Trump’s State of the Union Address: Thank you Mr. President?

BY STEVEN KASZAB

A solemn moment indeed. President Trump explained his administration’s agenda, and I realized it was not all bad. The explanation regarding tariffs was especially of interest.

Tariffs: Taxes applied to the importation and export of products from one nation to another. Used as a tool of financial: correction, protection, retaliation, or revenue gathering. Many nations use tariffs as a way to protect their own industries from foreign competitors. An example: America makes baseball bats and ships them to Japan for sale. The Japanese Government has put a very high tariff upon said bats and also will cut the bats in half to see if they contain damaging chemicals or disease.

Another example is the attempt by American milk producers who have wanted to sell their products in Canada, but the various governmental agencies have not allowed this to happen. Therefore, American authorities place a large tariff on Canadian milk.  Such actions occur all over the planet damaging American products and putting these products at a market disadvantage. No more according to the President. No more.

Tariff wars have begun and for those nations unprepared, financial disaster could occur. I happen to see a light at the end of the tunnel, however. Really!

A simple adage comes to mind. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Apply it to our experience before and during the pandemic. The medical community knew a pandemic would happen, yet the government did nothing to prepare for it. The pandemic taught North Americans that we cannot rely upon our cherished supply chain, so develop, sell and buy locally. Corporations that developed the offshore industry began to work with domestic suppliers creating local jobs and opportunities. Then the pandemic was declared at an end. Those same corporations went back to offshore suppliers. North America lost its chance to develop its economy based upon a self-supportive marketplace. Canada can and does make similar products as import firms, but the costs are high.

““Canada needs to develop self-sustaining, local industries that can service their locals and nation and not face tariffs.”

Now the Trump administration has given: Canada, Mexico and America a chance to turn the tables on offshore interests. Many offshore nations use tariffs just as the President will to protect their domestic industries. Trump has always claimed that all his policies and actions are driven to make America self-sufficient and great again. So, folks, how about taking a few plays from the President’s playbook?

Trump has done more for the Canadian energy sector and the environment than a hundred Green Parties could do in a hundred years. Alberta oil is harvested, then sent to far off Texas and other locals in America for refining, then sent back to Canada for sale at your local pumps. The tariffs make this process unbearable. Should Alberta invest in several processing plants, allowing them to cut costs in logistics and possible pipe fractures and spills? Keep the entire process in Canada where our regulations will work to purify and make the crude better than ever before. Alberta, Newfoundland and other petroleum producers in Canada can find customers throughout Canada and beyond.

Canada needs to develop self-sustaining, local industries that can service their locals and nation and not face tariffs.

A tariff free economy must start first between Canadian provinces. Yes, various provinces protect their own: farmers, wine producers, and industry by charging tariffs. How can Canadians complain about Trumpian policies when you cannot order B.C. wine and have it shipped to Ontario without being charged a tax/tariff for the privilege. Free trade may not work among nations, but it surely should between provinces and regions.

President Trump’s “America First” attitude should ignite within us a similar attitude to buy local, travel, and vacation within your home nation, support local and national industries when you can. Canadian governments can regulate their energy and its transport domestically, as to various other products. Green concerns can be made and expressed domestically, as America has walked away from its regulatory responsibilities for the environment. Canada can do it: better, cheaper and more efficiently.

What can be considered: greedy, irrational economic policy and national selfishness on the part of America is an opportunity for the future of: Canada, Mexico and beyond. Our expectations have been assaulted, but we can and must respond not in the negative, but positively. Look to your backyard, your neighborhood and region first. Building a more prosperous America may mean Canada and Mexico can develop similar attributes and share in the prosperity.

Benjamin Franklin said “Our new constitution is now established. Everything seems to promise durability, but in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.”