Trump’s trade war has gone global.
Although Canada dodged more tariffs in President Donald Trump’s latest wave of tariffs, Trump has declared a trade attack on the rest of the world, according to Tom Urbaniak, political scientist with Cape Breton University.
He said the relationship between both countries is forever changed.
“Even if Trump were to withdraw all the tariffs at this point, he has sparked a lot of fear and anxiety in this country, and the trusted and trusting relationship between Canada and United States is largely over. It will be generations before this damage can be undone,” said Urbaniak.
He said Trump claims this will bring short term economic pain to Americans but better in the long run.
But he said some supporters would find a way to justify it.
“Even if they are experiencing major economic pain, [they] will somehow think that they are making sacrifices for the religion of Donald Trump, or that what is plain and clear is not actually real. I mean, this is, these are the times that we live in,” he said.
Urbaniak adds that he would not be surprised if part of Trump’s motivation, hitting so many countries with tariffs, is “making side deals or accepting some sort of promises.”
They could be deals that involve a company investing in the U.S., or they could be out of corruption, people willing to pay Trump off to lift the tariffs, he said.
But the U.S. supreme court recently ruled that the President is protected by presumed immunity, which means Trump could cut any type of deals and get away with it, he said.
“In parallel with what’s going on with the tariffs, is a crumbling of the rule of law in the United States, and this is enabling Trump to engage in some of this nonsense,” he said.
