Ignoring Market Turmoil, Trump Doubles Down on Economic War Against Canada With New Tariffs

President Trump says he is doubling tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum despite Wall Street’s recoil from the uncertainty and chaos surrounding multiple tariff announcements in recent weeks. Canada’s new leader says he has no intention of backing down, and that his country must be prepared for financial hardship. “This will go into effect TOMORROW MORNING, March 12th,” Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social Tuesday. The president further demanded that “Canada must immediately drop their Anti-American Farmer Tariff,” threatening to “permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada” with additional tariffs if Canada does not lower its own trade barriers. Mr. Trump says additional tariffs will come on April 2 unless the Canadians relent. The president said he is doubling steel and aluminum tariffs in response to the government of Ontario imposing a 25 percent tax on the electricity it sends to American customers in Minnesota, Michigan, and New York. The province’s premier, Doug Ford, estimated that it would cost the average household an extra $100 per month in the affected states.“If the United States escalates, I will not hesitate to shut the electricity off completely,” Mr. Ford said. “Believe me when I say I do not want to do this, I feel terrible for the American people, because it’s not the American people who started this trade war. It’s one person who’s responsible. That’s President Trump.”According to a report from ABC News, American officials are expected to announce Wednesday that Canadians in the United States longer than 30 days will soon be required to register with the federal government and be fingerprinted if they wish to remain in the country. Canadians have traditionally been exempt from such rules, according to the report, but the head of the Department of Homeland Security can change the requirements at will. Mr. Trump insists that the best way for the trade war to cease is for Canada to become America’s 51st state — something Canadians overwhelmingly oppose.“The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear. Canadians’ taxes will be very substantially reduced, they will be more secure, militarily and otherwise, than ever before, there would no longer be a Northern Border problem, and the greatest and most powerful nation in the World will be bigger, better and stronger than ever,” Mr. Trump wrote. The administration’s use of tariffs over the course of the last six weeks has caused turmoil in American markets. In the last month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down more than seven percent, while the S&P 500 Index has dropped nearly eight percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down double-digits. The sell-off on Wall Street continued Tuesday. A former treasury secretary, Lawrence Summers, said Mr. Trump’s trade war with Canada is increasing the odds of an economic recession in America. “The just announced tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum are the worst trade policy yet. Increasing the price of key inputs for the US manufacturing industries — who employ 10 million people — is what a U.S. adversary would do,” Mr. Summers said in a social media post. “It is a self-inflicted wound to the U.S. economy that we cannot afford.”Mr. Trump has brushed off concerns about a possible recession, telling Fox News over the weekend that he doesn’t like to “predict” those kinds of things. “There is a period of transition,” the president said. The trade war’s impacts on Canada domestically is also having a profound effect, reviving Prime Minister Trudeau’s incumbent Liberal Party from the dead. On Sunday, the Liberals chose a new leader, Mark Carney, who will take office as prime minister this week before leading his party into the next general election. Mr. Carney dedicated a significant portion of his victory speech at the Liberal Party convention to railing against Mr. Trump and his new tariff regime. “There’s someone who’s trying to weaken our economy: Donald Trump,” Mr. Carney declared. “My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect. … America is not Canada, and Canada will never, ever be a part of America in any way.”

Ignoring Market Turmoil, Trump Doubles Down on Economic War Against Canada With New Tariffs

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