President Donald Trump announced in a rambling Truth Social post Tuesday that he is putting a 50% tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum imports, a retaliatory move that has once again spooked investors and sent the stock market tumbling.
Trump’s new tariffs are in response to Ontario Premier Doug Ford's 25% surcharge on electricity exports to the United States, which will increase energy prices in Michigan, Minnesota, and New York.
Ford said that the energy surcharge is in direct response to Trump's first round of tariffs and that if Trump puts more tariffs on Canada, he might "shut the electricity off completely."
“Believe me when I say I do not want to do this. I feel terrible for the American people who didn’t start this trade war. It’s one person who is responsible, it’s President Trump,” Ford said.
In response, Trump said that, if Canada doesn't drop other tariffs, he will take more retaliatory moves—including a "substantial" increase on automobile tariffs that will "permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada."
Trump also reiterated his desire to annex Canada—again.
"The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State,” he wrote on Truth Social.
"This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear. Canadians’ taxes will be very substantially reduced, they will be more secure, militarily and otherwise, than ever before, there would no longer be a Northern Border problem, and the greatest and most powerful nation in the World will be bigger, better and stronger than ever — And Canada will be a big part of that,” he added.
But Ford is confident that Canada will never become part of the United States.
"We will never become the 51st state. Canada is not for sale. And we want a great trading partner. We have the greatest neighbors in the world in the U.S., and it’s not the American People. They didn’t vote President Trump in on this kind of mandate. He had a mandate to lower inflation, lower the cost of living, create more jobs, and it’s backfired on him. Inflation is going up, … he's taking more money out of Americans' pockets, and for what reason? We're still trying to figure this out,” Ford said on CNN.
Canada isn't the only country that Trump is targeting with tariffs, which end up hurting Americans the most anyway.
According to The New York Times, Japanese officials were unable to get assurances from Trump that they'd be exempt from his steel and aluminum tariffs.
Ultimately, Trump's ridiculous trade war has sent the stock market into another downward spiral.
As of writing this, the Dow Jones industrial average is down nearly 400 points after falling nearly 900 points yesterday.
And an Emerson College poll found that voters have soured on Trump’s handling of the economy, with 48% disapproving and just 37% approving.
What’s more, “a plurality of voters (46%) say Trump’s economic policies are making the economy worse,” the poll said.
Trump’s unnecessary trade war even has some Republicans criticizing Dear Leader.
"The stock market is comprised of millions of people who are simultaneously trading. The market indexes are a distillation of sentiment,” Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky wrote on X. “When the markets tumble like this in response to tariffs, it pays to listen.”
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