Everyone must play the long game

Happy tariff morning, for all those who are watching closely.

Today is the day that U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariffs against “nasty” Canadians is scheduled to take effect and by now you probably know whether Trump actually did end up putting 50 per cent tariffs on a wide range of Canadian products or whether he or Prime Minister Mark Carney gave in on this latest game of chicken.

It doesn’t matter.

Well, it does, of course, matter to all the specific industries, including everything from honey producers to hockey stick manufacturers, who would face the tariffs or the American consumers who are facing the latest Trump Tax increase.

It matters a great deal.

But in the broader scheme of where we are and what happens next, today’s decision is just one small point on a continuum that will go on until Trump is no longer president or, as a nation, we manage to disentangle our economy from our nearest neighbour to the greatest extent possible.

Today’s decision is just one small point on a continuum that will go on until Trump is no longer president or, as a nation, we manage to disentangle our economy from our nearest neighbour to the greatest extent possible.

Why?

It doesn’t matter if you’ve struck an excellent deal that benefits both sides or whether you’ve sacrificed whole industrial sectors and weakened Canadian health protections to allow food products to contain substances that have been banned here.

Because this is Wednesday, tomorrow is Thursday and by Friday, Donald Trump will be making new demands.

Sure, those demands may be aimed at the European Union for a while, or at South Korea, or at whatever nation has the misfortune of garnering his fleeting attention.

But, sooner or later, some trade issue will be raised with Trump by an American industrialist who has made the necessary financial contributions to gain the ear of the president about one trade issue or another.

And since we’re such a large trading partner with the U.S., interventions with the president will no doubt eventually have him calling us nasty and implementing new executive orders aimed at crippling some facet of the Canadian economy.

So don’t look at today’s tariff battle. It’s just another impediment. Look at the long game.

Let’s find markets for energy in Canada — build a transnational electrical grid and sell Canadian energy to Canadians.

Let’s find new markets for oil and gas and politely tell America that we no longer have product to sell to them.

(That’s already happening with aluminum, with a sizable portion of our exports now going to Europe, making prices soar for American manufacturers who need the metal. In May, U.S. customers were paying US$6,200 per ton for the metal, while European customers were paying US$4,300 per ton.)

Let’s be measured and direct and go through the slow motions of negotiation even though we know that Donald Trump’s word is worthless.

Let’s be measured and direct and go through the slow motions of negotiation even though we know that Donald Trump’s word is worthless.

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Anything we give him, he’ll keep. And then he’ll do it all over again and come back for more.

Most of all, Canada’s provincial politicians have to start looking at the long game as well — and start pulling on the same oars and heading in the same direction.

Individual premiers have to look at the real threats facing Canada and not decide it’s an opportune time to try and squeeze the federal government — and the country — for things that will benefit those individual premiers politically.

Trying to bring in two-tier public/private health care, threatening referenda on staying in Canada, heading south to curry favour with Trump, or sending provincial representatives to do so — as at least two Canadian premiers have done — distracts from the necessity of working together and maintaining a united front.

Low profile, one voice, united in direction and intent. It is the only way to fight this war.