Mark Slapinski - February 25, 2026


Why America's Trade War With Canada Failed


Episode Stats

Length

6 minutes

Words per Minute

186.61989

Word Count

1,259

Sentence Count

109

Misogynist Sentences

1


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Now whether you love Donald Trump or hate Donald Trump we have something serious to talk about
00:00:04.300 and that's the ongoing trade war between Canada and the United States. This whole trade war has
00:00:09.020 turned out to be a costly mistake. Not only has it hurt Canadians but it's also hurt Americans as
00:00:14.100 well. Let me explain. When Donald Trump put tariffs on Canada back in 25 it was supposed to bring in
00:00:19.120 this golden age of manufacturing. However that didn't happen. What happened was prices rose,
00:00:25.000 America lost its standing in the world and it pushed away its closest allies. Now this isn't
00:00:30.140 about left or right politics. This is simply about Donald Trump's trade war with Canada
00:00:34.180 and how it backfired on America. Now to understand what happened let's try to get where Donald Trump
00:00:39.400 was coming from. Donald Trump is a big fan of tariffs. He has long said that tariffs are his
00:00:44.760 favorite word. Tariffs. My favorite word. Tariffs. All tariffs really are are an import tax. So when
00:00:52.080 Donald Trump says that he's putting a 10% tariff on Canada that means that when products cross into
00:00:57.100 the United States from Canada they become 10% more expensive. Now tariffs aren't necessarily a bad
00:01:02.520 thing in and of themselves. They can be a great negotiation tactic especially when they're used
00:01:07.800 by a large country like America to get some sort of concession from a country like Canada. And it can
00:01:12.920 also help bring back manufacturing to the United States from Canada if done properly. However this
00:01:19.300 approach can actually backfire if the demands from the country that are putting on the tariffs are not
00:01:24.240 clearly defined. And it can also backfire if the country that's being tariffed has other avenues and
00:01:30.400 other places they can trade. And unfortunately for the United States of America both of these things
00:01:35.100 happen. When Donald Trump says that America doesn't need anything that Canada has that's simply not
00:01:39.600 true. Both economies are highly integrated. We have car parts that go down from Windsor into Detroit and
00:01:46.520 back multiple times before they're finished. The Americans also rely on us for energy. And the
00:01:50.960 supply chains between both countries are highly integrated. So when Donald Trump puts tariffs on
00:01:55.040 Canada that doesn't just make prices more expensive for Americans it disrupts the whole supply chain.
00:02:00.620 Contrary to popular belief Donald Trump can't just snap his fingers and magically bring all the
00:02:05.040 manufacturing back to the United States. Putting on these tariffs leads to economic instability and it
00:02:10.680 leads to higher prices. So when Donald Trump attacks Canada through tariffs he's actually hurting
00:02:15.380 America's economy as well. And American households have felt the pain of tariffs. The average American
00:02:20.580 household paid an extra $1,000.25 due to the tariffs. And that's according to a report by the
00:02:25.720 Tax Association. And this is coming from a guy that claimed that he won the 24th election due to groceries.
00:02:31.520 I won on two things. The border. And more than immigration. You know they like to say immigration.
00:02:38.400 I break it down more to the border. But I won on the border and I won on groceries. It's a very simple
00:02:43.680 word. Groceries. Like almost you know who uses the word. I started using the word the groceries. When you
00:02:51.620 buy apples. When you buy bacon. When you buy eggs. They would double and triple the price over a short
00:02:58.180 period of time. And I won an election based on that. We're going to bring those prices way down.
00:03:03.780 He said that he was elected to lower the price of groceries. However terrorists don't make groceries
00:03:08.340 less expensive. They make them more expensive. Now Kearney whether you love him or hate him. He
00:03:13.760 actually took a really smart approach when dealing with Donald Trump. He initially went down and tried
00:03:18.640 to butter Trump up a little bit. Say nice things about him and see if he could get a deal. Unfortunately
00:03:24.880 that didn't happen. But Kearney was smart enough not to react publicly. Quietly he started strengthening
00:03:31.100 trade relationships with Europe. And then eventually moved on to China, Qatar and other countries in the
00:03:36.980 world. One of his most famous or infamous deals was his deal with China which opened our market up in
00:03:43.180 Canada to sell electric vehicles. Now some people describe this as getting in bed with China. But the
00:03:49.500 people making that argument forget that we as Canadians already buy a lot of products from China.
00:03:54.300 A lot of stuff that's sold in stores in Canada is made in China. And they also forget the fact that
00:03:59.580 none of this would have been necessary if Donald Trump didn't start this trade war with us in the
00:04:03.640 first place. The funny thing is it's not just Canada that's moving away from the United States.
00:04:08.180 The whole world is taking notes. They realize that if this is the way the United States treats an ally
00:04:13.660 then they could be next. And a lot of them have been attacked as well. A lot of people seem to forget
00:04:18.800 that Donald Trump started a trade war with the whole world. It wasn't just Canada. And this was an
00:04:23.520 essential theme in Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum where he suggested that this was
00:04:28.160 the end of the rules-based international order. For decades countries like Canada prospered under
00:04:33.380 what we called the rules-based international order. We joined its institutions. We praised its principles.
00:04:39.300 We benefited from its predictability. And because of that we could pursue values-based foreign policies
00:04:45.680 under its protection. We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially
00:04:51.760 false. That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. That trade rules were enforced
00:04:59.060 asymmetrically. And we knew that international law applied with varying rigor depending on the identity
00:05:05.920 of the accused or the victim. This fiction was useful. And American hegemony in particular helped provide
00:05:14.880 public goods, open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security, and support for
00:05:21.640 frameworks for resolving disputes. So we placed the sign in the window. We participated in the rituals.
00:05:29.680 And we largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality. This bargain no longer works.
00:05:38.820 The real cost of Donald Trump's trade war? It wasn't just monetary. It was strategic. Trade relies on
00:05:45.620 trust. And now the whole world knows they can't rely on the United States anymore. The whole world has
00:05:50.980 learned that a deal with the United States is not worth the paper it's written on. Because the country has
00:05:55.820 a habit of electing presidents like Donald Trump who can change the rules of engagement on a dime. So to
00:06:01.200 be fair to Trump he may have scored some headlines and made himself the center of attention. However he
00:06:06.840 also broke the trust of other countries, pushed them away, and he also strengthened his adversaries
00:06:12.300 such as China. Because a lot of countries no longer want to work with the United States and are moving
00:06:17.220 closer to China. The fact of the matter is that trade it's not about dominance. It has to be mutually
00:06:22.460 beneficial. And if it's not mutually beneficial, countries will look for other trading routes.
00:06:27.740 And that's what's happening right here. Trump's tariffs on Canada failed because treating an ally
00:06:32.280 like an enemy is terrible foreign policy. And it's that foreign policy blunder that's going to hurt
00:06:37.860 America in the long run. Thanks for tuning in. If you like this type of content, like and subscribe.
00:06:43.960 Talk to you soon.