Leaders on both sides of border need to stand up

By Lethbridge Herald on February 21, 2025.

LEAVE IT TO BEEBER – Al Beeber

With national outrage from coast to coast over Donald Trump’s recently announced steel and aluminum tariffs to be implemented on March 12 and other tariffs on the horizon, Canadians suddenly are showing national pride like nothing we’ve seen in recent memory except perhaps during Olympic hockey games.

Trump’s comments about making Canada a 51st state have also caused antagonism and it’s clear this is a real threat to our national sovereignty, one which we cannot afford to take lightly.

With the threats to our economy and existence as an independent country in charge of its own destiny, Canadians are rallying to support local, provincial and national businesses.

Social media has groups dedicated to letting people know which homegrown products they can buy and where to potentially find them.

Canada is now somewhat united. We aren’t necessarily strong in terms of military or economic might but we are becoming united while we are still free.

And that is something we can be proud about because this country, which is so often divided, is coming together to support each other. Canada, a country where political division, cultural division, racial division, social division has at times seemed to be tearing our nation apart, is uniting in almost a religious fervour against a country which increasingly is being seen as an enemy to our survival. America, our closest neighbour and strongest friend, now is being seen as a threat to our freedom rather than an ally we can rely upon and depend upon for its support.

Did anyone even see this coming regardless of how Trump and his minions have acted in the past? Did anyone expect such an upheaval so quickly? Did everybody just dismiss him as all bluster and no substance? If so, everyone was wrong.

And now we are reacting. But is this too little too late? Is our reaction going to be effective? How much of an impact will “Buy Canadian” make on America? And will it be a positive impact? In terms of economic power, this is a very small David versus a massive Goliath battle. It’s like a Middle Ages swordsman waging war against a tank.

Consider these figures: In 2024, the United States had a population of 345,426,571.Canada, meanwhile, had 41,465,298 souls living here.

Canada was the America’s biggest market for exports with the U.S. generating $356.5 billion in sales from us. Mexico was its second largest trading partner with $324.3 billion in exports while China ranked a distant third with $150.4 billion in exports.

Those figures make one wonder why Trump is targeting Canada and the U.S. – when both countries are key to its economy. But if you read the news you’ll see that he figures his country is being treated unfairly. Between Canada and Mexico, our American neighbour is generating annual sales of more than $680 billion thanks to residents of our two countries purchasing their products.

With these figures in mind, Canadians may in righteous anger start flying Maple Leaf flags – which hopefully are made in Canada – in windows, on flagpoles and on their American-made SUVs as they drive to work on American-made tires to perhaps a company whose largest customer is based in the U.S.

But there’s a bit of a problem with this rise in nationalism. The U.S. has a small trade deficit with Canada which exports $410 billion of products annually to that country, hence perhaps Trump’s bluster about being treated unfairly. We rely on the U.S. for our economic survival since 80 per cent of Canadian exports head south.

Given the population difference, the reason for that deficit is pretty obvious – we have fewer residents to consume American products – which we do in wild abandon – so Trump’s objections about unfairness make no sense. We’re simply a smaller trading partner who by the way are the No.1 export market for 30 or more American states, those states whose own economies rely on Canada heavily.

Why this isn’t considered by the Trump administration is a big question but the point has been made to him by leaders in his own country. America needs Canada and tariffs are going to hurt that country as well. Maybe not to the same extent but they will still damage the American economy.

What are our biggest exports stateside? Crude oil obviously is No. 1 at $97 billion followed by automobiles at $35 billion and natural gas at just over $14 billion.

And while buying Canadian is an admirable objective, with a population so much smaller than America’s, we can’t hope realistically to buy enough Canadian goods to offset the amount we spend on U.S.-made products. Our next largest customer after the U.S. – you may have guessed – is China to whom Canada exports $31.1 billion of goods each year followed by the United Kingdom where Canadians sell $18 billion worth of products each year. Japan is our fourth largest trading partner, a country to which we export $13.4 billion of goods each year. Exports to those countries only total about $62.5 billion annually, about one sixth of our total exports to the U.S. – if my math is right.

What about inter-provincial trade? According to Statistics Canada, in 2022 the total value of that was $170.5 billion. It’s been estimated that removing provincial trade barriers to increase the flow of goods among provinces would eventually have a positive impact of roughly four to eight per cent.

So realistically, selling more beer, eggs, milk, wine or whatever to each other isn’t an immediate solution to decreasing our reliance on American-made products unless we can ramp up manufacturing in diverse sectors. And we can’t expect that to happen quickly.

So we are stuck with the prospect of potentially life-altering economic conditions for at least the next four years. Unless diplomacy can prevail, which on the surface seems unlikely considering the political atmosphere that exists stateside.

Can diplomacy work? Is there a solution to this economic crisis which has the potential to damage Canadian-U.S. relations as we’re already seeing by anthems being pointlessly booed on both side of the border?

Only time will tell but boosting sales of Canadian products globally and provincially is only going to have a limited economic impact given on our reliance on the U.S. to buy our goods..

We need our political and business leaders on both sides of the border to stand up to the American leadership to prevent disaster from unfolding. We need them to convince Trump that tariffs will hurt both countries economically and damage the friendship that our two countries have. This is more than economic, the tariffs are an attack on what really is a family relationship. A relationship that is at risk of being torn apart.