The fateful day has arrived. President Donald J. Trump told America and the world what was coming, and now it's here. Beginning today, February 1, the US will impose tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada, and China. The leaders of all three targeted nations vowed to respond, though exactly what those responses will be remains to be seen. After the “discussion” with Colombia last week, it seems President Trump intends to wield tariffs as a club to coerce foreign leaders to play politics his way. The question now, however, is what happens if these world leaders don’t cave as quickly as Colombia’s – or at all? Or, to put it another way, when Trump swings the club, who’s getting thwacked the hardest?
Trump’s Tariffs by the Numbers
The president announced that Canadian oil would face a 10% duty, and China would suffer another 10% across the board on top of the existing tariffs. Everything else from Canada or Mexico would see a 25% tax. As of Friday, January 31, Trump says there’s nothing the leaders of these nations can do to stop this, and there may be more to come.
Trump has been warning for weeks that tariffs were coming and that they’ll remain in place until the countries in question do more to slow the flow of illegal migrants and fentanyl over the US borders. The president told reporters Friday, as he signed executive orders in the Oval Office, that he understood these additional levies could increase the price of goods here in the US. When asked if there would be any chance for China, Canada, or Mexico to earn a delay, he replied: “No, no. Not right now, no.”
He went on to say that the tariffs could be increased “very substantially,” but that it all depends on how things go after this first round. Additional taxes are being considered on European goods as well, and in general on steel, aluminum, copper, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals.
Fighting Back?
Mark Carney, the frontrunner to replace Justin Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister, said his country would “stand up to a bully” by matching the American tariffs dollar for dollar. “President Trump probably thinks Canada will cave in,” Carney told the press. “But we are going to stand up to a bully, we’re not going to back down. We’re united and we will retaliate.”
On Wednesday, Canada’s Foreign Minister, Melanie Joly, met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio with a slightly different message. She warned that tariffs would be bad for both countries, and she assured Rubio that Ottawa was addressing America’s concerns over border security and fentanyl trafficking.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum initially responded to the threats by saying her nation would retaliate as well, but more recently, she said she would “wait with a cool head.” Back in November, Sheinbaum called drugs a “U.S. problem,” but in December, the Mexican military seized more than a ton of fentanyl headed for the border – reportedly the largest catch of synthetic opioids in the nation’s history. By Monday, Sheinbaum was applauding the agreement reached by the Trump administration and Colombia on the return of deported Colombian nationals.
“I believe the important thing, as I said on the first day, is to always act with a cool head, defending each country’s sovereignty and the respect among nations and peoples,” she said.
China has been more vague about its intentions, saying that there are no winners in a trade war and vowing to “respond.”
Waving the Big Stick
“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far,” said President Theodore Roosevelt. His way of dealing with other nations soon became known as Big Stick policy, and the connection persists even to this day.
“In reality, we lay equal emphasis on the fact that it is necessary to speak softly; in other words, that it is necessary to be respectful toward all people and scrupulously to refrain from wronging them, while at the same time keeping ourselves in condition to prevent wrong being done to us,” Roosevelt wrote for Outlook in 1914 regarding World War I. “If a nation does not in this sense speak softly, then sooner or later the policy of the big stick is certain to result in war. But what befell Luxembourg six weeks ago, what has befallen China again and again during the past quarter of a century shows that no amount of speaking softly will save any people which does not carry a big stick.”
What the past president hoped to impart to his readers was the understanding that a nation must treat others respectfully, but that it must also be prepared to swing the big stick if those others dare to mistake meekness for weakness. That could be through military might – or, as we’ve seen recently, it can be through the power of the American dollar.
The latter is precisely the big stick Donald Trump waved at Colombia after the South American country refused to accept flights from the US military transporting deported Colombians. As Liberty Nation News Editor-in-Chief Mark Angelides reported:
“Colombia made a big show of refusing to accept flights of returning illegal migrants from the United States. President Gustavo Petro, on Sunday, January 26, made a series of public X posts in which he insisted the deportations were a non-starter until President Trump found a way to do it that treated the repatriated with the “dignity that a human being deserves.” Trump was far from amused and immediately put the full power of the executive to work. From tariffs to sanctions – surprise, surprise – it worked. By Sunday afternoon, just a couple of hours after Trump’s response, President Petro sent his presidential plane to pick up the deported individuals in Honduras.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro made the mistake of grandstanding on social media. That is, he failed to speak softly when dealing with the US. While the leaders of Canada and Mexico have made grand statements of their own for the sake of not losing face on the world scene, it’s telling that they’ve also taken steps to address the issues raised by Trump – and, perhaps equally importantly, they’re making a point to tell the Trump administration about it.
Are the new tariffs here to stay – and are more coming? That likely depends on what the leaders of Mexico, Canada, and China do in response, and how much they make a show of pitching in to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
.jpg&w=1920&q=75)
