Trump just upped tariffs on Canada by 10 percent.
Trump Cancels Trade Talks with Canada Over a Ronald Reagan Ad
Yesterday, I noted Trump Cancels Trade Talks with Canada Over a Ronald Reagan Ad
Reagan was right then, and he is right now.
Days before Trump canceled trade talks with Canada via his Truth Social platform, he had publicly minimized the ad, which the Ontario government started running in the U.S. earlier this month. At an event Tuesday with Republican senators, Trump said he had seen the ad and said, “If I was Canada, I’d take that same ad also.”
The Ontario ad uses audio from a 1987 radio address delivered by Reagan, in which he explains that despite putting tariffs on Japanese semiconductors in that year, he was committed to free-trade policies. While tariffs can look patriotic, Reagan said, “over the long run such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer,” lead to “fierce trade wars” and result in lost jobs.
President Reagan’s Radio Address on Free and Fair Trade on April 25, 1987
Reagan was right then and he is right now. Please play the video.
Canada’s Ad
Next please play the actual 58 second Canadian ad.
Trump calls it “fake news”. The Reagan Foundation is throwing a hissy fit too. But there is nothing out of context about the ad at all if you play both videos.
Trump’s ignorance and pettiness did not stop there.
Trump Ups Tariffs on Canada by 10 Percent
The Wall Street Journal reported Trump Says He Will Raise Tariffs on Canada by 10% Over Ontario Ad
“Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.
U.S. tariffs on Canada currently stand at 35%, with energy products at 10%, but goods that comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, are carved-out of the duties, meaning that about 85% of Canadian exports to the U.S. come in tariff-free.
The White House didn’t respond to a question on when the new tariffs take effect, if USMCA-compliant goods would be exempted on the additional levies, and what authority the U.S. is using to impose these tariffs.
Calculated Ploy?
The ad was by Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford.
He is leader of the Progressive Conservative Party.
Question of the Day
Erica York at the Tax Foundation asked “Is the new 10% tariff on imports from Canada related to the fentanyl emergency or the reciprocal trade emergency or are hurt feelings also now a national emergency?“
Thunderbay commented “When Ford went ahead and still aired the ad during the World Series game, I think this had to be the gambit- to goad Trump into doing something stupid to destroy his own national security legal argument for tariffs for the Supreme Court case.”
Then again, hurt feelings just may be a national security item.
Tariffs Are Redistributive
Indeed! Trump promises to use tariffs to pay off the damage he caused farmers.
Suffering small business manufacturers will pay to bail out suffering farmers.
In what universe does this make sense?
Impact on Small Businesses
I have discussed the impact on small businesses on numerous occasions.
The current cost estimate is $85-$95 billion. And that is not paid by Canada as Trump ignorantly states.
York commented “We had a tariff tracker update ready to go for Monday and wouldn’t you know it is already out of date.”
“If the Supreme Court rules that the IEEPA tariffs may remain in place, we should expect even more price hikes to come.“
Trump vs Reagan
Who’s the Enemy?
What’s the Reciprocal Formula?
Yes, I do remember. The formula has nothing to do with tariffs at all.
Reciprocal Tariff Formula
Tariff Percent = ((Imports – Exports) / Imports) * 50
Tariff Percent = (Net Imports / Imports) * 50
One can easily see that reciprocal tariffs have nothing to do with tariffs at all. But that’s the formula.
Trump “We charge them what they charge us.”
Moreover, Trump made huge math errors. For example, under Trump’s definition we owe Brazil and the UK billions of dollars.
Trump had to correct for that by setting a minimum tariff at 10 percent.
For discussion, please see Letters Show Trump Sticks With Ridiculous Definition of Reciprocal Tariffs
But hey, that’s not what matters now. Trump’s feelings are hurt. And that’s good enough for another 10 percent.
And in case you missed it, please see Trump Sanctions About to Cause a Serious Auto Chip Shortage
“So! What is the argument. Both presidents conceptually believe in free (and fair) trade or not?”
Trump does not believe in either free trade or fair trade.
His idiotic formula and reaction to Canada and other nations prove it.
What have been the total receipts from Trump’s additional tariffs during his second term after subtracting what would have been collected anyway?
Grok 3 AI:
$135 billion.
[large amount of work shown not included here]
Why I say voting is just providing false legitimacy to pols rearranging the deck chairs on our Titanic while punching more holes in the hull of the ship.
What has been the growth of the national debt in dollars since Trump began his second term?
Grok 3 AI:
$1,789,878,661,625 (approximately $1.79 trillion) over roughly 280 days, or an average daily growth of about $6.39 billion.
What has been the interest paid on the national debt since the start of Trump’s second term?
Grok 3 AI:
Based on U.S. Treasury data, the total net interest paid during Trump’s second term to date is approximately $730 billion.
What has been the US GDP growth in percent and in dollars since the start of Trump’s second term?
Grok 3 AI:
Nominal GDP has increased by approximately $1.1 trillion since the start of the term (from $29.2 trillion in Q4 2024 to an estimated $30.3 trillion in Q3 2025). This equates to a nominal growth rate of about 3.8% over the period, outpacing inflation (CPI at ~2.9% as of September 2025). [note that Grok includes the tariff income in that]
SO, we have $1.79 trillion in new debt + $0.73 trillion in interest paid = $2.52 trillion versus a $1.1 trillion growth in GDP which is 3.8% growth and only 0.9% higher than the BS low 2.9% CPI figure.
BTW, this is most certainly not unique to Trump. I’m not specifically blaming him. It’s systemic.
it’s ridiculous that anyone thinks this is remotely acceptable.
He’s impacting Americans with policy decisions based entirely on what pisses him off personally on any given day. He’s a capricious tyrant by any definition. he’s saddling Canada with more tariffs because Canada correctly pointed out Reagan didn’t like tariffs.
just like he slapped 50% tariff on Brazil because he felt his buddy Bolsonaro was badly treated by his own country for trying to steal an election. And we’ve had a trade surplus with Brazil for years!
Anyone who doesn’t believe MAGA is literally a cult is delusional.
And the stock market will rise to new levels tomorrow.
Trump is an ignorant maroon.
He persists with his theory that when you buy tomatoes from the store, the store has ripped you off because they now have your money. It’s impossible to be stupider. All his economic policies are boomerangs, mired in foolish willful ignorance.
A concept such as average weighted tariff collected is incomprehensible to him.
Instead he fixates on some high tariff rate affecting some insignificant trade volume, forgetting that the US has for decades been imposing a few tariffs of its own.
Focus on goods-only trade imbalance by country is completely arbitrary; any industrial policy would consider which goods, likely impacts, desired goals, and a panoply of supporting measures to create manufacturing growth in certain goods.
Trump is a know-nothing delusional narcissist. Every time his little lieutenants are in the spotlight there is this obligatory fawning about how he is the greatest, wisest, strongest, most insightful ever. Not even NKorea or Stalin’s Soviet Union displayed such puerile embarrassing sucking up.
Canada is the most important destination for US exports, but is somehow the enemy of American trade !?
Imagine Putin were this thin-skinned;
the world would have perished in nuclear fire by now.
Redistributive
No. Redistributive is when you take something from a collective accumulation and give (something) back, apportioned by need, or mouths to feed, or income, or some other measure of “fair”.
Tariffs have an uneven or differential impact, which is largely arbitrary.
It apportions extra taxation in a largely haphazard manner
Who knows? Maybe he couldn’t pull it any more, paid and scheduled already.
It’s going to be enjoyable watching Pump blow his top when the supreme court castrated him
Taco does act like a big baby and pouts when he doesn’t gets his way or disagrees with his ill-fated ideas.
“The ad was by Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford.”
Ford is at the nexus of everything wrong with CA nowadays, but I’ll give him credit for poking at Trump, even though I totally disagree with the assumption Reagan would take Ford’s side if he were alive today.
I hate to tell you, Mish, but Trump’s tariff justification is much broader than a simple formula, even if it’s flawed.
Fortunately, SCOTUS will not be influenced by this last-minute pandering by Ford & Trump’s reaction. The US & China may well announce a trade deal prior to SCOTUS hearing arguments in a couple of weeks, leaving MX & CA to wait out the ruling.
~ Are Trump’s Hurt Feelings Over Tariffs Now a National Emergency?
> Who cares?
~ Reagan was right then, and he is right now.
> Again who cares?
>> It appears to me Trump and Ford are Both being petty, and that’s about it.
~ So! What is the argument. Both presidents conceptually believe in free (and fair) trade or not?”
> They Both want Free Trade, it’s what’s Fair, that is the issue. Unfortunately Both have differences of Opinions on what exactly Fair Means, but more importantly, is How To Get There.
>> The only “Proven” things are as follows:
1. They Both want a Deal Done.
2. They Both refuse to give in, on their own Demands, to get it done.
3. Until they Reach Agreement, a Deal Cannot and Will Not get done.
IMO, Trump has the leverage with Energy, amongst others. Canada has very little leverage over anyone. In their situation, assuming I am correct. So the Choice is now Canada’s, to select whom to do “The Deal” with. They do have options, and shortly I suspect we will know and it will be with America for all the right reasons, despite there differences.
Please explain how Trump has leverage with energy .
My thinking was NG, and I understand Heavy Oil, but all things considered I must be incorrect somewhere? I know Vehicles are a big trade both ways, but no energy there. NG?
The US produces a lot of natgas and we export a lot of LNG all over the world. Though we still import some gas from Canada because of the way the existing pipeline network is set up.
One of my larger holdings in natgas companies is Tourmaline in Canada . They sell a lot of gas to California at very high prices. They also send gas to US LNG facilities for export. Our markets are very intertwined.
Just read your post below, and I see Canada finally got their Gas issue under control, or started too anyway… we have none there unless an issue or money comes into play. Nice Post too Energy Guru!
Thanks.
Infidel Carney caricaturists insulted Trump and R/R. Caricaturists who insulted Muhammed are dead. Last week China caved in. Xi gave us a huge soybeans order.
Frosty, please grow soybean for Chinese pigs and seed oil. Money is flowing in.
Last week? What soybean order is that? Source please.
f**k u.
Lol! That’s your source?
Hahahaha!
You keep mentioning a soybean order.
Hearing it from ronald. I think hes the guy who started lowering tax rates for the wealthy/ deregulation / and trickle down economics.
Eric York: Let’s make this worse because Canada made a TV ad quoting a Reagan speech that literally talks about “prices made artificially high by tariffs.”
Prices of American goods were made artificially low by moving the factories to China.
Something that can’t continue, won’t. This is the Fourth Turning.
Trump is embarrassing us again with this petty crap. To me, what’s worse than raising tariffs is predicating it on bullshit. Everything is an “emergency” or “fentanyl”. Like preparing to attack Venezuela because it’s supposedly a big source of drugs. He’s blowing up boats with no process of law, and telling us after the fact that they were bad guys.
If the ICC weren’t a joke, they would indict Trump for murder.
He’s making things unsafe for the U.S.
We blew lots of stuff up in Iraq & Afghanistan over a 20-year period without a declaration of war.
It’s hilarious that people whine about drug boats going boom before they land on US shores.
It’s about time that being a drug runner is a dangerous occupation.
I want to see the video of a new Andruil Barracuda-100 missile in action. Or even better, let’s see the Navy deploy one of these new long-range maneuvering 155 mm artillery projectiles taking out a drug boat from 120 km. Sweet!
“drug boats” based on photos from another year and a different boat and a different continent
“before they get to the US” try a map and see how far the coast of Venezuela and Trinidad are from the US –they’re are dozens of refueling stops from the US
Oh, so you know exactly where these boats are being blown to pieces?
But, it doesn’t really matter, does it? They’re drug running boats. That’s all we need to know.
BOOM!
And how do you know they were all drug boats? Where is your proof?
President Pussy needs to ho lie down with his binkey.
Canada is our closest friend, ally and trading partner. They sell us many raw materials we need at good prices and we turn those raw materials into finished goods that we sell back to Canada at higher prices. It is a fantastic trading arrangement that benefits both countries, but definitely benefits the US far more than Canada.
The largest Canadian export to the US is oil. They sell us around 4 million barrels per day. And they do so at a $12 discount to WTI oil prices in the US. What’s not to like about that?
Here’s a detailed breakdown of U.S. imports from Canada in 2024 by commodity, based on the most recent trade data available. All figures are in U.S. dollars and rounded for clarity:
Commodity U.S. Imports from Canada (2024)
Crude Oil $103.3 billion
Natural Gas ~$39.7 billion
Electricity $3.1 billion
Steel (Iron & Steel) $7.7 billion
Aluminum (Unwrought) $7.8 billion
Copper $4.0 billion
Softwood Lumber $5.6 billion
Uranium ~$1.2–1.5 billion (est.)
Potash ~$1.5–2.0 billion (est.)
🧮 Total Estimated Value: $173–175 billion USD
This represents over 40% of total U.S. imports from Canada, which totaled $421 billion in 2024.
It is really stupid to add tariffs to raw materials that we must import. It makes our manufacturing sector LESS competitive.
That’s a great list, and we both agree that this trade war with CA has gone off the rails which is mostly Trump’s fault. Trump miscalculated by thinking he could treat CA just like MX & China. Now, CA’s conservative movement is on hold.
Unfortunately, Ford didn’t think about these important numbers before he poked the bear. Ford isn’t doing CA any favors. In fact, you could say he’s acting a lot like TACO with this ad.
This is certainly last-minute posturing as SCOTUS tees up the reciprocal tariff lawsuit, and it’s well-timed in terms of the Blue Jays / Dodgers World Series.
What I find more and more amazing is that half of the US population tries to put some type of rational spin on the random utterances coming from Trump’s confused brain, while the other half of the population can’t believe what they are seeing or hearing.
Statistically, half the population is of below average intelligence… the venn diagram is a circle.
Childish Leaders Oppress My People – Women Rule Over Them – My People, Your Leaders Mislead You – They Turn You From The Path. Isaiah 3:12
Quoting a work of fiction to prove a point, doesn’t.
It’s just a bunch of made-up stories.
I tired to unsubscribe multiple times and to put you into my junk mail but nothing seems to work. Please unsubscribe me. Your commentary remain well off the mark of useful analysis. I do much analysis with fewer resources.
You’re able to do your own “analysis” but can’t find the means to get off a blog subscription list.
This spells out the level of critical analyses possible by many commenters here LOL
Analysis – what a strange word to use. If you are looking market analysis, then yes, you should go elsewhere. And if you have a case of TWS, then also, go elsewhere.
No no, let him stay. This is good for these angry clowns.
I have dropped subscriptions, or just stopped paying attention to them, with no fuss or manifestos, but I guess we can thank you for sharing your essential and enlightened analysis.
All ya need is a soundbite and your victimhood, and ya can analyze anything.
One of many facets of this that blows my mind is that the ad uses video excerpts, i.e. direct quotes, and anyone would believe the ad is “fraudulent.” The willingness of many members of the US citizenry to believe obvious BS has perhaps never been greater than it is in this admin of 47.
Oh, the irony of fraudulently calling someone fraudulent. But that is too many syllables and logical jumps, and “irony” ironically too abstract, for this electorate majority, which is having too much fun yelling that it is smart and powerful and “winning.” I’ve never seen a crowd so belligerent while handing one guy such a big stick to beat them with.
always punching down, never up
TACOs again!
…President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to reach a deal to avert a new 100% U.S. tariff on Chinese goods and are likely to meet in person soon, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said following talks with Beijing’s top trade negotiator.
Bessent told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in an interview Sunday that China was ready to make a deal “after two days of negotiations.”
Why would you believe anything coming out of this Administration?
So! What is the argument. Both presidents conceptually believe in free (and fair) trade or not?
Reagan stated he was reacting to Japan’s violation of “agreements” in the Semi sphere. Without the details, who knows if one should agree or not, so give Reagan the benefit of the doubt.
What is Trump trying to do (so he says), but use the tariffs as a reactive tool.
I agree though, it does sound like the edited Canadian video of Reagan is consistent with the Reagan message…consistent in overall intention for fair and free trade and that (as a protective policy tool) tariffs are bad policy.
So, I agree, to say otherwise about the video is inaccurate. But using a negotiation tool is likely what Trump will refer to. Just one man’s opinion.
>> Both presidents conceptually believe in free (and fair) trade or not?
They say and do what their oligarch/MIC-funded imperial strategists tell them is best for the empire. Their strategy changes according to what they think is best for them. (Not the people.)
‘Epstein’ Pentagon MIC Warmonger$$
“So! What is the argument. Both presidents conceptually believe in free (and fair) trade or not?”
Trump does not believe in either free trade or fair trade.
His idiotic formula and reaction to Canada and other nations prove it.
and yet, the debt is rising faster than at any other time except for the pandemic
oddly enough, Trump was president then, too
Coincidence?
My closest friends or acquaintances — all Trump voters — ranted against the mrna jabs, lockdowns, and the war in Ukraine. I pointed out Trump led those efforts. They told me “trump has learned from his mistakes”. But Trump never expressed regret and, during his campaign, instead bragged about those decisions.
One guy told me I was sending him “fake news” by sending him first-term articles about trump sending lethal aid to forces in Ukraine. A week after being accused of sending fake news, on his campaign Trump bragged about doing it.
I just don’t understand people…
Speaking of which, Winston, you refer to trump as an unvetted outsider even though his policies follow think tank recommendations just like any other candidate. During first run, he teased populist messages during his campaign and disregarded them once he won.
https://corbettreport.com/episode-395-precedent-trump/
He’s doing the same again.
“I just don’t understand people…”
People incessantly put faith in people, not in principles or logical consistency. Look at Lenin, who on his way to the top, changed his mind several times, dumping at turns on his own announced principles and various constituencies, often fatally so for the losers, yet ended up at the head of the regime that brutally ruled the world’s largest country for more than 70 years. People rallied around that, and it thrashed them mercilessly for generations.
Peelo, on the one hand, I agree with you. On the other, IMO there’s a huge blind spot here.
>> brutally ruled the world’s largest country for more than 70 years.
Nowhere near as brutal as what Europe and America planned for Russia. They possibly supported the revolution (to weaken the tsar) and then quickly invaded Russia around 1919 hoping to take over. They rearmed Germany to fight Russia. (Germany’s plan for the east was genocide.) Some openly stated the goal is to sustain both of them to wear each other down. They started insurgencies within the USSR. They *created* radical Islam schoolbooks for children. When they succeeded in humbling Russia, they installed Yeltsin (who ordered tanks to fire at parliament) and did nothing as the Russian lifespan dropped 10+ years. They allegedly installed Putin (reputed to reject bribes and instead do his job) to do a better job running the country while still keeping the obligarchy intact (like FDR). Among think tanks, they talk openly of balkanizing the Russian Federation to rule the individual republics more easily (like they do now with Balkan and Baltic nations).
All the while, they wrote books making up stories about how bad Stalin and Mao were while completely whitewashing their own financial sieges, blockades, terrorism, proxy wars. Some of those stories were written by “former” MI6 authors and then used as source material by others, in a “game of telephone” like the way Iraq WMD was made up.
Tell me how you would defend your people from these treacherous western rulers who never stop trying to destroy Russia in order to take all of its resources for pennies.
Start reading some stuff from Michael Parenti or others.
Or don’t. Heck, it’s not the most fun thing to do. Probably better to “have a life”. … I’m unsure. 😉 FD: I haven’t even done enough reading myself. But thanks to enough “deep dives” into other subjects, I know everything the establishment tells us about geopolitics (including fictitious genocides while denying real ones) are big lies. There’s no way their stories about Stalin or Lenin are true pictures.
Anyway, please try the Berletic link I shared above. That’s a lot easier and faster than learning to question 70+ years of other lies.
You strike me as an honest bloke capable of legitimate objective inquiry. But although you’ve already dug up a lot, I think there’s a lot more dirt to remove to uncover more to the story.
“Spending is ‘Out Of Control’ With ‘No Faith’ in the Fed”
Total Debt Over $37 trillion + Adding 4-5 Trillion a
Year – With 1.2 trillion Annual Interest Payment.
No Audit Of Ft Knox Gold Reserves.
No Audit Of Pentagon MIC – Trillions Missing.
No Audit Of FED – Trillions In Bailouts For Too Big To
Fail/Jail Corporations & Banksters.
Lock Her Up (2016) – NO ONE At The Top Gone To
Jail/Prison Yet!
This is what happens when criminals get your credit card.
One of the sycophants in Trump’s administration should inform him that Canada does not pay for any of the tariffs. Canada’s customers in the US pay for the tariffs.
Inflation and tariffs are regressive stealth tax rises. I note, ruefully, that an honest tax rise, if in fact needed for such trifles as sound budgets, is politically impossible in the USA, thanks to a coalition of selfish people, large and small: self-deluding oligarchs and self-deluding smaller fish. Everybody does get some benefits, for awhile, but it is a free ride to you-know-where, paved with dodgy intentions. Does that confer some kind of back-handed “legitimacy” on Trump’s choices? That’s a very uncomfortable question.
Everybody does get some Benefits, (For Awhile) – But it is a free ride to you-know-where – That ‘Free Ride’ Is Just About Over + They Don’t See It Coming.!