Canada’s best ally in the fight against Trump’s tariff agenda is economic reality.
Speaking at the Halifax Security Forum, Republican Senator Kevin Cramer (North Dakota) lamented the inflationary impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on softwood lumber and noted that some tariffs have previously been removed as a result of their inflationary effects:
“Cramer: I stay in pretty regular contact with the administration on these things. I’ve been a little bit frustrated, as you have, by how many cooks are in that kitchen. And by the way, if you haven’t noticed, the president has been taking down some tariffs little by little, country by country. He is noticing the inflationary outcome of some of those specific tariffs.
I happen to think that softwood lumber is probably the most obvious next inflationary product because it gets into homebuilding. Everybody needs a home, and our homebuilders need product, and it’s becoming more and more inflationary.”
On October 14th, Trump’s additional 10% tariff on softwood lumber came into effect, bringing total tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber to 45%.
With the U.S. Supreme Court set to rule soon on the legality of portions of Trump’s tariff agenda, those tariffs are becoming incredibly unpopular in the U.S. According to an ABC News/Washington Post/ Ipsos poll from early November, 65% of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling tariffs, while over 60% say tariffs hurt the inflation situation and hurt both the U.S. and the countries the U.S. imposes tariffs on. 55% say tariffs hurt their own family’s financial situation.
It turns out that the vast majority of economists were correct, and imposing massive tariffs on all your trading partners makes things worse.
Spencer Fernando
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