RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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In the absence of a coherent political strategy, threaten something ridiculous. Such has been the strategy of the Trump administration in virtually every major foreign policy and economic decision of his second term. As relations with Canada — our northern ally and major trade partner — collapse into a trade war spurred by the American president's tariff threats, things have once again escalated into the absurd.
On Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to goad Canada , writing that "the United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don't expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer."
The threat mirrors Trump's claims that he holds the authority to rename major global geographical features at will. Notably the president has attempted to rebrand the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America," It's all a part of a larger imperialist impulse on Trump's part. The president has floated invading and annexing Greenland, Venezuela, and Canada, claiming he will make each the "51st state."
"Over the last 10 years, the United States lost, on average, 60 Billion Dollars a year with Canada. No more," he added in a subsequent post — which misrepresented the annual import/export differential between Canada and the United States as a "loss" and not an exchange of goods.
Americans can count the death of North American free trade among the many casualties of the second Trump administration. Earlier this month, Trump threatened to level punishing, 50 percent tariffs on over $20 billion of Canadian imports. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has threatened dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs.
"In recent days, the United States proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits for Canada and called into question the reliability of any deal," Carney said on Sunday . "In short, they asked too much and they offered too little. You're at war when you get attacked. We got attacked." Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century
Canadian goods account for approximately 10-15 percent of all U.S. imports, and is the nation's second biggest trade partner by volume after Mexico. With costs for everyday goods continuing to rise, and an affordability crisis threatening Republicans' unified party hold on Congress after the midterms, a trade war with a historic ally comes off as wholly idiotic. Maine Senator Susan Colling, a Republican facing a tough reelection bid in a state that borders Canada, said in a recent interview that "imposing new tariffs on Canada is a mistake."
In a post on social media, she warned that continuing down this path "will increase costs for Maine families, as most businesses will have no choice but to pass on the tariffs to their customers through higher prices."
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