Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods will harm US consumers
President elect-Donald Trump’s proposed trade tariffs on Canada will likely backfire on the American people and potentially the US food export industry, say leading audit, tax and business advisory firm, Blick Rothenberg.
Melissa Thomas, head of Canada desk at the firm said: “After winning the presidency this year, Donald Trump threatened a blanket 20% tariff on ‘all products’ entering the US from Canada. When he made a similar move during his first term in office, Canada responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own.
“It is easy to imagine history repeating itself, along with the inflation and increased costs the tariffs caused for the average American.”
She added: “Many of the US products Canada chose to put tariffs on in Donald Trump’s first term were chosen for their political rather than economic impact. Canada imported c$3m worth of yogurt from the US annually at that time and most came from one plant in Wisconsin, which was the home state of then-house speaker Paul Ryan. Yoghurt was hit with a 10% duty.”
Melissa said: “Another product on the 2018 list was whiskey, much of which originates from Tennessee and Kentucky, the latter of which is the home state of then-Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell.”
She added: “As the current speaker of the house, Mike Johnson, is from Louisiana, the Canadian ‘yogurt trade war’ of Donald Trump’s last presidency could be replaced with a ‘soya trade war,’ soya beans being the largest export from Mike Johnson’s home state after natural gas.”
Melissa said: “However, the tariffs the president-elect is proposing not just on Canada, but Mexico and China will hurt far more than the average American’s ability to afford tofu or soy milk. They will increase prices of almost all goods imported into the US, and harm consumers across the board.”
