Don’t Fall For Trump Tariff Bluster

Don’t people know when they are being played in Canada?

I mean the people at Ottawa City Hall know how this game is played. The tall foreheads there started with raising senior bus passes 120 per cent and eventually settled for 18. Well, 18 per cent is a lot better than 120 if, in fact, you think 18 is a good deal. Raising senior passes by 18 per cent is an outrage but the bombast of 120 makes 18 look good. Nobody should have settled for 18. Try three per cent … near the inflation rate. Screwing seniors … not a good look.

One-hundred-twenty per cent in the negotiating world is the ‘make ’em crazy bid’. The one nobody ever takes.

So are 25-per-cent tariffs. U.S. President Donald Trump might be crazy but he’s not stupid. That 25 per cent ruins the North American car industry. It raises the price of everything in the U.S. It causes a recession in Canada that could spread to the U.S. The Fed has worked hard to bring down inflation and then you throw 25 per cent at it. The price of goods such as lumber and scarce strategic minerals would skyrocket.

Is Trump about to destroy the North American economy and his presidency by raising tariffs? No. He just wants to scare Canada because it stands for everything he hates. He’s now ‘delayed’ raising tariffs twice because he has no intention of doing it. That’s bargaining. Now he tries to humiliate Canada and Mexico saying they can apply for exemptions. He wants us to beg.

No.

We have a free-trade deal in place and if it breaks it, there are penalties to pay. So don’t ask for exemptions. That only justifies the 25 per cent. It lends it credibility.

Don’t negotiate. There’s nothing to negotiate. He wants 25 per cent. Trump won’t get it. He’s not as stupid as he makes himself out to be.

He wants a negotiation. Don’t give it to him. There’s nothing to negotiate. The free-trade deal is in place and it must be renegotiated in two years. Then you negotiate.

Canada is in a position of strength. We have a signed deal. He’s trying to scare us.

Don’t negotiate.

That said, keep your powder dry in case he tries something else … and he will. And Trump won’t follow through. He’s all bluster but his hands are tied with the free-trade deal. Trump wants to break it? Pay the penalties.

And in the unlikely event that he imposes a tariff, buy billions of dollars of television time in the U.S. Buy the Super Bowl ads. We’ve got the money. And send this message …

“We didn’t want to raise your prices on lettuce, or basic necessities or at the gas pump. Donald Trump did that. The U.S. did it to itself. We don’t like inflation either … Canada didn’t raise tariffs that caused these price increases. The U.S. did. So ask your elected representative to take down those tariffs. They aren’t good for the U.S. or Canada. They’re not good for you and your family.

“A message from your friends in Canada.”

Ken Gray

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