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An open letter to my American friends —
It’s been a while since I settled in for enchiladas at José’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant in Wisconsin Dells, or broken bread with you at Black Stallion Steakhouse in Columbia, Ky., where my son got his business degree.
It may be a while yet.
While we’re headed to Las Vegas for The Vegas Shoot archery tournament next week and will be attending my son’s wedding in Kentucky next year, aside from already-booked or otherwise unavoidable travel, I don’t really have an itching desire to spend money in a country led by someone using flat-out lies to damage our economy.
You’ve been deceived about the nature of our relationship, which has been as your strongest ally dating back to the First World War and before.
Cities along the border sheltered your countrymates when 9/11 closed airspace and forced hundreds of planes to land. Our soldiers fought and died alongside yours in the Second World War, and in Korea, and in the first Gulf War. We sat out Vietnam, with good reason, it turns out.
Unsold 2024 Mustang Mach-E electric vehicles sit in a long row at a Ford dealership in 2024, in Broomfield, Colo. (David Zalubowski / The Associated Press files)
Together, our countries have built Fortress North America in the auto industry. We build cars together, sharing expertise, sharing the making of parts and the final assembly of vehicles.
Free trade has allowed both our nations to prosper. You’re our biggest customer and we are yours, in each direction by a large margin.
Yes, we do have a trade surplus that’s not in your favour, but that’s only due to energy. Take away energy and add tourism, and the ledger swings in your favour. At least, tourism as it was before the threat of a trade war.
Individually, 34 of your states sell more to Canada than any other nation, aside from your own, of course. Wisconsin dairy, Idaho potatoes, Minnesota mineral oil, North Dakota wheat, Kentucky bourbon, Montana agricultural products, Illinois chocolate, Missouri transportation equipment. The list goes on, but for those 34 states, plus two more, we’re their biggest customer.
When the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. complains we’re taking advantage of you, know it’s long been the other way around. In 1959, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker caved to American interests when he mothballed the Avro Arrow — a fighter jet that was vastly superior to yours at the time.
Pressure from the United States pushed Canada to choose the F35 over the Saab Gripen. (A decision the government is now being urged to reverse.) The energy you so willingly buy from us is sold to you at a discount.
You don’t like that we don’t charge enormous cutting fees on softwood: I get that. But you need it, especially now with the rebuilding underway in Los Angeles. Speaking of which, it was our and Mexico’s water bombers that helped turn the tide in those fires. We’ll still be there for you, even if your leader isn’t there for us.
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You’ve also been deceived about who bears the cost of your tariffs: it’s you. Sure, tariffs make our products less competitive, but it’s the American end user and nobody else who pays them. Jim Farley, CEO of American automaker Ford, warns the tariffs will blow a hole in your automotive industry like nothing in history.
Any Canadian retaliation — which will come — will hurt your industry, particularly where it hurts most.
As for the idea you can transform government funding through tariffs and not taxes? Hey, 1890 called. It wants its economic policy back.
In all the lies that have been spread, primarily by one person, here’s an unshakable truth: we are watching. We’re looking at labels, scanning barcodes and shopping wisely. Florida oranges? Fuggetaboutit. We’ll gladly pay more for Mexican or Ecuadoran. Disneyland? No. Amazon? Maybe the one in Brazil. You know, the river?
It’s all too bad. I’d love a plate of shrimp-n-grits from Chicago’s Sweetwater Tavern. Life-changing, it really is. But that will have to wait until sanity resides once again on Pennsylvania Avenue.
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