Details of Canada’s battle plan for the trade war with the US will start to become clear this week as the Prime Minister puts some flesh on the bones of a basic strategy that is a dollar-for-dollar retaliation.
The choice of words in laying out that foundation is important. It is a retaliation not an escalation.
Military language describes this action as proportionate. You hit me with a sanction worth a dollar I hit you with a sanction worth a dollar. Not two dollars.
Even though it would feel good to up the ante – hitting them harder because they started it – proportionate is measured and calculated. Hopefully it is enough that over time both sides recognize that they are losing ground and can find a settlement.
And there is one other consideration. If tariffs make things more expensive, why would we impose them? If we don’t retaliate, American businesses will have tariff-free access to both their market and ours while we will have unfettered access only to Canadian customers.
