What ultimately influenced U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision last week to delay the tariffs he planned to impose on Canadian imports was arguably Canada’s announcement of targeted retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports, strategically designed to affect Republican-leaning states the most. But the measures that may be enough to make Mr. Trump pause may not be enough to make him back off permanently.
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Consequently, unless retaliatory measures pose a significant economic threat to the United States, Mr. Trump is likely to proceed with imposing tariffs on trading partners with which the country has large trade deficits, such as China (US$350-billion), Mexico (US$130.6-billion), Canada (US$100-billion) and the European Union (US$200-billion).
The key challenge for Canada – and other U.S. trading partners – is clear: to design a package of retaliatory tariffs and countermeasures that maximally affect U.S. economic interests. One effective strategy to do so is targeting the U.S.’s massive and rapidly growing service trade surplus.
The average Canadian buys $8,381 worth of US imports ($352 billion, 42 million people, with some rounding). The average US citizen buys $1,246 worth of Canadian imports ($431 billion, 346 million people, again some rounding).
Canadians are being taken advantage of by the US, and then the US government is demanding more? We already buy more than 6.5 times as much of their imports, how much more is expected to “make it fair”?
He doesn’t understand that. He sees “trade deficit” and thinks he’s being ripped off because he’s a fucking idiot and doesn’t like to be corrected, so new information literally cannot enter his brain the same way as for us.
This is a man who famously stiffs everyone he hires. He thinks he’s being ripped off because he believes anyone who actually pays for the things they purchase are suckers and idiots.