U.S. Foreign Policy Under Trump
Threats of Trade Wars Against Canada and Mexico
On November 25, President-elect Donald Trump pledged big tariffs on
Canada and Mexico. "On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive
Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada
a 25 per cent Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States,"
Trump said on social media.
While drugs and the border have
nothing to do with tariffs, Trump is using them as weapons to secure
his aim of having Canada and Mexico "clamp down" on drugs, particularly
fentanyl, and migrants crossing the border.
Trump is also threatening tariffs against China. The U.S. accounted for more than 83 per cent of exports from Mexico in 2023 and 75 per cent of Canadian exports. Mexico is the U.S.' top trade partner, followed by Canada and China.
The
threats against Canada and Mexico violate the Canada-U.S.-Mexico
Agreement on trade (CUSMA), negotiated in 2018 under Trump. It already
favours the U.S. and is extensively used against workers of all three
countries. Making the threat now is, besides other things, a means to
gauge reaction
while positioning the U.S. to impose early renegotiation of the CUSMA,
set for review in 2026, to make it appear he is fulfilling electoral
promises to workers in the U.S.
As one typically arrogant trade expert put it, "I guess the idea is if you keep hitting them in the face, eventually they'll surrender."
Trump spoke with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shortly after making the threat. Both said it was a "good talk." In usual conciliatory fashion Trudeau said, "We talked about some of the challenges that we can work on together." He called an emergency meeting with provincial premiers (the Council of the Federation) for November 27, calling for a "TEAM Canada" response.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, in remarks on November 27, addressed various trade matters in a manner that reflected the high degree of Canada's integration into the U.S. economy as a supplier to the U.S. war machine. "The fact is, we need them and they also need us. We sell them oil. We sell them electricity. We sell them critical minerals and metals." Freeland emphasized the importance of a "Team Canada" approach and acknowledged that Canada responded to previous Trump tariffs with "targeted" tariffs of its own.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, appearing on CBC TV's Power & Politics, spoke about security on the Canada-U.S. border. Canada has submitted to all manner of arrangements to cater to U.S. interests and monopolies in the last 20 years. LeBlanc referred to this aspect of Canada's integration into the U.S. economy and war machine as Canada having a "good story" to tell when it comes to border security.
As for other cartel party representatives, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, in response to reporters' questions, said his party would consider taking retaliatory actions against the United States. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, during question period in the House of Commons, called on the Liberal government to start a trade war with the U.S. "The only thing a bully responds to is strength," he said and called on the government to establish a "war room."
Reflecting the contention between federal and provincial leaders, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in a social media post, "We are calling on the federal government to work with the incoming administration to resolve these issues immediately, thereby avoiding any unnecessary tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S."
Responding to Trump demands that Canada "clamp down" on drugs and migrants, Ontario Premier Doug Ford never pointed out how either issue poses itself but called Trump's threats "unfair." He focused on Mexico, saying it was "insulting" to compare Canada to Mexico when it came to immigration and drugs. He also said if Trump makes good on his promise, "We have to retaliate."
For his part, Quebec Premier François Legault called for calm, yet referred to the threatened tariffs as a "bomb" landing on Quebec's doorstep, and said that Quebec and Canada have to take the threats seriously. To have industries based on exports to the U.S. "picked off" by such tariffs would result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, he said, and that "Quebeckers will pay dearly." Regarding border security, he said that Trump's fears about the border are legitimate, and called on the federal government to tighten border controls "to eliminate that argument of Mr. Trump." Regarding the meeting of the Council of the Federation on November 27, he said his main demand is for Quebec to have its own representative at the table when negotiations with the U.S. get underway.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected Trump's proposed tariffs and threatened counter tariffs. She also said, "If a percentage of what the United States spends on war were dedicated to peace and development, that would address the underlying causes of migration." She reportedly has plans to reach out to Trudeau to discuss the importance of the trade deal among the three countries.
Trump can also be expected to structure the tariffs to give U.S. monopolies the advantage. Nonetheless, the fact is that should Trump impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico, these tariffs would also impact U.S. auto monopolies which have production facilities in both Canada and Mexico. Allies like Germany, Japan, and Korea whose auto and electronics monopolies also use Mexican workers as cheap labour and Mexico as a production gateway to the U.S. market would also be impacted. BMW, Volkswagen, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Toyota and Kia would all be negatively affected. For electronics, China's Lenovo computers, Foxconn (the world's biggest electronics contract manufacturer headquartered in Taiwan, with its main operations in China), and Korea's electronics and appliance manufacturers LG and Samsung will also be affected.
So-called unfair trade, drug cartels and immigration are all being used to promote the need for more direct military intervention against Mexico and potentially a greater role for U.S. military and policing forces in Canada as well. Both may be done "jointly" or unilaterally by the U.S. They are used as a means to promote racism and chauvinism, the Make America Great Again (MAGA) campaign content, especially against Mexico. Canada is to follow suit, as already indicated by Marc Miller, Canada's Minister of Immigration who said that Mexico is the problem when it comes to immigration.
The U.S. is already openly making plans for military intervention in Mexico. By threatening trade wars, Trump feeds those plans while also strengthening U.S. integration of Canada and Mexico into a single U.S.-controlled war economy.
Workers of all three countries have long traditions of support for rights and struggles together to defend each other and will no doubt organize to block these dangerous U.S. threats and plans.
This article was published in
Friday, November 29, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/ITN2024/Articles/TI54591.HTM
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