The latest version of President Donald Trump’s mood-contingent tariffs took effect on Aug. 7, prompting him to post-boast two minutes before the clock struck midnight that “BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TARIFFS” are now pouring into the United States. He skipped the part where American companies pay those tariffs, which soon will trickle down to consumers in the form of higher prices.
The vast majority of economists and CEOs reject Trump’s market mayhem and predict that his tariffs will have disastrous consequences on the U.S. economy. Outside the MAGA echo-chamber of Fox News, where Trump’s economic illiteracy is celebrated, economists are aghast. In April, dozens of top economists, including two Nobel laureates, signed a letter advising that his tariffs have “no basis in economic reality” and that his tariff policy is “misguided,” warning it could cause a “self-inflicted recession.”
Hard data mapping the tariffs’ effects won’t be available immediately. Judging by the president’s recent handling of the jobs report — after which he fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner for simply doing her job — that data might not come out at all, at least not if he can help it. But it’s already clear that, contrary to his promise of creating more factory jobs, Trump’s tariff threats have coincided with job losses nationwide.
The president has purposely upended domestic and world trade, leading both the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development to downgrade their predictions for global economic growth as a result.
The president has purposely upended domestic and world trade, leading both the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development to downgrade their predictions for global economic growth as a result. Economists John Silvia and Brad Jensen argue that Trump’s tariffs will slow the economy, resulting simultaneously in fewer jobs and lower real wages. They predict the economic erosion will be a slow, steady process rather than an immediate collapse.
While some U.S. trade partners are shocked at the lack of pushback from Trump’s allegedly “pro-business” Republican party, no trading partner has been jilted quite so ignominiously as Canada.
Despite having only about 11% of the U.S. population, Canada was the single-largest importer of U.S. goods, and was our second-largest foreign investor. Trump’s mean-spirited tariffs and rhetoric have gutted that symbiosis for good. He hit Canadian steel and aluminum with up to 50% tariffs, and slapped Canadian pharmaceuticals and autos with 35% tariffs, depending on where components are made. The tariffs have already triggered Canadian layoffs, including at General Motors Canada, a subsidiary of American GM, and they will soon jack up the prices of $3 billion worth of Canadian pharmaceuticals that are consumed in the U.S. each year.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who also leads the province’s Progressive Conservative Party, urged forceful pushback. Instead of rolling over to please an irrational Trump, Ford wants Canada to “hit that guy back as hard as we possibly can.” But Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is a trained economist and former governor of both the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada, has taken a more measured approach. He recently noted that Trump is, in effect, now charging for access to the American economy — and is causing trading partners to look elsewhere.
Carney’s response has been a diplomatic and classy middle finger to Trump. Instead of tit for tat, the prime minister is pivoting Canada with precision toward alternative trade blocs like Europe and the Pacific Rim. He’s also seeding more self-reliance manufacturing, re-targeting billions into Canadian manufacturing investments as he approaches other nations where “free trade is a commitment, not a condition.”
Thanks to Trump, what was once one of the most stable, peaceful and lucrative relationships in the world has been destabilized. One in four Canadians now views the U.S. as an enemy, while 76% hold an unfavorable opinion of Trump and consider him “dangerous.”
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Impatient Canadians are taking matters into their own hands, boycotting U.S. products and promoting “Made in Canada” goods. A majority of Canadian provinces are shunning certain American products altogether. American-made beer, wine and spirits have disappeared from Canadian shelves, leading the CEO of Jack Daniel’s to call the boycott “worse than tariffs.”
Angry Canadians are also avoiding American foods, especially fast-food chains like McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Wendy’s and Domino’s. Other American-owned restaurants — including Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell and Popeyes — are also facing boycotts, while U.S. coffee chains Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts and Keurig have already reported loss of sales in the country. Canadians are also buying local and rejecting American products like butter and dairy spreads, prepared bakery foods, pizza, pastries and even American-made condiments, and tourists are skipping U.S. destinations, with Forbes reporting a 33% reduction in tourism from Canada in June.
As Canadians sour on their southern neighbor under Trump, anti-American rhetoric is spreading and Canadian nationalism is surging. Aside from the tariffs, Canadians are triggered by Trump’s repeated insults against the country’s sovereignty as he urges them, like a sarcastic mob boss offering protection, to become America’s 51st state. Over 60% of Canadians are calling for Carney to adopt retaliatory counter-tariffs.
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But instead of responding impulsively, the prime minister is playing the long game. Lamenting that Canada can “no longer count on” the U.S., which had been the country’s “most valued” trading partner, Carney is shifting Canada away from American customers and is helping affected companies find new buyers, forge new partnerships and develop new products.
In contrast to Trump’s bluster-filled, roulette approach to tariffs, Carney stresses he “will apply tariffs where they have the maximum impact in the United States and minimum impact in Canada.” Suggesting he will study the facts in product-specific markets before he acts — another marked contrast to Trump — Carney said he would not respond quickly but planned to adjust after the data comes in and develop a strategy that is industry specific.
Such is Trump and Carney’s study in contrasts that it has led an unprecedented number of Americans to research how to export an entirely new product to Canada: Themselves.
