On November 25, 2024, Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs against Canada.

For the next 69 days, he continued threatening Canada and disrespecting Canada by inviting us to become the 51st state.

On January 20, his first day in office, no tariffs were implemented. However, he later announced that the tariffs would begin on February 1. Then on February 1, we were told that an executive order had been signed which would see the tariffs go into effect on February 4.

Following talks with Justin Trudeau on February 3, we received confirmation of a 30-day tariff pause.

This decision not to implement the tariffs was not surprising. During the 69 days of turmoil, it was apparent that nothing we were being told about the reasoning behind the tariffs was true.

Then yesterday, A CTV News story caught my eye. It said, “Trump is trolling Canada because he doesn’t like Trudeau.”

What were these tariff threats really about?

This gave me pause.

Has the past 69 days of tormenting Canadians been about his dislike for Justin Trudeau? Has this all been an attempt to get at Trudeau, and perhaps replace him with a more Trump friendly leader?

Well, if it was, in a sense it worked. During the height of the tariff conflict, Trudeau resigned after a disagreement on tariffs with his deputy PM. Prior to this, many sources thought he would have carried on, ignoring previous resignation calls.

My belief that Canada was being trolled turned out to be Trudeau being trolled, and, in a way, it was successful.

Here’s how the attack on Trudeau failed miserably.

While he was attacking, pressuring and humiliating Trudeau, here’s what he didn’t plan on.

He didn’t plan on Canadians viewing this, rightly, as an attack against them.

He didn’t plan on Canadians mobilizing to stop buying American products.

He didn’t plan on the ramifications of destroying a centuries-old relationship.

He didn’t plan on the destruction of the American economy.

He may have intended to oust Trudeau, put a more Trump-Friendly person in charge, and carry on as if nothing happened.

Because he's a brilliant businessman and author of “The Art of The Deal”, he believed the plan would work.

His petty feud with Trudeau seemed worthwhile to him, possibly due to a previous incident where Trudeau ridiculed him on camera.

This attempt to display his power and negotiation skills to Trudeau lasted 69 long, regrettable days.

In his revenge scenario, unfortunately, he didn’t factor in that Canadians would rise up and do anything.

He was wrong.

And now we can never just go back to being good friends who live beside each other and support each other in everything.

The problem with your plan, Mr. Trump, is that now, Canadians no longer trust you.

Many Canadians are planning to stop buying U.S. products anyway, even though you’ve “paused” the tariffs.

If your plan was to attack Trudeau and move on with your life, it failed. Not only did it fail, but have done irreparable damage to your own country.

What really stopped the tariffs?

Danielle Smith attributes the pausing of the tariffs to good diplomacy.

The talks with the Prime Minister are a good cover story. It likely accomplished Trump’s very important desire to watch Trudeau squirm.

But, according to what I've heard, millions of regular, ordinary Canadians made their feelings about the tariffs very clear. They let Trump know what they were planning to do, spending-wise, if the tariffs were implemented.

The threat of public and private Canadian retaliation was the writing on the wall that stopped the February 4 implementation of the tariffs.

That writing on the wall is still there. It is going to remain there for a long time.

During his first few days in office, Trump had the opportunity to prioritize helping the American people.

Instead, he prioritized attacking Canada through the Prime Minister. Instead, he decided to tear down one of the strongest alliances in the world.

Even though I have not read, “The art of the deal”, I do know that in chess, you try to think more than one move ahead.

I also know that if you want to kill a bug in your house, you use a swatter, not a carefully orchestrated train crash that crashes into your house.

This decision to attack Canada through the Prime Minister was a very bad decision.

 

 

 

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