Before Canada gets caught up in an unwinnable race to implement self-imposed sanctions in response to the implementation of self-imposed sanctions by the United States, Terrance Corcoran has an alternative strategy.
Ottawa is reportedly gearing up tariff strategies, including one that would apply to every U.S. product Canada imports, from Florida orange juice to Pittsburgh steel.
All of which is a perversion of the economic principles of free trade, made even more perverse by the fact that these protectionist tariff plans mean that Canada would be adopting Trump’s economically irrational scheme to impose tariffs that would drive up U.S. consumer prices and raise costs for U.S. industry — all in the absurd belief that because Canada exports more to the U.S. than it imports there is a trade “imbalance” that needs to be fixed.
” … the main obstacle to free trade in reciprocal agreements is the influence of home-based special and corporate interests seeking protection.”
Trump can milk that one for all its worth.
😉
I’m not going to join ‘Team Liberal Border Stupidity’ on this one.
Team ‘Economic Suicide’….
I might sign up for ‘Team GFY, Ottawa’ though.
From the end of the article
“Ciuriak notes how China brought in its own trade liberalization over the past two decades. In other words it was trade – not tariffs – that “Made China Great Again”.
Ciuriak is an economist and career civil servant.
https://www.cigionline.org/people/dan-ciuriak/
To think that China has no trade restrictions or tariffs is ridiculous. Here’s a listing of Chinese tariffs on imports:
https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/daily_update_e/tariff_profiles/cn_e.pdf
Meh.
Is this even about trade?
TDS is a real thing,with so many Canadian Victims.
Self identifying and glorying in their victim status.
This whole fiasco is the equivalent of the big guy threatening a wedgie unless you smarten up,followed by the idiots competing to give themselves..the most painful wedgies.
Canada is ruled by fools and bandits.
Confederation is a bad joke.
And all these Dear leaders fear and loath “Free Trade” or even fair trade,because their power lies in government manipulated monopolies.
And trade across Provincial borders demonstrates the dishonesty of our helpers.
Makes me wonder,is there a correlation between habitual lying and the severity of Trump Derangement Syndrome?
For we already see that every accusation,of motives most foul,made by our progressive comrades..Turns out to be their confession.
Canadians, by and large, absolutely do not understand why Americans voted for Trump. More than that, they refuse to even attempt to understand. Most Canadians perceive Trump to be an idiot and/or a narcissist and/or a dangerous man unfit to be POTUS, and that Americans must be weapons-grade stupid to elect him. Hence the tariffs are just Trump being stupid, and that if Canada punches back, Trump will learn he was stupid and stop it.
There’s nothing approaching rationality or intelligence in any of that, but that’s the level upon which the average Canadian engages international affairs. We are a silly unserious country that has taken its security and prosperity for granted for a good 30 years if not more, and now that reality threatens to, not even punch us, but at least poke us, in the mouth, we stand slack-jawed in wonder that such a thing could possibly happen.
We have to go through a LOT of pain to learn how to be a serious people again, if it’s even still possible. Best get on with it.
I wonder if Corcoran is being wilfully dense, because we can’t even get free trade in canada, and/or end various protectionist schemes that benefit Quebec, so the likelihood of unilateral “free trade” with other countries is next to zero.
That doesn’t include the lunacy that the Liberals tried to bake into the various trade deals.
What about securing the border. Is that not at the heart of Trump’s tariffs? Funny how that’s never mentioned.
Securing the border is a red herring.
Why not have US troops patrol the border on the U.S. side? It would give them something to do instead of sitting around in Syria, Iraq, Germany, South Korea, etc.
A couple of shots at illegal border crossers and the problem stops.
Other troops could be used to inspect goods coming in from China. 690 million uninspected small packages came in from China last year.
If the USA wants tariffs, it is their choice.
Canada can likewise put up tariffs on imports to support our industry. “export” tariffs are just stupid.
That is how the relationship previously worked. We’ll end up again with branch plants like we had in the 1980s.
Not the most theoretically efficient economic model but its not bad.
Being self sufficient in critical areas is actually good. Having multiple trade partners is actually good.
Lots of short term pain as industries realign. Not unlike what happened in the 1980s.
I don’t get the outrage aspect.
Yeah lets make orange juice even more expensive to support the Canadian orange growers.
Or we could just secure our borders and have the whole stupid thing go away.
Subsidies and tariffs are euphemisms for governments cornholing free markets.
Trumpy said he’d lower inflation.
So he’s going to impose a 25% tariff on all imports. Won’t that make goods more expensive?
Trumpy says American producers will pick up the slack. Perhaps, but the ones that do will raise their prices to just below the tariffed import price. It’s called making a buck.
I don’t see how raising tariffs make prices (inflation) go down.
If inflation isn’t controlled, Trumpy loses big time at the mid-terms.
You might want to share your concerns with chairman of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Here’s the email: Stephen Miran@manhattan-institute.org
Trump:
“China is destabilizing the US and fentanyl is one arm of hybrid war”
Canada, Mexico, Bill, Barak, and Biden supported China’s successful war against North American manufacturing and heavy industry. Port of Vancouver is the hub for fentanyl producers and world money launderers. Large prison sentences won’t happen under Liberal Party of Canada during their fentanyl attack. TD bank fined $3 Billion for laundering Chinese fentanyl money.
Securing the western hemisphere (includes Greenland) from China requires sacrifice since their 5th column is alive and well, but after 80 years has finally stopped growing. Few will have the honour of fighting it through to victory because of the high costs in time, effort, wealth, and lives.
BTW: the source of the term “TDS” is another clever moniker from China to distract us from the one and only real issue. We squabble amongst ourselves while the dragon destroys. Donald Trump is a dragon slayer.
The #Libranos will spend the next months saying how they are “fighting for Canadians”
Everything from the federal gov’t of tier 2 Canada is a lie.
When is the election?
Only morons still believe in free trade. Read Ian Fletcher’s book: Free Trade doesn’t Work.
America would benefit from a trade war with Canada. Free trade benefited Canada at the expense of America.
Stop calling me “cooler head”. Yes, I’ve spent time in the cooler, but it’s not who I am.
Yes, I am in fact wearing a cooler on my head. I think it looks good. What’s your problem?
Imagine if instead of blowing BILLIONS on the electric green scheme we invested that money into securing the border, stopping the flow of fentanyl, and upping our military spending. All of this would benefit every Canadian.