Apparently, the most important issue for President Donald Trump right now is taking the name of one of the Great Lakes away from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois). In the midst of the Lake Ontario labeling debacle, Seneca President J. Conrad Seneca issued a statement to reverse the change, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford put up a billboard on the Canadian side that read, “Lake Ontario, Now and Always” (New York Governor Kathy Hochul also declared that her state would not be changing the name, even though Google Maps has). The Province of Ontario was named after what the Huron (or Wendat) had already been calling the body of water, which was the Iroquois word for “lake of shining waters,” so the fact that the president can be so ignorant of history and disrespectful to Native Americans is telling of what kind of leadership our country is under.
Though I will not be personally changing how I refer to the lake (nor do I refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” Kiev, Ukraine as Kyiv, or Keeve, because these things have agendas behind them that are no different than liberals attempting to change the names of places linked to the Confederacy or taking down statues of Robert E. Lee or Philip Schuyler for the purposes of rewriting history and making it easier for the powers that be to make us forget past events and move us closer to a 1984 dystopia), this petty argument has broader implications in the deteriorating relations between the United States and Canada. Without congressional approval, President Trump declared a trade war against our neighbor to the north, and the American (and Canadian) people are the ones who will suffer from it, while the political elites on both sides will be just fine.
As I have explained previously, the United States and Canada do have a trade deficit, as in 2025, the United States imported $453.6 billion in goods and services and exported $426.3 billion of the same. Imports from Canada in 2025 included: industrial supplies, such as oil, chemicals, and plastics, accounting for about $195.9 billion; vehicles and parts consisting of $52.8 billion; and capital goods, such as machinery and equipment, comprising of $52.4 billion. Reciprocally, the United States exported the following to Canada: $96.9 billion in industrial supplies, $65.1 billion in vehicles and parts, and $83.9 billion in capital goods. This $27.3 billion deficit cannot be corrected with the stroke of a pen, and it is largely a result of the United States lacking the manufacturing base that it once had (increased government regulations make it more difficult to produce). President Trump acting like the European kings of old to implement a new system of mercantilism (a 16th to 18th century policy that attempted to maximize wealth by forcing increased exports and decreased imports through government regulations) does not get to the root of the problem.
Whether or not Canada is “one of the worst countries in the world to deal with,” President Trump is initiating a war that does not have to be, as trade deficits happen all the time in global trade because countries do not manufacture and export and import the same number of goods. Though the tariffs of 50% on automobiles, auto parts, aluminum, steel, wine, cement, and other items (dairy and appliances may only be at 25%, while electronics and tools may be at 15%) only amount to about 5% of the imports from Canada; some believe that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “dollar for dollar” retaliatory tariffs on about $20 to $28 billion in goods and Premier Ford’s electricity surcharge on shared power across the border (affecting states like New York) will cause higher prices for American citizens. Plus, if Canada shuts off the Welland Canal between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie (this canal was built to bypass the inaccessible Niagara River and its scenic waterfalls), this could prevent the free flow of goods between the United States and Canada.
With higher costs on the horizon for Americans, we can be grateful that President Trump exposed himself as a fraud and liar, as he campaigned on lowering costs and not starting any new wars. Canadian officials are now asking citizens to buy Canadian goods and boycott American ones, and this “movement of resistance,” mixed with retaliatory tariffs, is designed to pressure American companies to fight back against the United States government, but the arrogant and inflexible Trump administration instructed Canada to “fall in line.”
As a result of the 25% tariff that Trump has already levied on Canada, Ottawa’s reciprocal tariff caused steel exports from the United States to decrease by 30%. Canada is also putting together a $7.5 billion ($5.4 billion in US dollars) program to supplement workers and businesses that have suffered from the trade war, so Canada seems to be equipping itself for the long haul. Although Trump may or may not win in forcing Canada to cave, in the meantime, this will cause American citizens and businessmen to endure economic pain that never needed to be.
Because American companies rely on the tariffed materials, the president denying easy access can cause businesses to have to source the materials from domestic manufacturers at higher costs. This means that ultimately, American consumers will pay the price. Just like if you raise minimum wage and companies are forced to pay employees more money, the increased cost gets pushed onto the buyer at the final stages (even poor people pay the higher costs in the end). Any type of government tax or regulation has hidden costs that most people do not think about, but then they wonder why prices rise and blame the greedy corporations for the manipulation that actually came from government policies (shifting blame helps keep many Americans away from wanting capitalism and desiring socialism, even though government manipulation is not free market in the first place). Plus, if Canadians refuse to buy American goods, it hurts producers in the United States. The price hike from the Canada fiasco may only raise prices slightly, overall, but Americans are estimated to have to pay an additional $1,000 per year because of the global tariffs that Trump is imposing. Hooray, for the president doing the exact opposite of what he campaigned on.
Where did this dictatorial power come from, you may ask? Well, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) gives the president the authority to essentially regulate the economy during a national emergency and when he must “deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.” Aside from the obvious constitutional issues with Congress delegating its authority to the executive branch (that is not how a republic is supposed to work), President Trump’s “extraordinary threat” has been going on for many years without it being considered a danger to Americans, so he is just arbitrarily declaring an emergency and giving himself power to deal with it. This is the problem with how we operate in modern society, and liberals also declare arbitrary emergencies to increase their power (if you need an example of that, go back to the COVID-19 era or look at how state governors issue executive orders on guns). The population sits by and lets the president (or governors) dictate policies by utilizing past laws that were not intended to be abused in this way. Yet, here we are allowing dictatorship in the United States, and Congress will passively let it happen. Even after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump cannot use IEEPA to impose “sweeping” tariffs, he is doing it anyway, albeit under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 this time (a power that has never been used in this way, and again, Congress cannot just delegate its responsibilities to another branch).
In the end, the president gets whatever he wants, regardless of what unrelated law he must invoke to pretend that he has the power to do this (this is one reason why we should not have so many laws and regulations on the books). Americans have no say in the cost-of-living increases, whether this is done through taxation related to Canada or Iran, and we must let the dictator go to work to cause us more pain. Government expands and becomes more powerful, while the wealth of Americans declines. We never asked for a trade war with Canada, but when did the voices of voters ever really matter? Just buckle up your seat and be a good little soldier in Trump’s army to bully Canada into submission.
Thank you for reading, and please check out my book, The Global Bully, and website.