The Canadian strategy for countering Trump tariffs can be summed up in four words: “How ’bout them apples.”
We in Washington have reason to learn the language. A carefully built market in India for Washington apples has crashed, the Indian government imposing retaliatory tariffs after the U.S. president slapped duties on goods imported from South Asia.
By no coincidence, British Columbia Premier David Eby is on a trade mission to India, part of Canada’s strategy of expanding markets to withstand losses of business south of the American border. India is soon to have the world’s third-largest economy.
“India’s a key market for B.C. with enormous opportunities for trade,” Eby explained before leaving. Who would be so dumb as to kiss off a market of such size? Donald Trump, that’s who. Likewise China, where Prime Minister Mark Mark Carney is presently courting new markets for Canadian goods.
The travels are components of a multi-pronged Great White North strategy to expand foreign markets while inflicting pain on its gargantuan southern neighbor. Designed by Carney, a Harvard-schooled economist, that strategy appears to be working.
Carney has hit the road, heading for Beijing and a meeting with Xi JinPing. China and Canada have done a trade deal under which Canada relaxes tariffs on electric vehicles from China and China does likewise with canola from Canada. The U.S. gets to watch.
While their leaders hit the road, Canadian vacationists and shoppers are staying home. Passenger vehicle traffic at the Blaine border crossing is down down 24 percent, 25 percent in Maine. “Snowbirds” are not taking flight to Florida. Such Canada-friendly businesses as the Bellisfaire Mall in Bellingham are hurting.
The Blaine checkpoints counted 3.45 million international visitors in 2023, one quarter of them Seattle-bound Canadians. Twelve percent of retail purchases in Whatcom County, in 2023, were made by Canadians. The numbers have markedly declined due to a “buy Canadian” program north of the border.
In words from the International Tourism U.S. Tourism Travel Association, “The impacts of President Trump’s tariff policies have been particularly stark in states along the US-Canada border, which have many businesses that rely on short term visits by Canadians.”
Canada is also hurting after the 25 percent tariffs Trump has slapped on imports. The shutdown of a mill in Crofton, B.C., announced last week, has resulted in loss of 350 jobs. The problem with tariffs is that two can play at this game. Populous Ontario has banned imports of Kentucky bourbon, while Washington wines have disappeared from shelves of liquor stores north of the 49th parallel.
“The States” and the “Great White North” have the world’s largest trading partnership. Canada did $54.8 billion worth of business with America in 2023, with Washington-B.C. trade accounting for $16.8 billion. Overall, trade supports 270,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Trade Statistics.
“We love Canada,” proclaimed Lt. Gov. Denny Heck, joining a delegation heading on a feather-soothing trip to Ottawa. But relations have reached the most tense point since the Second World War. Prime Ministers and Presidents have endured rocky relationships. Richard Nixon, in a private recording, called Pierre Elliott Trudeau an “asshole.” To which PET replied, “I’ve been called worse things by better men.”
There was a famous tiff, set off when Prime Minister Lester Pearson was mildly critical of US bombing of North Vietnam. At a meeting a day later, Lyndon Johnson grasped Pearson by the lapels and bellowed, “You pissed on my rug.”
The 51st state is off to a rocky start.
This article also appears in the Cascadia Advocate.
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