Since President Trump entered office for his second presidential term in January, tension has slowly risen between the United States and Canada. This is mainly because of the disagreements between the two countries on tariff policies. Let’s get into some of the events that sparked this disagreement.
When Trump entered office, he promised to create new tariffs on international goods. A tariff is a tax imposed on the import or export of goods in a country. In early February, President Trump signed an executive order that imposed tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico, and China. Canada and Mexico have a 25% tariff, and China imports have an additional 10% tariff. Also, the energy imports from Canada would have a 10% lower tariff. The reason for the lower tariff for energy is that it leads to a domino effect, as the price of items including gasoline, electricity, and cars would increase.
Along with this order, President Trump wants to ensure that these countries are taking action to secure their borders. This applies especially to Canada and Mexico, which directly border America. Immigration has been a huge concern for Trump during his campaign and now during his presidency. In addition, the United States wants to limit the flow of dangerous drugs entering the country from international sources, most importantly fentanyl. Trump believes that these countries are contributing to the drug crisis, and imposing tariffs will lower the amount of fentanyl entering the country.
On February 3, a day before the order was supposed to be enforced, President Trump postponed the beginning of the executive order a month later. On March 4, the tariffs went into effect.
The tariffs have sparked a lot of controversy, mainly between the United States and Canada. It has gotten to the point where citizens of both countries have been bantering at each other. An example of how much average people care about these policies was shown in February when the United States and Canada played two hockey games against each other during the NHL’s Four Nations Faceoff. Canadians booed the American national anthem during the first game in Montreal, which fired up America to boo the Canadian national anthem for the next game in Boston.
Many leaders in Canada have publicly expressed pushback against the proposals that President Trump and the United States are making. The Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau along with the Premier of Ontario Doug Ford have both stated that they want the tariffs fully removed, rather than a compromise to meet in the middle. Ford stated, “Zero tariffs or nothing. This attack was not started by our country. This was started by President Trump. He decided to declare an economic war against our country and our province, and we’re going to hold strong.”
Canada may enact retaliatory tariffs if the United States does not drop the tariffs. This could lead to many problems for all Americans alike. More specifically for consumers, as the prices for everyday common goods could skyrocket. This is due to the supply of products being low, and the demand being high.
If this disagreement continues, both Canada and the United States could be drastically impacted economically.
