Letter to the Editor

Where is the outrage over the massive tariffs that will send US consumer prices skyrocketing? The vast majority of Canadian exports to the US involve raw materials and components, critical inputs for American manufacturing. Yet, they are about to slap a blanket 25% tariff on those very goods, driving up costs for their businesses and, ultimately, forcing American consumers to pay the price.

We’ve seen this movie before. Economic studies on Trump’s first-term tariffs (2017–2020) show that American consumers bore most of the economic burden. Prices went up, wages stagnated, and manufacturing didn’t magically return to the US. So why aren’t American businesses shouting this from the rooftops?

Canada’s economy is built to supply U.S. industry — these tariffs will hit Americans hard.

Consider this: Canada has already offloaded much of our consumer manufacturing. Yet our economy is export-driven, with more than 30% of its GDP reliant on trade.

In 2023 alone, Canada exported $439.6 billion to the US. Our biggest export:

• $128.51 billion in oil & gas – $117 billion of which was crude petroleum underpriced by American dictate! Almost 30 percent of all US-bound Canadian exports are oil and gas. Explains why Danielle Smith is having her day in the sun.
• $58.21 billion in car parts. But then Canada imported $53.31 billion mostly in finished vehicles. It’s a near wash and we have one-tenth their population.
• $33.7 billion in machinery, boilers, nuclear reactors – because building nuclear plants isn’t exactly plug-and-play.
• $14.5 billion in plastics, bound mostly for American manufacturing.
• $11.87 billion in electrical and electronic goods.
• $11.53 billion in wood and wood products already subject to an illegal tariff. California rebuilding is going to be hit hard!
• $11.36 billion in aluminum.
• $8.51 billion in iron & steel.
• $6.86 billion in pulp & paper.
• $6.75 billion in pharmaceuticals.
• $5.1 billion in optical, technical, and medical apparatus.
• $4.59 billion in fertilizer.

This isn’t about cheap consumer goods. Most of these products are essential industrial inputs. The US isn’t set up to replace them, and retaliatory tariffs will only drive up costs for American manufacturers. After natural resources the majority of what remains is high-tech, specialized, and proprietary, meaning it can’t just be replaced.

Slapping broad tariffs on Canada isn’t “America First” policy—it’s a tax on American businesses and consumers. Canada will adjust! Personally the decision has been made to switch up from an American-made vehicle to a Subaru. Canadian consumers aren’t stupid!

So why aren’t more people talking about this? Where’s the American outrage?

Robin Goldsbury,

Balfour 

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