When you listen to politicians, you have to pay attention to their words. As a former parliamentary reporter covering the machinations of Canada’s federal government, I got used to hearing political-speak as the members of Parliament find clever ways of calling each other idiots without being so crass as to call each other idiots. I can remember one instance in which the prime minister remarked of another parliamentarian, “The honorable member disagrees with me, I can hear him shaking his head”.
Fast forward to the current political situation in the United States. President Donald Trump has decreed punitive trade tariffs on imports from virtually every other country in the world, friend or foe. There is no finesse involved; the tariffs have been slapped on with a shovel and Trump is being taken to task for it by politicians, economists and many others. It is interesting to see the language being used.
Normally, when a political leader does something that is deemed to be unpopular, the language of criticism is measured. You might hear someone comment that he had not thought the issue through properly or that he had failed to consider something. Not this time. Trump’s actions are being termed “stupid”, “dumb” and “crazy”. Whether Trump realizes it or not, this sort of language implies not only severe criticism of his tariff policy but of Trump himself. Pundits are saying his actions are driving both the United States and possibly the rest of the world into a recession and perhaps a depression.
Trump has made no bones about the fact that his tariffs are a negotiating tactic and, to be fair, he has said for years that he is in favour of using tariffs to force manufacturing jobs to be carried out in the U.S. as opposed to its long reliance on imports. One catch is that the big money-makers and big employers these days are in the electronics and information technologies sectors, not in manufacturing, so even if Trump’s tactic would work as he claimed, the result wouldn’t be all that beneficial.
Trump, however, clearly believes that Trump knows best and that he should always get his way. Certainly, new international trade deals can, and perhaps should, be negotiated in some sectors. There are established ways and lines of communication to do this without using threats and bullying, which is the way Trump seems to think business should be carried out.
It remains to be seen how all this plays out. As I write this, Trump has paused many of his tariffs for 90 days but has ratcheted them up against China. China has responded by levying heavy tariffs against U.S. products, and these actions have created uncertainty in markets around the world. Business hates uncertainty so perhaps this is an opportunity for countries such as China and Canada to increase their international relations and trade with each other, thereby stabilizing their markets and end-running the U.S.
Brad Franklin
Sidney
