Trump follows through with his 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada
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U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico are now in effect.
This tariff war with Canada and Mexico is unfortunate and will cause short-term and long-term economic damage. It’s not surprising that the President is about to follow through on them, however.
Trump employed tariffs during his first presidential administration, including 25 per cent tariffs on steel and 10 per cent tariffs on aluminum products between June 2018 to May 2019. He warned about forthcoming tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican products last November on Truth Social. He imposed a 10 per cent tariff on China in February, and told the media gathered at the White House that it will be increased to 20 per cent. He brought back the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum in February, setting them both at 25 per cent. He’s threatening to impose 25 per cent tariffs on the European Union, too.
He isn’t playing games in his second presidential term. This much is clear.
Trump isn’t the first U.S. President to use tariffs as a political tool. That honour goes to William McKinley, who served from March 1897 to September 1901. An assassin’s bullet abruptly ended his life early in his second presidential term.
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When McKinley was still a Republican House Representative from Ohio, he framed the Tariff Act of 1890, also known as the McKinley Tariff. This controversial policy from the “Napoleon of Protection,” as some liked to call him, raised the import duty on items like tin-plate and wool to nearly 50 per cent. He believed it would help protect U.S. industry and blue collar workers from foreign companies and global competition. The McKinley Tariff was replaced by the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act in 1894. The latter slightly reduced the former’s high tariff rate, and introduced America’s first peacetime income tax rate.
Trump’s respect for McKinley’s presidency and economic efforts remains intact. How do we know this? Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order to rename Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America, back to its original name. What was it? Mount McKinley.
Trump has used tariffs as a bargaining chip with other countries that he feels aren’t holding up their end of the financial bargain. In the case of Canada and Mexico, he’s irritated with the amount of money the U.S. spends to help and protect both countries. This is combined with the relative inaction by Canadian and Mexican political leaders to stop the high levels of illegal immigration and illicit drugs like Fentanyl coming across the North American border.
The facts and figures related to Canada aren’t nearly the same as Mexico’s. Nevertheless, Trump is right in suggesting border safety and security hasn’t been a high priority for Canada or Mexico. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dropped the ball badly on this issue, and it shows. There’s also a major issue with Fentanyl in our country. “On per capita population, we’re losing more Canadians than Americans are losing Americans,” Public Safety Minister David McGuinty told the media on Feb. 6, and “we are connected with this crisis.” Asian drug cartels are a long-standing problem in Canada, too.
Trump is also planning to use the tariffs to enhance America’s economic advantage. This would likely go through the proposed External Revenue Service which, if approved, would replace the Internal Revenue Service. It would “collect tariffs, duties, and other foreign trade-related revenues as part of Trump’s America First Trade Policy. The feasibility of abolishing the IRS and replacing it with the ERS remains unclear. If this proposal can overcome a litany of potential constitutional and political hurdles, it could be of real benefit to U.S. taxpayers.
One final point. Some of Trump’s critics have claimed none of this would have ever happened had Kamala Harris become President. Guess what? That’s not necessarily true.
Many Democrats and left-leaning progressives have supported and promoted the concept of tariffs. Former U.S. President Joe Biden “continued most of the Trump-era tariffs on China, and introduced others,” the Lowy Institute noted on Sept. 30, 2024, and a “Harris administration would likely continue to use tariffs (mostly on China) to address what the United States views as unfair competition and to accelerate the energy transition to meet the US emissions reduction goals.” Politico’s E&E News also pointed out on Oct. 29, 2024 that “both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have pledged to slap penalties on clean energy goods and other imports to boost U.S. manufacturing. Their platforms signal a dramatic transformation for a country that led efforts to liberalize global trade for more than half a century.”
Would Harris have done the same thing as Trump and implemented 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican products? It’s impossible to say with any certainty, but it’s also wrong-headed to suggest it couldn’t have occurred at some point. We’ll never know for sure.
Here’s what we do know. Trump’s tariff threat is now a reality in Canada.
Michael Taube is a political commentator, Troy Media syndicated columnist and former speechwriter for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He holds a master’s degree in comparative politics from the London School of Economics, lending academic rigour to his political insights.
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