No Joking Matter

Some Canadians see the threat of a 25% tariff and Donald Trump’s subsequent reference to our Prime Minister as the ‘Governor of the 51st State’ as a joke; but Canadian social media has exploded with retorting, threatening jibes that I won’t quote. Let’s just say Canadians don’t appreciate the United States’ President Elect’s shock jock style of negotiating.

Trump has it wrong. Canada is a sovereign state. He cannot buy it or use it as a negotiation element. The Dominion of Canada is also a part of the United Kingdom and while mostly symbolic, technically, King Charles III is the Head of State. Just like his idea to purchase Greenland, Trump’s latest quip flaunts his complete ignorance of how world governments work.

Let’s be serious for a minute before this escalates. And you know it will.

In 2023, the United States of America imported about $430 billion dollars worth of oil, vehicles, machinery, metals, wood, foods and a plethora of other goods. And Canada imports about half that from the U.S.A. Much of the trade is north/south to save transportation costs to and from east/west. What most people don’t understand is how intertwined the trade between the two countries is: one third of it occurs over the Detroit/Windsor Ambassador Bridge with multiple vehicle ‘feeder’ parts going back and forth in the automotive process of manufacturing a vehicle. Tariffs on either side would severely restrict the industry for both countries.

Both countries are rich in natural resources. Canada is larger than the United States in land and water mass but has only about 11% of the population resulting in a much quicker depletion of those resources in the States. It has been clear to Canadians that the U.S.A. wants our natural resources. For decades, Canadians have been touting how we should be protecting the north – our boreal forest, our waterways, our minerals – and whinging about selling any of it. With worldwide population growth and oncoming climate change we have an obligation to protect natural resources.

Don’t get me started about the massive water diversions to the U.S.A.: already siphoning 60 billion cubic meters of Canadian water annually while rashly exhausting its own aquifers without looking for alternative responsible farming methods. Donnie even had the audacity to talk about “essentially a very large faucet” in Canada’s British Columbia to re-route to California. Sigh.

We watched quietly during the election; most of us in disbelief at the sadly comical claims and dreadful results. Canadians are thinking that maybe your President Elect doesn’t realize that most of his assertions aren’t possible, maybe he’s just trying to frighten people, maybe he’s thinking if he starts with a wild threat then his opposition will succumb to the terms he is really after. On the other hand, maybe he’s just truly a wiener head. (Look up the Urban Dictionary definition.)

Americans and Canadians have been friends for many years. The frequency with which we have worked together, come to each other’s aid, respected our differences, enjoyed each other’s lands for vacations, shared and supported each other’s ideas and resources demonstrates our positive relationship. Our only hope is that there are enough level-headed politicians in the American House and Senate to restrain your new leader. (And I use that term loosely.)