How to Respond to the Trump Tariffs

 

Daniel O'Connell achieved Catholic emancipation by following the Gospel
advice to "turn the other cheek."

A friend hasasked me what I would do in response to Trump’s tariff threats were I thegovernment of Canada.

Makingthreats, talking tough and retaliating with counter-tariffs is insane. Canadais sure to lose in a trade war. I fear Ford and the Liberals are actually preparedto destroy Canada for the sake of getting themselves re-elected one more time.

This is aperfect example of where Jesus’s advice to turn the other cheek applies. When one is dealing with anopponent of overwhelming superiority, the only hope is to appeal to theirconscience. Luckily, Americans have a good conscience and are already well-disposedto Canada.

1. Call Trump’s bluff in a dramaticfashion. Declare a referendum, to be held in a year, on Canada joining the US.As a government, stay strictly neutral, if you cannot openly favour the idea.Do nothing to restrict American money or influence from getting involved in thecampaign.

The referendum would almost certainly fail:current polls suggest only 10-15% of Canadians would support annexation. If itpassed, I doubt the Americans would let us in anyway. And if they did let usin, frankly, not a problem. They’re a democracy; we’d be fine.
The referendum campaign would, one hopes,inspire a lot of American speakers and opinion leaders to talk up Canada, inhopes of getting Canada to vote for annexation. And this would influence otherAmericans to be more sympathetic to our plight. Overall, this will impress onthe Americans that we are love them, are a part of them, not “other.”
And it would make many Americans feelresponsible for letting us down if they refused us entry. We would be buildingmoral capital.

2.       A charm offensive. Enlist a real “TeamCanada” of Canadian celebrities with a large following in the US, and ideallycachet with Trump’s base, to go on talk shows and podcasts talking about howclose Canadians and Americans have always been. And about growing up in Canada.Comedians are especially good for this, because people generally love anyonewho makes them laugh, and Canada has many comedians popular in the US. We wantto win the hearts and minds of the American public. We want them to identify withus and our lives, to see us as the same as Americans, growing up with Captain Kangaroo,the Muppets, and so forth, admiring American culture. Maybe pining for thingsthey had in America that we did not get.

We shouldalso develop our own ads, tugging at the heart-strings, with swelling music andnostalgic video clips, reminding Americans of times when Canadian hockey fans sangthe American national anthem, when Newfoundlanders welcomed stranded American airpassengers, when the Canadian embassy in Iran sheltered American diplomats, scenesof fighting together in Afghanistan, Korea, WWII, WWI; sharing joy at VE Day.How baseball, football, and basketball all have Canadian as well as Americanroots. There’s a lot of material available.

3. Regardless of Trump or the Americans,we ought to want to stop all fentanyl traffic and keep terrorists out. Canadiansare dying. We should immediately offer to set up a high-level joint task forcewith the USA, like we once did with NORAD.

The Americansalso want us to spend more money on defense; but this is also in our own nationalinterest, and our NATO commitment. We need to be able to defend our Arctic. Whyfight over it? Let’s do it.

4. Trump goes on about the tradedeficit. There are a number of major “trade irritants” the Americans have longcomplained about. But what they want is actually, in many cases, also what is bestfor Canadians. Our own government, pandering to special interests, is the problem.They are suckering us by appealing to patriotism, the last refuge of ascoundrel.

a.       We should want to drop “supplymanagement” for dairy and eggs: it is not just unfair to US farmers, it is acruel levy on the Canadian poor, a huge transfer of wealth from the poor to therich.

b.       We should lift restrictions on USinvestment in Canada. These are good for a few oligarchs, because they limit competition.But refusing investment is obviously bad for the Canadian economy, hobbles job growth,limits choices, and raises prices. We should have the courage to compete openlyin the entire North American market.

c.       We should end all “Canadian content”regulations. Americans see these as unfair trade practices, and in the age ofinfinite information over the internet, they are unenforceable, intolerablerestrictions on freedom of speech, and only cripple Canadian media outlets inthe market.

d.       We should limit the use of anyChinese parts in Canadian manufactures resold on to the US market. It is morein our interests than in those of the US to ensure that anything labelled “madein Canada” is actually made in Canada.

e.       We should stop subsidizing anycompanies or industries. Any such subsidies are trade irritants. They look likeunfair competition to the Americans, because they really are unfaircompetition. They are also almost guarantees of graft and government corruption,distorting market forces, and transferring wealth from the poor to the rich.

We probably don’t want to do all this unilaterally,instead of holding them back as bargaining chips in trade negotiations. But weshould be negotiating right now: on the 25% tariffs. Throw some meat on thetable as an immediate offer in exchange for removing these tariffs.

By doing all this, we will win the Americanpublic over to our side. And they will also see thir prices rising due totariffs. Together, these should make keeping the tariffs on politicallyunsustainable for an American government.

'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.