The announcement over the weekend by President Donald Trump to set off a major trade war with Canada got a huge thumbs down from the Wall Street Journal editorial board late Sunday.
Not pulling any punches, the editors called it “The Dumbest Trade War Revisited” in the headline.
The Journal’s editors noted that Trump took exception last year when they called his tariffs against Canada and Mexico the dumbest trade war in history and responded with, “It got dumber this weekend as Mr. Trump escalated with another round of border taxes on Canadian imports, a mere 10 weeks before midterm elections.”
Trump issued his latest tariff threat against Canada last month under Section 338 of the 1930 Tariff Act. The law lets the President impose tariffs up to 50% on countries that discriminate against “commerce of the United States, directly or indirectly,” with the editors pointedly adding, “No previous President has used this power.”
Trump set a deadline of midnight on Friday for Canada to reach a deal to avert 50% tariffs on $20 billion of goods. The countries were close to an agreement until “the cease-fire blew up” at the last minute, with each side blaming the other.
Trump’s threatened tariffs took effect Saturday morning. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney threatened to retaliate dollar-for-dollar starting September 8. Both sides could still walk back from the ledge, though Trump’s escalation could make this harder for Carney politically since Canadians don’t like being bullied by Washington, the editors insisted.
To justify his new tariffs, Trump said Canada discriminated against the U.S. by retaliating against his national-security tariffs on autos. He also claimed that Canadian provinces had restricted sales of U.S. alcoholic beverages in response to his “emergency” tariffs last year.
The editors concluded, “Mr. Trump’s latest round of border taxes will hit an array of consumer goods, construction materials and manufacturing components. Republicans are already getting pounded on the campaign trail over his tariffs and inflation. One reason for Mr. Trump’s frigid approval rating is that voters believe Mr. Trump is waging blunderbuss wars without a strategy, and on trade they’re right.”
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