When the history of these days is written, it will be said that the United States and Canada engaged in one of the most pointless and senseless trade wars in the history of the two nations. What will not be said, however, is how the Ontario Premier Doug Ford apologized to the Trump administration and even thanked them during his visit to Washington D.C., because contrary to what Donald Trump and his team thinks, history revolves around the actually important stuff, not the he said, she saids of politicians out to ruin what their predecessors built.
When Trump imposed his 25% tariff on Canadian goods, the Ontario Premier Doug Ford hit back with a 25% tariff on the electricity exported to several Midwestern states. This enraged the POTUS, and his first choice was to naturally escalate the situation by imposing even more unfair tariffs on Canadian exports.
The premier has since apologized to the American people in an interview on WABC’s Cats & Cosby and agreed to temporarily suspend the electricity surcharge after U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick invited him for a set of trade talks in Washington, D.C. However, it seems Team Trump isn’t actually after fixing the situation, but creating another public embarrassment like they did with Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy. And no, this isn’t us making a mountain out of a molehill. Lutnick himself recently mustered all of his self-aggrandized bravado to tell off Ford in an interview with CBS, even though the two are supposed to be meeting soon.
When asked why Trump decided to stir the pot, he said the president just “needed to break some guy in Ontario.” Lutnick then compared Canada to Ukraine and said they’re ungrateful for all the help the U.S. has given them over the past few decades. You know this is all about hurt egos when the MAGA constantly regurgitates the same falsehoods over and over again. Lutnick once again brought up the exaggerated $300 billion figure of U.S. aid to Ukraine and said what the Trump administration might really be after with this ridiculous trade war.
“Think about it. The biggest trading partner in the whole world that is vital to Canada’s existence says, ‘I’m unhappy,’ and they respond negatively, you know why? Because for 20-30 years, they’ve gotten away with it. It’s like Ukraine. They came in. You imagine coming into this country, sitting in the Oval Office, having received $300 billion in aid from the U.S. and military and NATO and all the rest, and the first words out of your mouth aren’t thank you. Just say thank you. God knows, just say thank you. When the biggest client, the biggest trading partner, the most important counter-party you have, who really, really matters to you, the first thing you do is show immeasurable respect. Say, ‘Thank you. I want to work it out with you. I want you to be happy.'”
Have you got that down, folks? We’ve been going about this entire Trump fiasco wrong. All the president really expects you to do is say thank you and make him happy. The nation is here, after all, to serve the president, and not vice versa.
When challenged with the fact that Ford only resorted to the surcharge in response to what the U.S. started, Lutnick outright denied it and continued to rehash MAGA talking points like fentanyl deaths, even if it has been repeatedly reported that Canada is the source of less than 0.2% of the fentanyl flowing into the United States.
Then again, we all know this was never about border security.
Published: Mar 13, 2025 01:37 pm