‘No room left for Mexico or Canada’ to make a deal, Trump says
U.S. President Donald Trump says his long-threatened trade war is going ahead with tariffs on Canadian goods set to take effect just after midnight and there’s nothing Canada can do to stop them.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said the United States has been “a laughingstock for years and years” and he needs to take trade action against its continental neighbours.
He said Canada has allowed fentanyl to flood into the U.S. despite data that shows the claim is false.
“Very importantly, tomorrow, tariffs, 25 per cent on Canada and 25 per cent on Mexico, and that will start. So, they’re gonna have to have a tariff,” Trump said.
There are other options than tariffs! Export taxes. Changes in regulation. Contract cancelations.
Canada has many options. We could, for instance, withdraw from bilateral copyright agreements. Or limit the amount of electricity that’s permitted to be exported.
Cory Doctorow suggests that we could establish Canadian app stores with a 5% cut and mandate that all phones sold in Canada be configured to use them. Lots of ideas, on a scale from good to bad, but there’s options.