As Donald Trump threatens a trade war with our neighbors to the north, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to phone the White House on Tuesday, likely to explain basic economics to the reckless U.S. president.
According to a new report from Reuters, “Trudeau was due to call Trump later on Tuesday after he speaks to the premiers of Canada’s 10 provinces.”
The expected call comes after Trudeau spoke out Tuesday against new tariffs being imposed by the Trump administration on softwood lumber imports from Canada.
“There are millions of good U.S. jobs that depend on the smooth flow of goods, services and people back and forth across our border,” Trudeau said. “You cannot thicken this border without hurting people on both sides of it.”
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Not only is Trudeau right to defend the interests of his own country, but he is also standing up for the American people as well, since they, too, will be hurt by Trump’s move.
As CBC noted in a tweet, Trump’s tariff would make U.S. houses more expensive and cost American workers hundreds of millions of dollars in the form of lost wages.
U.S. homebuilders say tariffs on imports of Canadian softwood lumber would cost American workers $500M in lost wages and raise house prices.
— CBC News Alerts (@CBCAlerts) April 25, 2017
Despite the consequences, Trump continued to stand by his decision on Tuesday and ramped up his attacks on Canada.
“People don’t realize Canada’s been very rough on the United States,” Trump said. “They’ve outsmarted our politicians for years.”
The president also went after Canada’s dairy industry in a tweet on Tuesday:
Canada has made business for our dairy farmers in Wisconsin and other border states very difficult. We will not stand for this. Watch!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2017
Once again, it’s apparent the U.S. president doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing. He failed to get his Mexico-funded wall along the southern border, so now he’s threatening a trade war with the country to the north.
In the process, he’s alienating one of America’s strongest allies, hurting American workers, and proving once again that he doesn’t know how to conduct himself on the world stage.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.