First casualty of Trump's trade war is his country's reputation: Don Pittis
Countries that thought of themselves as longtime friends of the U.S. plan to fight back
CBC News · Posted: Mar 06, 2018 4:00 AM ET3851 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
Walter Adams
Can the Republican Party survive Donald Trump?
Not likely. The US will survive but he has diminished it. Trump has tarnished the reputation of his office as well and that will be his legacy. He cheapened the Presidency, the Judiciary, and the Congress.
Not likely. The US will survive but he has diminished it. Trump has tarnished the reputation of his office as well and that will be his legacy. He cheapened the Presidency, the Judiciary, and the Congress.
David Amos
@Walter Adams Do tell where did all your comments go from here???
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-calls-trump-nafta-steel-1.4563591
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-calls-trump-nafta-steel-1.4563591
Trudeau calls Trump to register 'serious concern' about proposed steel tariffs
Trudeau told Trump threat of tariffs could hurt ongoing NAFTA negotiations
By Peter Zimonjic, CBC News Posted: Mar 05, 2018 8:44 PM ET2180 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
Jeff Brody
trudeau is the joke of the world the last person who would ever take him seriously is Trump.
David Amos
@Jeff Brody Here is something Trudeau and Trump won't tell you Just Google the following words and start reading
trump cohen nafta amos
trump cohen nafta amos
Richard Bailey
Another typical evening. Left liberal progressives at a loss for words.
David Amos
@Richard Bailey I made a few comments out of the gate and it appears the entire thread has gone "Poof"
Walter Adams
I think only people with jobs for be able to weigh in on this subject. That means no right wing extremist commentary.
Cashing Government cheques and whining isn't a job fellas.
Walter Adams
@bill chagwich
You really don’t like women do you.
@Walter Adams sounds like you’re on the payroll
@Walter Adams Here is something Trudeau and Trump won't tell you Just Google the following words and start reading
trump cohen nafta amos
@David Amos Amazing Clearly we get the governments we deserve
http://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.ca/2017/02/re-fatca-nafta-tpp-etc-attn-president.html
Tuesday, 14 February 2017
RE FATCA, NAFTA & TPP etc ATTN President Donald J. Trump I just got off the phone with your lawyer Mr Cohen (646-853-0114) Why does he lie to me after all this time???
First casualty of Trump's trade war is his country's reputation: Don Pittis
Countries that thought of themselves as longtime friends of the U.S. plan to fight back
CBC News · Posted: Mar 06, 2018 4:00 AM ET
U.S. President Donald Trump announces the U.S. will impose tariffs of 25 per cent on steel imports and 10 per cent on aluminum. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
When we hear about President Donald Trump's latest overnight tweets on trade, the first reaction of most Canadians is to think about how it's going to affect us.
Evidently having a trade war with our biggest trade partner would not be a good thing for the Canadian economy.
But there is growing evidence the greatest victim of Trump's erratic and seemingly never-ending demands over trade will be the reputation of the United States.
A real danger
"The danger's real and it's not just the rhetoric of the tweets," said Peter Warrian of the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs, where he is billed as "Canada's leading academic expert on the steel industry."
He says if Trump's 25 per cent tariff on steel and 10 per cent tariff on aluminum are imposed as an executive order they could have an impact within a week, with truckloads of Canadian steel held at the border until the U.S. government receives a cash payment to cover the tariff.
Even if the decision is eventually overturned, the disruption to two of North America's key industries, steel and automobiles, would be costly.
And once again, countries around the world who thought of themselves as friends and allies of the U.S. are considering how they will fight back.
Clearly, if cooler heads prevail, things could stop short of a trade war. What you might call trade sabre-rattling is not uncommon as countries threatened with tariffs draw up lists of the imports they will tax in response.
Europe has already included Kentucky bourbon, Levi's jeans and Harley Davidson motorcycles — goods they expect will have a concentrated impact on jobs in areas that vote Republican.
Tit-for-tat
Tit-for-tat threats of that kind have happened many times in the past. The special thing this time around is the destruction of trust among countries that have long been close trade allies with the U.S.
Polling by Pew Research at the end of last year showed the U.S.'s global reputation was already sagging under Trump's leadership.
"So now we will also impose import tariffs. This is basically a stupid process, the fact that we have to do this," he told German media. "But we have to do it."
And while it might be possible to write off Trump as the whacky guy who will say almost anything — to divert attention from some other scandal or to raise a cheer among hard-line supporters — the things he is saying fly in the face of decades of accepted Republican positions on trade.
"Trade wars are good, and easy to win," as Trump tweeted at 6 a.m. on Friday, contradicts not only roughly 80 years of U.S. government policy, but virtually all economic trade analysis.
Not only that, Trump's comments also fly in the face of facts as outlined by the U.S. government's own trade officials.
Whether accidental or intentional, misunderstanding how international trade works is no way for a country to maintain the trust of its allies.
"The Trump trade team continues to focus on the trade balance, but that focus is misplaced,"
economist Christine McDaniel of George Mason University's Mercatus Center said in an email.
She says the trade deficit is often larger when the economy is growing, and that in the past, trade surpluses have not correlated with job creation. She also points out the U.S. economy has created tens of millions of jobs since NAFTA came into force.
Waking up to risk
There are signs Republicans are beginning to wake up to the danger of Trump's pronouncements, if only to prevent U.S. stock markets from crashing.
Yesterday, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan called on Trump to drop plans for the new tariffs.
"We are extremely worried about the consequences of a trade war and are urging the White House to not advance with this plan," Ryan spokesperson AshLee Strong said. "The new tax reform law has boosted the economy and we certainly don't want to jeopardize those gains."
The head of the United Steelworkers, Leo Gerard, who happens to be Canadian, reminded Trump that Canadian aluminum is a strategic good for U.S. military procurement.
"The president, I don't think, was made aware of that," Gerard told CBC.
- Trump open to removing steel tariffs if he gets his way on NAFTA
- 'Trade wars are good, and easy to win,' Trump tweets
There seems to be so much the president has not been made aware of, including the idea that introducing steel tariffs as a new threat after seven rounds of intense NAFTA bargaining is no way to increase trust with people who, until recently, were America's closest trade allies and supporters.
In the short term, most experts say Trump's disruptive trade statements will hurt markets, and if he manages to see them through, the U.S. economy.
But in the longer term, it is the credibility of the United States as a country that keeps its word, knows the facts, plays fair and seeks trade for mutual benefit that may be damaged the most.
It used to be that the U.S. set a standard.
After the latest trade spat settles down, a U.S. establishment that has been willing to meekly follow such leadership could end up being a few notches lower in everyone's esteem. And in international trade, that counts.
Follow Don on Twitter @don_pittis
Trudeau calls Trump to register 'serious concern' about proposed steel tariffs
Trudeau told Trump threat of tariffs could hurt ongoing NAFTA negotiations
By Peter Zimonjic, CBC News Posted: Mar 05, 2018 8:44 PM ET
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called U.S. President Donald
Trump Monday to discuss Canada's frustrations with Trump's threat to
impose tariffs on steel and aluminium. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Trudeau spoke with Trump about the closing of the latest round of NAFTA negotiations in Mexico City, flagging the progress that had been made in this seventh round of talks while expressing concerns about the threat of tariffs.
"The prime minister also registered his serious concern about the U.S. administration's proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum," said a read-out of the call from the Prime Minister's Office.
A government source with direct knowledge of the trade file told CBC News that, during the call, Trudeau made the case for Canadian steelworkers and argued that tariffs would frustrate ongoing NAFTA negotiations.
The source said there now appears to be a sense of urgency on the U.S. side about the NAFTA talks — that American negotiators want to wrap up the negotiations soon, to avoid any possible disruptions from Mexico's July presidential elections.
Last week, the Trump administration announced it would use section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on the argument that they threaten U.S. national security.
Trump said he would impose the tariffs — 25 per cent tariff on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum, — to boost U.S. manufacturers. The president also suggested that Canada might get an exemption if it agrees to a "new and fair" NAFTA deal with the U.S.
A sudden sense of urgency
Earlier Monday in Mexico City, where Canada, the U.S. and Mexico were wrapping up the seventh round of NAFTA talks, U.S. Trade Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer suggested that time is running out for the three countries to strike a deal.
Lighthizer pointed to the Mexican elections, and the provincial elections in Ontario and Quebec later this year, as examples of events that could derail NAFTA talks.
"All of this complicates our work. I fear that the longer we proceed, the more political headwinds we will feel," he said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said she has been pressing for Canada to be excluded from any steel or aluminum tariffs.
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland,
left, Mexico's Secretary of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal,
center, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer pose for a photo
at a press conference after wrapping up the seventh round of NAFTA
renegotiations in Mexico City, Monday. (Marco Ugarte/Associated Press)
Canada is ready to respond to tariffs, Freeland said. She would not say how.
"I do not judge that this is the moment for us to be talking about the specifics of our responsive measures," she said. "If necessary we would consider any section 232 action directed at Canada to be totally unacceptable and in that event we would take responsive measures to defend our workers and our industry."
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