Just hours before the next batch of Trump tariffs almost certainly comes into force, affecting a long list of Canada-prodiced items, there is still talk of retaliatalory tariffs. The question is: why?
Despite what Donald Trump wants you to think, tariffs are a tax on the levying country. Everyone else underatamds that. So, why would we want to do that to our own hard-pressed consuners and businesses?
The answer apparently, has nothing to do with economics. Economically, it makes no semse for us to levy counter-tariffs, even targeted tariffs. But not to retaliate would send a bad political message, and open up the possibility of further tariffs down the road, imposed apparently with impunity.
I get it: doing nothing implies weakness, and Trump punishes weakness. But I'm not convinced that responding with force is necessarily going to deter future escalations. Retaliation or no retaliation, further threats and bullying is always a possibility with Trump, who is never satisfied.
Perhaps even more pertinent, though, is the matter of optics for Mark Carney and his Liberal government. Carney was explicitly elected on a platform of standing up to Trump, or not rolling over, and polls are clear in their portrayal of Canadian as expecting some show of strength, some "elbows up". Carney's responses so far have been distinctly mixed, and many Canadians think he has already gone too far down the road of appeasement. So, a strong response is particularly important this time, and for most Canadians that means retaliation, however ill-advised.
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