Canada Is Ukraine

Trump is a Two-bit Putin

In the face of insults and a threat to destroy our sovereignty, Canada is done being nice. And the narcissist-in-chief at the White House is freaking out. Howard Lutnick, Trump's top trade negotiator, said it bluntly:

Instead of Canada meekly saying "thank you" to the United States, we are acting like "Ukraine."

Canada as Ukraine.

Now, the cards are on the table. We know exactly the frame by which the Trump administration is viewing us – like the gangster Putin - believing they can plunder us, break us, destroy us as a people. And they are upset that we haven't said thank you.

This was never about trade. The game plan all along was to crash Canada's economy. The way MAGA figured it, Canada would quickly cave and come crawling to the gangster headquarters in Washington. Canada would beg to be admitted as a vassal state.

But that hasn't happened. So, the stakes are getting much higher on both sides of the border.

Trump's erratic and vengeful economic policies have created increasing uncertainty in American markets. The United States looks like a nation careening towards a self-inflicted recession.

This is why MAGA is pissed at Canada for not bending. We were supposed to be an easy shakedown. The response has been equal parts bluster and whining. How else to make sense of Pete Navarro going on television to beg Canada to tone down the rhetoric? He says our talk of "throwing down the hockey gloves" is freaking the Americans out. He is asking for "cooler heads to prevail."

Navarro made the plea during a loony 24 hours as Trump threw tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel, then freaked out when Ontario responded with our own tariff on exporting electricity. So then he doubled the steel and aluminum tariffs to 50%. By this point, the American markets began to seriously tank.

This led his trade spokesman, Howard Lutnick, to call on Premier Ford to ask if they could meet in person. You know, de-escalate the rhetoric and let "cooler heads prevail."

Now, Lutnick is trying to spin another great Trump victory. It was all about "making some guy in Ontario [Premier Ford] break."

We shall see.

The problem for MAGA is that Trump won't let cooler heads prevail. In the midst of the tariff chaos with Canada, he opened a new trade war with Europe.

The United States economy is now deep in a trade war with China as Canada's $30 billion retaliatory tariffs kicked in, plus another EU's 29 billion euro slap at the Americans. Little wonder that the markets have become increasingly wary.

What we are witnessing is an unprecedented game of political and economic chicken. Industry investors are pulling out because nobody knows what Donald will do – day to day or even hour to hour.

Economies can't run amidst such chaos.

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The Economic Fallout

Let's look at some indicators.

In January, the American Travel Association warned that a 10% drop in Canadian travel to the United States could wipe out billions and cost thousands of jobs. In February, Canadian flights to the US dropped by a staggering 40%.

But instead of trying to entice Canadian travellers to return to Florida and Arizona, Homeland Security says the snowbirds will have to register as foreign aliens. They've backed off on plans to fingerprint Canadians. But still, so much for letting Canadians know that their dollars are welcome.

Prior to Trump 2.0, Canada represented the largest source of tourism dollars. And while it is too early to see how Trump's war with Europe will affect tourism, I am hearing from many Europeans who have embraced the Canadian boycott.

Let's talk bourbon.

Brough Brothers Distillery in Louisville had huge plans to expand into the Canadian market. Those plans are dead now. Kentucky whisky makers are also seeing their markets drop in other countries. They are quickly learning that Trump is the worst salesman on the planet for American wares. And nothing says America like bourbon.

Then there's his war on aluminum.

The United States is dependent on Canadian aluminum. It simply can't be produced at a reasonable cost in the United States because it can't compete with Quebec's low-cost hydro system. Quebec aluminum heads to the US, where it is manufactured for many uses, including beer cans. Throw on tariffs and retaliatory tariffs, and you have just put a massive hit on the brewery industry - now a staple of many small ton economies - on both sides of the border.

Theoretically, the United States could rearrange its energy grid to compete with low-cost energy from Quebec, but it will take a long time. If ever. Meanwhile, a number of dependent industries have been punched in the face.

But there is good news: Elon Musk has seen $126 billion in value wiped from Tesla in a single day. How's the toxic MAGA mania working out for you, Elon?

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The Fight for Democracy

This is not to make light of a very serious threat to Canada. We are in the fight for our lives. Canada is like Ukraine, and Trump is a two-bit Putin. We need to take his threats very seriously.

Canadians will need to embrace the spirit of Ukrainian resistance. And we must add that strong Canadian fire.

But we need to be cool-headed.

The reason the likes of Pete Navarro are getting freaked out is because Trump is running a massive con on the American people. While his economy starts to tank, investors flee, and prices rise, he acts like the tough guy.

This is going to come down to our determination to hold out while the chaos unleashed on the American people puts Trump in an increasingly weaker position.

I have quoted Yeats before when talking about the beast that has slouched into Washington. I will cite him once more:

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”

I don't believe Trump can keep it together as things fall apart.

We are on the front line of the fight for democracy. Stay the course.

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