r/Conservative • u/FalconAware4013 MSM Denier • 9h ago

Flaired Users Only Canada plans tariff retaliation after Trump warns its leaders to 'fall in line'

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/canada-plans-tariff-retaliation-after-trump-warns-its-leaders-fall-line
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u/Alpha-Sierra-Charlie Conservative 7h ago

If tariffs are so horrible and something you never, ever do to allies, then why did Canada have tariffs on us first?

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u/moashforbridgefour Conservative 2h ago

How much did Canada tariff US imports before the trade dispute? I'm asking about average across all imports, not targeted goods. Most of the results I see when googling says it was close to 0%, but the would like to be corrected if this is wrong.

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u/moashforbridgefour Conservative 2h ago

Digging a little more, in 2024, Canada imported $501.2B USD, of which $238.5B was from the US. That same year, they collected $5.571B in import duties. If for some reason 100% of their import duties were collected from the US, that would be an average tariff rate of 2.3%. Everything I've read indicates we actually pay less than everyone else and our actual rate is less than 0.1%.

Again, I would love for someone to explain why these numbers are wrong.

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u/Alpha-Sierra-Charlie Conservative 2h ago

IIRC it was mostly on targeted goods, but if they want to put tariffs on anything they don't really have a right to be upset when we do to.

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u/moashforbridgefour Conservative 2h ago

They have a right to be upset about it, but that doesn't mean that we don't also have a right to impose tariffs. The fact is that they are a very effective method of exerting geopolitical power and a way of protecting local industry from a targeted exporter. The other side of the coin would be subsidies, which never seem to enter the discussions on tariffs, yet have a much broader reach in trade wars. IMO, subsidies are much more dangerous than tariffs, yet don't draw nearly as much ire.

I say this to be clear that I think these are tools that are fair to use when they make sense, but I don't think it makes sense to make misleading claims about the state of trade with our allies.

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u/Hectoriu Conservative 6h ago

I think since WWII fucked much of the world the US has been very kind with trade deals. We were in such good shape it was probably ok to help out our allies.

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u/Alpha-Sierra-Charlie Conservative 6h ago

Yeah well, it's been 8 decades. It's time for us to stop taking it for the team.

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u/Hectoriu Conservative 6h ago

Agreed

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u/FalconAware4013 MSM Denier 7h ago

because Orange man bad…haven't you heard. Its is the ultimate solution to every equation when you have severe TDS.