I’ll explain it for you. When the US government imposes a 25% tariff on Canadian goods, the cost to US consumers increases by 25%. Now, every other global supplier that was 1% - 24% more expensive gets the business that used to be Canadian revenue. So, Canadians lose US customers. We both lose.

If you want further reasoning on why this is bullshit, the “small government, lower your taxes” Republican government are the ones collecting the 25% tariff that is paid. It is a additional tax with no promise of social support. Do you think Trump will use that additional revenue to issue small business grants or to subsidize the businesses of the oligarchs in his administration?

Now, when people say stupid things like, “Canada imposing tariffs only hurts Canadians” it is very obviously 100% reciprocal. The retaliatory tariffs are meant to put the pressure on US exporters to put the pressure on their government to end the trade war. A few key points on the Canadian tariffs:

1. They match number set by Trump. They are not escalating.
2. They have a definitive and reasonable end. Remove the tariffs and our tariffs will also be removed. Not “stop all fentanyl smuggling” (maybe try having fewer US fentanyl users, huh? That’s meant to be sarcastic. Obviously this is a problem for both countries that we both take seriously.)
3. They are strategic in ramping up the scope of the tariffs which begin with things like food consumables which are easy to forego before increasing to more industrial products which businesses, industries, peoples livelihoods and lives can depend on. This gives Canadian businesses time to prepare and negotiate overseas trade and gives America time to roll back the tariffs instead of knocking out the whole supply chain. Remember how fucked the global economy was when one boat got stuck in the Suez Canal for a couple of days? Obviously this isn’t as big as that, but that disruption lasted months, years even. Sweeping, full-stop tariffs like the US tariffs are going to have ripple effects that last for months even if they’re rescinded by the end of the week.

Finally, to address the argument that the tariffs will strengthen the US manufacturing economy, I will refer back to my point about the government using the tariff income to subsidize American businesses. Small businesses are not (and frankly cannot) replace entire Canadian (and Mexican) industries within a couple of months. That money is not going back into the economy. The US oligarchy, the massive monopolistic industry giants, are the only ones that are going to spring up and, chiefly, profit off this whole debacle. And that’s by design.