USA

US business leaders are offering a mixed reaction to steep trade tariffs that Donald Trump’s administration has imposed on Canada, Mexico and China, as the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal called it “the dumbest trade war in history”.

Donald Trump hit Canada and Mexico with a 25% tariff on imports, and China with 10%, on Saturday in a move that launched a new era of trade wars between the US and three of its largest trading partners. The tariffs against Canada exclude oil and energy products.

OTTAWA — U.S.-made booze, tobacco, poultry, shampoos, toothpastes, motorcycles, firearms, furniture, ketchup, spices and even chocolate are about to jump in price as the Canadian government unveiled a first list of American items to be hit with 25 per cent retaliatory tariffs as of Tuesday.

The CEO of Canada’s second-largest publicly traded company says Canadians want their government to do all the things that President Trump is demanding — and slammed outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for not preventing the trade war.

Trump, 78, on Saturday, signed an executive order to slap 25% across-the-board tariffs on America’s northern neighbor, citing its failure to meet his demands on helping crack the fentanyl and illegal immigration trade.

Everyone should blame Trudeau. He is the author of this mess.

Addressing both Canadians and Americans on Saturday night, at one of the most fraught moments in the history of relations between Canada and the United States, Justin Trudeau reminded listeners of John F. Kennedy’s words when the late American president addressed Parliament in May 1961.

“Geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies,” the prime minister said, quoting Kennedy.

Trudeau did not repeat the next sentence in Kennedy’s remarks: “Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder.”

Justin Trudeau is not a Canadian patriot.

He is a stupid man driven by delusions of grandeur who has destroyed the fabric of our nation by his ruinous policies.

Mass Immigration, economic destruction, the degradation of Canada’s heritage, petty tyranny and so much more have very nearly turned us into as Trump has aptly stated “not a viable nation”.

People will lose their jobs on both sides of the border but Trump will not even take Trudeau’s calls and I don’t blame him.

We need an election yesterday.

Justin Trudeau is not a Canadian patriot. He is a stupid globalist with delusions of grandeur who destroyed the fabric of our nation by his ruinous policies. Mass Immigration, economic destruction, the degradation of our heritage have made us as Trump says "not a viable nation".

— Blazingcatfur (@fancypants_s) February 2, 2025

Associating America’s northern neighbor with the conduct of China and Mexico is an outrage.

President Trump has not, as the Wall Street Journal claimed on Saturday, unleashed “the Dumbest Trade War in History;” at least not in respect of Mexico and Communist China. It may, though, be in contention for that honor in respect of Canada. In holding Mexico and China, as the president claims, “accountable to their promises of ending illegal immigration and stopping the flow of deadly fentanyl and other drugs into our country,” the steps he is taking are justifiable.

They have abused Mexico’s status in the tripartite North American Free Trade Agreement, and have effectively facilitated an invasion of destitute people across the southern border of the United States while also being complicit in the illegal entry into America of a large number of dangerous criminals and a horrifying quantity of lethal narcotics. The offenses that Mexico and China have inflicted on the United States are substantially economic and this justifies strong economic counter-measures against Mexico and China.

But …

Here’s a news feature from last year on the problem: https://t.co/H7BTpI2tnw

— Anthony Furey (@anthonyfurey) February 1, 2025

And now the latest from Andrew Coyne …

I wish this latest round of bed-wetting from Andrew Coyne came as more of a surprise. But anyone afraid of annexation is suffering from an acute and irrational phobia best treated by spending less time on social media.

I've never opined on "the wisdom of Trump's strategic vision… https://t.co/OEPA9peYDp

— Conrad Black (@ConradMBlack) February 2, 2025

All American liquor will be removed from LCBO shelves starting Tuesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the day after the U.S. levied punishing tariffs on Canadian products.

“As part of Ontario’s response strategy to the imposed U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, the government of Ontario has directed (the) LCBO to indefinitely stop all sales of U.S. alcohol products in our stores and online and to stop wholesale sales of U.S. products to restaurants, bars, grocery and other retailers no later than February 4, 2025,” an LCBO spokesperson confirmed to CTV News.

Fearless prediction: Canadian politicians will be caught swilling “banned” American hooch.

Donald Trump has said that his global trade war will be worth the “pain” as it will create a “golden age of America”.

The US President admitted that imposing sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China could lead to economic hardship for households, but it would be “worth the price that must be paid” – promising that the results would be “spectacular”.

The “Tariff Lobby,” headed by the Globalist, and always wrong, Wall Street Journal, is working hard to justify Countries like Canada, Mexico, China, and too many others to name, continue the decades long RIPOFF OF AMERICA, both with regard to TRADE, CRIME, AND POISONOUS DRUGS…

— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) February 2, 2025

We pay hundreds of Billions of Dollars to SUBSIDIZE Canada. Why? There is no reason. We don’t need anything they have. We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use. Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable…

— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) February 2, 2025

It’s finally happened. On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he will be imposing a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian energy products and 25 per cent tariffs on everything else, starting Tuesday. We have no idea what kind of negotiations took place between the Liberals and Trump. All we know is that Canada is now facing the greatest economic threat it has faced in decades.

I wonder if Trudeau insisted that trade negotiations be conducted through a Trans lense?