{"id":234616,"date":"2025-02-08T12:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T12:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/08\/a-trade-war-is-on-hold-but-trumps-motives-and-a-fix-remain-uncertain\/"},"modified":"2025-02-08T12:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T12:40:09","slug":"a-trade-war-is-on-hold-but-trumps-motives-and-a-fix-remain-uncertain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/08\/a-trade-war-is-on-hold-but-trumps-motives-and-a-fix-remain-uncertain\/","title":{"rendered":"A Trade War Is on Hold, but Trump\u2019s Motives and a Fix Remain Uncertain"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/08\/multimedia\/08canadaletter-bridge-qlwg\/08canadaletter-bridge-qlwg-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A Trade War Is on Hold, but Trump\u2019s Motives and a Fix Remain Uncertain\" title=\"A Trade War Is on Hold, but Trump\u2019s Motives and a Fix Remain Uncertain\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When I returned to Windsor, Ontario, the day before President Trump was set to impose potentially devastating tariffs on exports from Canada, fear was the city\u2019s prevailing mood. A week later, following Mr. Trump\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/03\/world\/americas\/canada-tariffs-trump-deal.html\" title=\"\">suspension of a 25 percent tariff<\/a> on most exports and 10 percent on oil, the mood has shifted more toward anger and the nation\u2019s focus has moved toward alternatives to the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Whether Mr. Trump will impose the tariffs in early March remains unknown. But Matina Stevis-Gridneff and I found that whatever happens, relations between Canada and the United States have undergone a profound shift.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">[Read: <\/em><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/08\/world\/canada\/us-canada-relations-trump-tariffs.html\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">Betrayed: How Trump\u2019s Tariff Threats Tore the U.S.-Canada Bond<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">]<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If the tariffs do come into effect, Windsor will be hit particularly hard. It has been nearly 60 years since Canada and the United States started integrating their automotive industries through a trade deal known as the auto pact. The North American Free Trade Agreement then brought Mexico into the mix.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While the president has frequently claimed that the United States is facing an emergency because of large amounts of fentanyl coming across its border with Canada, my colleague Vjosa Isai has documented how his claim that there is a significant problem is highly exaggerated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">[Read: <\/em><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/06\/world\/canada\/canada-fentanyl-trump.html\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">What to Know About Canada\u2019s Role in the Fentanyl Crisis<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> ]<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ana Swanson, who covers international trade in the Washington bureau, writes that to President Trump, \u201cone economic number represents everything that is wrong with the global economy: America\u2019s trade deficit.\u201d (The United States\u2019 trade deficit with Canada is a product of its oil imports.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">[Read: <\/em><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/05\/us\/politics\/trump-us-trade-deficit.html\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">One Economic Number Has Vexed Trump for Decades<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">]<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMr. Trump has shown a willingness to use American power in a way that most of his modern predecessors have not,\u201d Peter Baker, The Times\u2019s chief White House correspondent, writes. \u201cHis favorite blunt instrument is not military force but economic coercion.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There has been no ambiguity in Canada when it comes to Mr. Trump\u2019s proposed takeover. Politicians across the political spectrum reject it, and it has revived a sense of patriotism among Canadians.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That\u2019s a stark contrast to an earlier point in history. When what would become part of Canada was still British North America, in 1846, tariffs threatened to destabilize the economy, prompting economic anxiety and concern.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As part of a move toward free trade, however, Britain ended a system that gave preference to exports of grain, lumber and wheat from Canada and other colonies while <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca\/en\/article\/corn-laws#:~:text=Shifts%20in%20the%20level%20of,a%20movement%20towards%20free%20trade.\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">keeping out shipments from the United States<\/a> and elsewhere with high tariffs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was bad news for Canadian farmers and soon set off a panic among members of Montreal\u2019s elite when that city was the financial and business center of the colony. Within three years, they formed a group that published manifestoes urging Upper and Lower Canada\u2019s annexation by the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The removal of British tariffs \u201chas produced the most disastrous effects upon Canada,\u201d <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/canadahistory.ca\/sections\/documents\/colonial\/Annexation%20Manifesto.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">their 1849 manifesto<\/a> proclaimed before a conclusion that joining the United States was \u201cinevitable\u201d and that it was the signatories\u2019 \u201cduty to provide for and lawfully to promote.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">More than 300 people signed it. While the majority were members of Montreal\u2019s English-speaking business elite \u2014 including names still reflected in companies today, like Molson and Redpath \u2014 they also formed an unusual alliance with French-speaking nationalists under Louis-Joseph Papineau.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The movement failed to gain traction in Toronto and the rest of Upper Canada. A <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/SERIALSET-06105_00_00-016-0017-0000\/pdf\/SERIALSET-06105_00_00-016-0017-0000.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">trade pact with the United States in 1854<\/a> that replaced 21 percent tariffs with duty-free access for many key Canadian exports to the United States caused the annexation movement to wither away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe reciprocity deal puts a nail into the economic end of this argument \u2014 you could stay within the Empire and trade with the U.S.,\u201d Jeffrey McNairn, a history professor at Queen\u2019s University in Kingston, Ontario, told me. \u201cIt was a moment of tremendous uncertainty and a confluence of political, economic factors and people looking for a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<ul class=\"css-1le37cb ez3869y0\">\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">Arsons, shootings and sabotage, Vjosa Isai reports, are all part of a continuing <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/02\/world\/canada\/nova-scotia-canada-lobster.html\" title=\"\">battle over lobster<\/a> in Nova Scotia that raises thorny questions about Indigenous rights, economic equity and the conservation of resources.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">Research into Ontario\u2019s health records has concluded that <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/06\/health\/cannabis-marijuana-death-psychosis.html\" title=\"\">marijuana dependence \u201cis a public health threat<\/a> just like alcohol\u201d and that patients who developed it were 10 times as likely to die by suicide as those in the general population and also more likely to die from trauma, drug poisonings and lung cancer.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">A self-styled Canadian \u201cpirate\u201d stole <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/03\/nyregion\/cryptocurrency-hacker-theft-charges.html\" title=\"\">tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency<\/a>, prosecutors in Brooklyn say. The 22-year-old man remains at large.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">In The New York Times Magazine, Mireille Silcoff, a writer and cultural critic based in Montreal, writes that like many other Gen X women she is now having \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/05\/magazine\/sex-gen-x-women.html\" title=\"\">more and better sex<\/a> than I ever would have thought possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">In Real Estate, the What You Get feature looks at $300,000 <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/07\/realestate\/prince-edward-island-homes.html\" title=\"\">properties on Prince Edward Island<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/ian-austen\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">Ian Austen<\/em><\/a><\/strong><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> reports on Canada for The Times and is based in Ottawa. Originally from Windsor, Ontario, he covers politics, culture and the people of Canada and has reported on the country for two decades. He can be reached at <\/em><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/08\/world\/canada\/mailto:austen@nytimes.com\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">austen@nytimes.com<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">.<\/em><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> <\/em><\/strong><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/ian-austen\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">More about Ian Austen<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">How are we doing?<\/strong><br \/>We\u2019re eager to have your thoughts about this newsletter and events in Canada in general. Please send them to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/08\/world\/canada\/mailto:nytcanada@nytimes.com?%20subject=Canada%20Letter%20Newsletter%20Feedback\" title=\"\">nytcanada@nytimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">Like this email?<\/strong><br \/>Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/newsletters\/canada-letter?smid=nytemail&amp;smvar=canadaletter&amp;te=1&amp;nl=canada-today&amp;emc=edit_cnda_20190622\" title=\"\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/08\/world\/canada\/a-trade-war-is-on-hold-but-trumps-motives-and-a-fix-remain-uncertain.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I returned to Windsor, Ontario, the day before President Trump was set to impose potentially devastating tariffs on exports from Canada, fear was the city\u2019s prevailing mood. A week later, following Mr. Trump\u2019s suspension of a 25 percent tariff on most exports and 10 percent on oil, the mood has shifted more toward anger [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/08\/multimedia\/08canadaletter-bridge-qlwg\/08canadaletter-bridge-qlwg-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[740,165435,12274,2948,164053,183184,164052,3786,14195,1734,11071,3102],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234616"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":234618,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234616\/revisions\/234618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}