COLUMN: Think Again – Trump’s tariffs only help the Liberals

A tariff is a tax. If you remember nothing else from this column, remember that.

Tariffs are levies placed on foreign products that enter a country. Since tariffs are inevitably added to the cost of those products, consumers end up paying higher prices. That makes it a tax.

Thus, President Donald Trump was dead wrong when he declared that April 2 was “Liberation Day” for the United States. By enacting huge tariffs on other countries, Trump ensured that Americans will pay higher prices for everything from cars to bananas. Simply put, Trump is enacting economic hardship on his own country.

If you don’t believe me, look at how the stock markets reacted to Trump’s Liberation Day announcement. In the day following his announcement, the stock market suffered its worst decline since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of people watched the value of their retirement savings dwindle in real time.

Fortunately, Canada was spared the worst of these so-called “reciprocal” tariffs. Considering that some countries were subjected to tariff rates as high as 99 per cent, things could certainly have been much worse for us.

However, things are still bad. For example, the 25 per cent tariff on automobiles threatens to disrupt the highly integrated automobile manufacturing system in North America. It should come as little surprise that the major American car manufacturers have all come out against these tariffs. These companies know that tariffs will make cars more expensive in both Canada and the United States.

For those who are defending Trump’s tariffs, ask yourself one simple question: What would you say if Joe Biden had implemented these same tariffs? Would you defend these tariffs as a brilliant economic strategy, or would you decry Biden for making life more unaffordable for Canadians and Americans alike?

If you would have denounced Biden for doing what Trump is doing now, then you might want to ask whether you are allowing your political bias to cloud your good judgment.

By any objective measure, Trump’s tariffs are bad economic policy. They are disrupting stock markets around the world, increasing the unemployment rate, destroying people’s life savings, and damaging military and trade relationships with longstanding allies such as Canada.

In addition, Trump is singlehandedly making it possible for the Liberals to win the next federal election. By sending our country into crisis mode, many Canadians are now willing to vote for Mark Carney’s Liberals because they are now more interested in stability than they are in change.

Simply put, no one is happier about the current tariff crisis than Mark Carney. Every moment that he spends talking about tariffs is time that he doesn’t have to answer for the catastrophic Liberal record. Instead of being forced to explain why our country is weaker now than it was ten years ago, Carney gets to play “Captain Canada” and wrap himself in the Canadian flag.

Canadians have an opportunity to elect a leader who will bring much-needed change to our country. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has promised to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget, and stop the crime. These are the issues that should be front and centre during this campaign.

Instead, thanks to Trump’s boneheaded tariffs, we are wasting this campaign talking about the U.S. president instead of about issues that matter to Canadians. I’d much rather focus on what is happening in Canada.

If Carney does end up winning this election, he should make sure to send a thank-you card to President Donald Trump. Without Trump, the Liberals would certainly have been toast.

Michael Zwaagstra is a high school teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.