Mr. Trump’s threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on cars if Canada doesn’t submit to his demands will be painful — to Canada, and to General Motors, which produces the Chevrolet Impala and other models there. He’s also threatened the European Union, which has offered to remove tariffs on autos if the United States does the same. That’s not good enough for Mr. Trump, who thinks Europeans should be forced to buy American-made cars. Should the president carry out threats to hit imports, the United States stands to lose 200,000 jobs, according to Kristin Dziczek of the Center for Automotive Research, because cars assembled in the United States contain imported parts, including engines. Prices would rise; sales would fall. Auto sales are cooling globally, so creating obstacles for the industry is foolish policy.
Having failed to browbeat Canada into submission by the American-imposed Aug. 31 deadline, the administration told Congress it will go ahead with the Mexico deal. Canada is free to join under those terms, within 30 days. No thank you, said the ever diplomatic Canadian minister of foreign affairs, Chrystia Freeland. “Once we have a good deal for Canada,” Ms. Freeland said, “we have a deal.” The ever-petulant Mr. Trump then tweet-threatened not only Canada but his own Congress: “If we don’t make a fair deal for the U.S. after decades of abuse, Canada will be out. Congress should not interfere w/ these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely & we will be far better off…”
We will certainly not be better off. Nor is Congress planning to cede its authority in treaty making. The president can and should expect a bipartisan pushback against an unnecessary and abusive bad “deal.”
“Canada has oil, electricity, water, all the things that the United States desperately needs,” notes Jerry Dias, national president of Unifor Canada, a leading trade union. “So for him to pick a fight with us makes no sense, either philosophically or economically.”
Correct, Mr. Dias. Welcome to our world.
