How to lose Trump’s trade war: test Canada’s resolve with threats to hockey sticks
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- Trump called Canada "difficult and unreasonable" and threatened to rename Lake Ontario to "Lake America" after trade talks fell apart over what Canada described as unreasonable, last-minute US demands on steel and aluminum.
- US tariffs took effect Saturday on Canadian exports including hockey sticks and tongue depressors, after Trump had publicly claimed a deal to avoid the taxes was imminent.
- Mark Carney announced retaliatory tariffs on approximately $20bn of US goods — including steel, dairy, appliances, and farm equipment — and said Canada had been "attacked."
- JD Vance, speaking at a Republican rally in Maine, called Canada and China "the two worst countries when it comes to trade policy" and claimed Canada "quite literally would get invaded by a foreign country" without US protection — though only the US itself has recently threatened to annex Canada.
- American consumers are paying more for toilet paper because US tissue production relies heavily on Canadian lumber, and the US accounts for more than 20% of global tissue consumption despite having only 4% of the world's population.
- Trump compared Ontario Premier Doug Ford unfavorably to his late brother Rob Ford, the scandal-plagued former Toronto mayor who publicly admitted to smoking crack cocaine.
Why it matters: The trade war lands hardest on American consumers facing rising toilet paper and other everyday costs from Canadian lumber dependence, and it erupts less than three months before midterm elections where Republicans already face an uphill battle — turning a negotiating tactic into a self-inflicted economic wound at a politically costly moment.
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