as the U.S. administration menaces Canada.

Ten tariff questions aren’t being asked — but should be.

1) President Trump’s so-called “trade war.”

Many call the American effort to obtain either tariff parity or a reduction in the roughly $1 trillion trade deficit and 50 years of consecutive trade deficits a “trade war.”

A Lawton has worked in Canada’s auto sector for more than a century.

Their children are “fifth generation Ford workers”, Kathryn Lawton said, and she and her husband both work for the carmaker in Windsor, the heart of Canada’s automobile sector, just a bridge away from the US state of Michigan.

So when US President Donald Trump suggested that Canada stole the American auto industry, Chad Lawton calls it “ludicrous”.

Donald Trump’s tariff crusade has frequently made Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter look like a paragon of sanity. While is it is tempting to mock and deride the United States at the moment, Canadians need to remember where our economic bread is buttered. Despite anything politicians or leaders may say, and like it or not, Canada’s economic future and success is tied to the United States for the foreseeable future.

Only Canada and China have chosen to impose counter levies in response to American tariffs.

Canada’s past chief negotiator for the new NAFTA says the country finds itself alone as one of the few globally to have used countermeasures against American tariffs.

Retaliatory tariffs on some American auto exports went into force on April 9. Canada has imposed a series of counter-tariffs to respond to U.S. levies on autos and steel and aluminum exports, as well as goods that aren’t compliant with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), which U.S. President Donald Trump imposed under the guise of addressing fentanyl.