From "Trump to impose high tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China/The levies are intended to force countries to cut the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into America. The president said he has plans to include the EU" (London Times).
"Trump is a long-standing admirer of the era, more than a century ago, when high tariffs were the cornerstone of US trade policy and Treasury revenue. 'We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913. That’s when we were a tariff country,' he said.... Chrystia Freeland, the former finance minister who is running to replace Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party, said... that she was calling for a 100 per cent tariff on American wine, beer and spirits, as well as Tesla vehicles.... 'We need to be very targeted, very surgical, very precise,' Freeland said. 'We need to look through and say who is supporting Trump and how can we make them pay a price for a tariff attack on Canada.'"
What's "surgical" about going after "wine, beer and spirits"? Is it just that it always seems relatively palatable to make drinking more expensive — the idea of "sin taxes"?
By the way, when and where did the term "sin tax" arrive? Grok couldn't pin it down for me for me, so I checked the NYT archive. The second appearance of the term, on December 24, 1928, was as the name of a play:
The first appearance of "sin tax" — a possible pun on "syntax"! — was also about the play by the son of Leonard Wood and also referred to it as "an emotional drama of the tropics."
"An emotional drama of the tropics" — those were simpler times. Christmas Eve, 1928. The stock market crash is still 10 months away, and you can really sink into the sultry ways of the people of the warmest climes. I wonder if this play was about the Governor-General's possible idea that Filipinos were immoral and his — or his son's — fantasy about controlling them with taxation.
But I'm not going to disrespect Leonard Wood!
Imagine being Leonard Wood and your son is the "author of several vaudeville sketches."
ADDED: The OED found an earlier appearance of "sin tax" in the NYT. From 1901:
A society in Yonkers composed of young women fines its members 10 cents for each ungrammatical or slang expression used during social or other sessions. ‘My sin tax!’ said one young lady as she paid her fine.
Even using different search terms, I can't find that in the NYT archive. But you can see that there was a colloquial use that is reminiscent of a family having a "swear jar." But that's a private frivolity, not a legal requirement with the government selecting disfavored activities for taxation. That meaning only goes back to 1957 — recent! — and to a particular person:
Much of New Hampshire's revenue comes from what former Gov. Sherman Adams first referred to as ‘sin taxes’. In addition to horse racing, they include liquor and tobacco.
And I like this 1988 quote the OED found in Atlantic Insight, which I'm assuming is a British publication:
Fag-suckers are among the most public-spirited of folk,..paying an enormous sin-tax to underwrite the pensions of those who will live to a healthy and sanctimonious old age.
AND: British enough — it's Canadian.
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The theory of free trade relies on something called "comparative advantage" (not competitive advantage). Comparative advantage is why the economics department secretary walks papers to the dean's office even though the economics department head walks faster than she does. It takes into account what everybody could be doing instead of what they are doing.
If owing to regulation we can't find something better for our workers to do after shipping their jobs to low wage countries, the theory doesn't work.
I love that photos. Some tough hombres there. I'd like think TR is the one on the right. And the short guy is ol' Joe Wheeler. Supposedly shouting in a fit forgetfullness "Go after those damn Yankees, we've got them on the run" during the Spainish American War.
And imagine living in a world where a play about "Tropics" called Sin tax could play on Broadway. I'd bet it was pretty spicy.
Dreamy McDreamboat shut down parliament to save his job, he "resigned" but he is still prime minister, and he is using the time he gained to fill as many patronage jobs as he can until the jig is finally up. By proroguing parliament, he threw out all of the laws that they had passed, and has left Canada without a real government.
Remember that these tariffs imposed on Canada are simply about "presenting a plan" to buck up border security. The Liberals picked a fight over this because they control the media, so the immediate cause will be heavily downplayed in the media, and they can go into the next election running against Trump.
When did Congress give the executive the power to impose tariffs?
Pierre Poillevre - https://youtube.com/shorts/XBwYWFr_754?si=-x4kdqbNA-jcBn-N
BTW, (Seinfeld voice) d'you ever notice that we get almost zero reporting about Mexicon in our DNC-MSM. what is the platform of the current ruling party? Are they left or right? Does Mexico have national health insurance? Whats their health sytstem like or their debt situation? Why is crime out of control? Why are we having to force them to control the drug situation? Etc.
Instead we get almost nothing, except the few "You go girl isn't it great she's Jewish" articles about the President and the occassional Yellow press article about the Drug Gangs.
If you want to be labelled as "far right," simply speak out against unfettered globalism. How does a globalist define a good paying job for a working man? "economic inefficiency." Oops! I guess I am "far right" now!
Oof. The US didn't have so many obligations pre 1913. Duh.
Who gave Trump the power? The congress. Anyway, we'll have to wait if our Judicial Masters decide to stop it. Because they really have all the power. That's the 'murican way. And Democracy in action.
You're correct per Wikipedia. (Scroll down). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Wheeler
This is what Canada is fighting to protect.
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2025/02/01/the-libranos-gang-vs-gang/
This is about transporting Fentanyl through immigration reform. #BLM, right?
Excess murder, rape, and other planned criminal enterprises, too.
Canada can avoid the tariff through cooperation to mitigate their progress. Mexico, too. Each nation has not a selfie, but rather self-interest to work together in good faith.
Dammit! Tariffs on back bacon, touques, and Molson Gold then.
Trudeau? Take off, hoser!
Speaking of etymology and usage, note how the newspaper article doesnt call him Leonard Wood Jr, but rather the son of the late General Wood, following the rule that Sr, Jr, etc, distinguish only living men from each other.
JSM
Mexico can end the tariffs if they get ahold of their border and stop importing drugs into the US. Easy.
Constitution did.
There's no tariff on illegal drugs.
President has sole power to make treaties which include trade agreements with other countries.
Looking forward to filling up with an additional 25% Upper Midwest and NE USA get a of Canadian refined oil and gas.
Can't wait for the Trump 'I did that' sticker at gas pump.
Wrong, congress did not ever have this power to give. President always had this power.
The tariffs are a motivation to cooperation. It's analogous to free speech that illuminated democracy that would otherwise die in darkness, to whistleblowers that expose clinical cannibalism at Planned Parenthood, to Asian-Anerican citizens who stand up to DEI, etc.
It’s amazing how many people think congress has vast powers. But for a bunch of Supreme Court decisions in the 1930s broadening the scope of interstate commerce, congress would have limited power.
They should stop the exportation too!
Keep digging for that pony!
Every single Trumpist has benefited enormously from free trade and free markets. Not a single one of them has ever refused to buy something that is not American made. Many of them have gotten rich off of foreign-made goods. That's because freedom brings prosperity.
What does this have to do with Canada refusing to do anything to try to stem the flow of fentanyl and illegal migrants? Migrants who are in Canada, and therefore have no need of asylum, they are in a safe country/
Great photo!
Federal government has become too focused on foreign spending, foreign economic support, foreign wars irrelevant to US security, foreign election meddling, et al. Time to focus on Americans and problems within America. Many parts of USA desperately need Federal attention.
Doesnt Congress usually gave to ratify Trade Agreements?
"Imagine being Leonard Wood and your son is the 'author of several vaudeville sketches.' "
Imagine being RADM George Stephen Morrison, and your son becomes a rock and roll icon, and drinks himself to death at age 27.
Is the 2nd from left in photo Pershing?
In the Bible Belt smoking and drinking was considered sinful . So taxing tobacco and alcohol was a freebie. In theory only the sinners paid it
So, are tariffs a policy tool or a permanent middle finger, or what? What, specifically, does Trump want Canada to do?
Honestly,
The things that will be getting more expensive are worthless crap that we shouldn’t be wasting our money on anyway.
I can say with a high rate of certainty that 80+% of everything that is purchased from China is in a landfill in less than 2 years. In fact Trump should enact (by presidential edict) a landfill surcharge of every item that arrives from China.
As a bonus imagine how quickly Americans will be able to pay off their student loans with the money they aren’t giving to Temu.
rhhardin: The Mexican government needs to stop the cartels from sending illegal drugs and illegal aliens into the US. You know what I meant.
A sin tax is one thing but a state-run lottery is quite another.
Free trade was sold as the lesser-of-evils during the post-WW2 and Cold War eras, for many countries had been destructively nationalistic and militaristic. It provided an incentive to cooperate (e.g., lower prices, more options) for the benefit of all. Then, it morphed into a bunch of global piglets suckling off the giant US consumer sow and funding worthless paper debt to keep the sow fed and the system going.
Tariffs for a few years may break the assumption that this imbalance is "okay." However, with so many global brands selling standard and popular products (e.g., McDonalds, Starbucks, Japanese cars; Apple phones, Samsung TVs, etc.) there's not much space or incentive for dramatic change. Foreign companies will build plants in the US, there will be more local jobs, and prices will likely go up.
When US tariffs were removed for notebook computers circa 1990, street prices for the same items dropped from $2K to $1K. Those in government said "We can eliminate tariffs because notebook PC manufacturing is well-established in the US." In reality, the US assembly plants closed overnight.
Trump is not "hitting Mexico, China and Canada", he is hitting US consumers who buy things from those countries.
If the word tariff didn't exist and they were just called taxes, I wonder how differently things would be going right now.
Lotteries have been described as a tax on stupidity.
"Every single Trumpist has benefited enormously from free trade and free markets. Not a single one of them has ever refused to buy something that is not American made. Many of them have gotten rich off of foreign-made goods. That's because freedom brings prosperity."
That's why we need to support free trade forever and never put tarriffs on anything till the end of time. Because if you benefited from something in the past, its always good in every circumstance. Forever.
Trump is using his tariff threats as a negotiating, rather than an economic, tactic (although they do have identical economic effects, in that they impact producers' decisions of where to produce goods.)
Rhhardin mentions "comparative advantage" above.
We have no "free" nor "fair" trade with our neighbors so long as their governments reduce costs of production with subsidies, and our own governments increase domestic costs of production, compared to theirs, by the extra impediments imposed by ever-increasing federal, state, and local taxation and cash and non-cash wage requirements, and ever-expanding labor, welfare, environmental laws and regulations, e.g., -- all the burdensome regulatory costs imposed on American producers.
Why do they handicap some racehorses (with extra saddle weights)? To try to make it a "fair" race where all the competitors have a chance at winning.
Trade economics is far more complex, yet just as simple, as a horse race.
To more fully understand all the moving parts, I suggest reading "The Way The World Works," by Jude Wanniski. My copy is the 4th edition, written in 1998, so the details & examples are somewhat dated, but since history "rhymes," his overall conclusions remain relevant.
Don't confuse Ann's not too bright commenters. They also believe that deporting 50% of our farm workers (probably more in meat processing) and 20% of our construction workers will magically lower grocery and construction prices.
I always love these globalists and losertarians always show up and spout the party line. "Free trade Good. tarriffs Bad". Then when you point out that we've always had tarriffs. Or we had tarriffs in the past, when the USA economy grew faster than it does now. Or that other countries like China or Japan or the EU have high tarriffs and aren't stupid.
In rebuttal they'll change the subject, or quote some theory without any relevance to the real world. "Why in Econ 101 we learned...." or "Milton Friedman said..."
Almost all international trade is regulated by treaties and agreements between governments. There is no "Muh freedom, Get the Government out of international trade". And just because the USA decides to let foreigners sell their goods here without a tarriff doesn't mean the opposite is true.
The tariffs on Canada have the maths working against them. 47% of the oil imported to the US comes from Canada. (The US is a net exporter of oil, but the Western States import oil.) O/s oil, Canada has a massive trade deficit with the US. That’s because Canada doesn’t manufacture anything. Its economy is rooted entirely in raw materials and foodstuffs. Essentially, Canada sells a lot of oil to the western US states, and nickel and iron, and lumber, etc. including rare earth minerals.
Raw materials are fungible and so can be always easily be sold at world prices. Canada’s oil can be re-directed for sale abroad. By pipe west to the Pacific. And east by both pipe and train to the Atlantic. (Going east is currently not done, but can easily be done, if approved.)
When the US puts a 25% tariff on goods from Canada, Canada will respond, as it has done in the past, wrt to lumber, by putting a further 25% tariff on the same goods. The logic of that move is to make the goods even more expensive in the US. While redirecting the tax raised by the Cdn part of the tariff back to the Canadian producers to cover their costs to realign their sales of the raw materials and foodstuffs to Asia and Europe. Some of these raw materials are essential for US industry and so the 50% increase in price will be paid in the US by some. Besides that, the US suppliers of the same raw materials will raise their prices to capture the windfall profit. (This is what happened when the US arbitrarily put tariffs on Cdn lumber during the Bush admin.)
Meanwhile, Canada will put a matching 25% tariff on selected manufactured products coming from the US. Such goods will be chosen based on the sensitivity of Senators and Congressmen to re-election in 2026. Such goods will also be chosen based on their ease of replication and replacement in Canada from Asian and European suppliers.
In other words, the maths don’t work when one country has a deficit in manufactured goods with another country, as Canada does.
There's nobody better than Wanniski for explaining the Laffer Curve. He was, however, a believer in the fixed real value of gold, and could not be budged from it, so his monetary policy stuff was crap. He did thank me once (a commenter) for pointing out abebooks.com, where you could buy all the books that you've misplaced or lost over your lifetime, a new feature of life.
For my part, I'll just wait to see how all this plays out, I'm not making any predictions. On the other hand, I find it hilarious that all the lefties are decrying the fact that the other countries won't pay for tariffs, the US consumer will after decades of telling us that we need to raise taxes on those dastardly corporations so they "pay their fair share".
In fact, he is doing both of these things, as well as encouraging companies to locate production and jobs in the USA. Oh yes, he is also encouraging Canada and Mexico to increase cooperation on border security. They could avoid the tariffs altogether by cracking down on the border.
Okay, we'll surely pay more to employ people in some industries. Kaki and Freder -- Never mind that Biden crushed the oil industry, drove up fuel prices, and drove up car prices with a ton of eco and electric mandates. Never mind that Biden drove up prices with overgenerous unemployment, needless COVID lockdowns, and sent housing costs through the roof with overgenerous interest rates and eviction bans.
Maybe tariffs will reduce black male unemployment, as many farm and construction jobs will be there for the taking. Maybe some urban black males will move out of their current inner-city hell-holes. Detroit. Baltimore. Chicago. Oakland. Maybe crime will decline in these same locations, as the unemployed will then be employed and busy in areas far away. Maybe these cities can be reborn as functional cities, not subsidized hell-holes to be avoided.
I wonder what the world would look like, in an alternative universe where we had not abandoned the gold standard....
...although an understanding of monetary policy is so far beyond my grasp that I've given up trying. :-(
“Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.” Scott Bessent Treasury Secretary
Except it's the buyer — Americans — who will pay the tariff. I hope the Trump voters enjoy the higher prices.
Bessent is a very smart guy.
I wonder if he truly believes in this, or is working to manage the boss’ expectations.
It's becoming pretty clear that Trump 100% believes tariffs are pure revenues.
He's not looking for trade concessions anymore. The "External Revenue Service," while an absurd concept, is a window into his cognitive defect on this matter. He thinks it's market positive because it funds tax cuts.
Then — why do you suppose China is only hit with a 10% tariff? Thats a real head scratcher….
China is the primary source of Fentanyl precursors. China is also the principal supplier of precursors for another synthetic drug, methamphetamine.
It’s pretty impressive when you’re just a 27 year old WH press secretary and your words single-handedly tank the stock market.
LLR-democratical Rich, Field Marshall Freder and Dumb Lefty Mark opining on tariffs might just be the most moronic and funniest things you'll read all week!
Oh, my goodness, how will the US ever replace energy and lumber and other commodities from Canada with US commodities?!
LOL
You really have to work at being that level of stupid! It ain't easy!
The "good news" from a New Soviet Democratical perspective?
Trump is already responsible for the inflation that never existed under biden!
Enigma, ref tariffs reducing black unemployment:
Hence my 21st Century Homestead Act! Give descendants of slaves plane tickets to, and houses at, the places where the jobs are. Some will say “I aint pickin no crops - that’s why my grandparents left Mississippi.” But a lot will say “Beats slingin dope - nobody gets shot for pickin lettuce on the wrong corner. And no gang leader never gave me no house.”
JSM
Pennsylvania, with its iron and steel industries, was the political mainstay of American protectionist sentiment and the University of Pennsylvania was protectionism's intellectual center. That was all long before Trump went there, but I wonder if there's some connection.
I must say — Drago (aka cocktail) day drinking suits him!
Bottoms up ‘Cocktail’ 🥃🥃
Tariffs that are imposed and lifted on the whim of one man are not an economic tool and aren’t amenable to economic analysis. They are more like punishment for the purpose of establishing dominance.
The economic justifications for these tariffs are merely red herrings.
Bottoms up ‘ Cocktail’🥃🥃
Could be. Black Pershing ran the ROTC unit at the University of Nebraska. While there, he earned a law degree.
Bud Brown - that very well might be Pershing. Tall, moustached, and in a US Volunteers uniform with an oak leaf (he was a Regular Army captain, but was put in the USV as a major after San Juan Hill, since the RA promotion system was so calcified. Later, President TR solved Pershing’s career atrophy by promoting him straight to 1-star; I am certain Hegseth is looking for ways to do this right now).
If it is Pershing, it’s quite a gathering of historic personages: TR, Wood, Wheeler, Black Jack. Kind of like the Million Dollar Quartet, or A Great Day in Harlem.
JSM
LLR-democratical Rich must have been a kamala campaign "insider".
Never mind that Biden drove up prices with overgenerous unemployment, needless COVID lockdowns
Umm, that was Trump. By the time Biden got into office the "overgenerous unemployment" had ended, and the lockdowns were beginning to ease.
Declining foreign trade share will link with the increased concentration of new clean energy tangible goods production across the Global South, mediated and led by China, to redistribute global economic industrial weight -- and political weight -- away from the US.
The vital arena in trade competition between nations occurs in the third-country nations (selling and buying products in all the "other" countries), not in the binational competition. China has been beating the US in third-country markets for years, particularly in tradeable goods as opposed to services. China has built up a huge comparative advantage in tangible goods trade with its domestic infrastructure and is now extending this advantage internationally with the most ambitious international trade infrastructure of ports, airports, and infrastructure around the world ever seen.
• Trump personally and irretrievably gets the very nature of international economic competition wrong with his binational lens.
• The allies will slip away on little cat feet, percentage point by percentage point.
• Trump may stampede the allies out en masse as overlapping crises crumble US global leadership -- it does look like it could get very bad very fast.
• Destroying cooperative relationships with allies is a catastrophic mistake of epic proportions like both Hitler's and Napoleon's invasions of Russia. The Trump administration are risking the core of their international leadership. Arrogance and ignorance -- long an Achilles heel of American culture -- may prove fatal this time.
You still haven't explained how you are going to pay for your 21st Century Homestead Act.
My understanding is that the process of refining different types of crude oil would be the issue. Converting a refinery to process light rather than heavy crude can be done but it would be expensive. Would it make sense to expended capital to retool to adjust to something as ephemeral(hopefully) as a tariff? I have no idea. I do not even know if oil imports are included. We ultimate consumers will more than likely just have to pay more for products subject to the import taxes as well as domestically manufactured goods using imported materials. We will see. I will more than likely decrease efficiency but that is the cost.
LLR-democratical Rich, the Harry Sisson of Althouse blog, along with Field Marshall Freder and Dumb Lefty Mark are all very upset that easily switched and/or avoided products and commodities we have bankrupted ourselves by not simply producing them in the US and shipping our jobs and money to other nations are being targeted because, as with all lefties, they want other nations to win and the US to lose.
They are particularly upset about hits to the ChiComs. You'll always, but only always, and I mean every single time, adopt whatever policy position gives the ChiComs, and others, the advantage over the US.
Remember how gleeful they were when the biden admin was continually attacking SpaceX to give the ChiComs time/room to try and catch up.
LOL
Freder: Are you that ignorant or a troll?
See Biden's ERAP
https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/coronavirus/assistance-for-state-local-and-tribal-governments/emergency-rental-assistance-program
See Biden's NINE policies meant to aid renters:
https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/FACT_SHEET-Emergency-Rental-Assistance-Program_May2021.pdf
See the SPIKE in inflation when Biden took office:
https://read.wgpayscale.com/
LLR-democratical Rich, fresh off calling the kamala campaign the most brilliant campaign evah!, and long after predicting the destruction and demise of Tesla/SpaceX/X (when did that happen again?), has moved onto greener pastures in which to "drop" his "musings"!
Freder: Don't pay anything. Let the farmers post job openings online and advertise nationally.
Kaki: This is a Great Powers conflict era. Mexico and Canada are in the US sphere of influence. Trump seems to have higher expectations than for China, as a competing Great Power located half way around the world.
Kaki: Great Powers era. Spheres of influence. Monroe Doctrine.
Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy crude sells for approximately 20% discount to the North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil because of its higher density, sulphur content, and transportation costs. Canada should put an export tax equivalent to the discount. The midwestern and Gulf Coast refineries are equipped to process heavy crude and won’t be able to reconfigure this without huge expense and a long time lag. Thus, they would be forced to buy Canadian crude. The resulting price increase would feed into higher gas prices which the American consumer would be forced to bear. Voilà !
Bottoms up Cocktail 🥃🥃
Walk away from the bottle 🥃🥃
'We need to be very targeted, very surgical, very precise,' Freeland said.
In other words, Bob McNamara style. When a politician says what she said, you know the results are going to be very sloppy, very messy and either very ineffective or very destructive. Unfortunately, John McLaughlin isn't around to keep Freeland in line anymore.
Enigma! Shhh! Don't you know historical references happens to be Literal White Supremacy!
Let the farmers post job openings online and advertise nationally.
Well fine, but that is not what mosby is advocating. He wants to pay for relocation and housing.
Did you notice I did not mention rental assistance? Your point is irrelevant.
Here's a link that IDs all in the photo:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Wheeler#/media/File:Theodore-roosevelt-and-officers.gif
That should bring down the $7.00 a dozen eggs quickly and get that auto you been looking to purchase to reasonable $50,000.00 I'll bring prices down and quick,,oh wait a minute thats too hard to bring things back down,,April fool trumpers..
Foreign tariffs and domestic redistributive change schemes (e.g. Obamacares, education pricing) are fungible and the latter are the primary forcings of debt and progressive prices. Not even labor, environmental, and monetary arbitrage games were sufficient to mitigate their progress.
The Constitution says all tax bills must originate in the House.
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