The greatest fears of free-trade-absolutists (I used to be one) are going to come true… or are they? No, actually they won’t.
President Trump has moved forward with his planned tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China. The backdrop is the fentanyl and human trafficking that plagues our nation. All three countries getting tariffed play central roles in our border crisis. All three countries being tariffed could have done a great deal to help America in its battles against fentanyl and human trafficking if they cared at all about us.
They will now be made to care.
The damage done by both fentanyl and human trafficking are far more significant than any cost increases we’ll see due to tariffs. This is not even debatable and for too long China has been attacking us with fentanyl while Canada and Mexico have facilitated the trafficking because deep down they want America weakened.
As Congressman Byron Donalds noted:
By forcing all three nations to act against the evils they are currently allowing to flow into our nation, the net financial outcome will be positive for Americans. That doesn’t even take into account the human factor; deaths by overdose will be reduced and trafficking people (willingly or not) will go down even further than it already has.
Then, there’s the trade balance that President Trump strives to achieve. As he said the evening before officially signing off on the tariffs:
Reporter: “Is there anything China, Canada, and Mexico can do tonight to forestall your implementation of tariffs tomorrow?”
Donald Trump “No. Nothing.”
Trump is the strongest leader the United States has ever had. pic.twitter.com/NgGWuq7eAk
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) February 1, 2025
He said it’s a pure economic move. He’s not negotiating… yet. He’s weakening them first. All three nations, particularly Canada, can ill-afford a protracted trade-war with American. China’s economy is weakened while the other two nations’ economies are simply too small to compete blow-for-blow. They need to get a taste of what a trade war will really do to them in order to make them eager to negotiate.
This is the art of the deal and it’s going to work.
Legacy media, Democrats, and likely at least some conservatives who oppose tariffs in principle will spend the coming days, weeks, or even months highlighting every penny an American consumer has to pay “extra” in order to buy things. But in the end there will be three things that happen as a result of this:
- All three tariffed nations will be forced to take action against fentanyl, making it far more difficult to obtain in America
- Canada and Mexico will be given face-saving options that will aid them politically and save their economies before they collapse… as long as they play ball
- American companies will rapidly find suppliers in this nation to serve their needs, prompting more companies to be built in America that can help meet those needs
There will be some who suffer in all four nations involved. But this is necessary suffering to bring about a proper America-centric order that will move us away from being the world’s sucker and toward being the world’s leader.
It is horrible that our friends—the citizens of Canada and Mexico—are going to suffer. But they are not blameless. They voted for the leaders of their nations that have ignored our border concerns and enabled the flood of fentanyl and illegal aliens that harm us. For their sake and ours, I hope their leaders come to see reality sooner rather than later. I pray that their leaders do not let pride or Trump Derangement Syndrome cloud their judgment for too long.
Don’t believe the coming onslaught of negative press. This is going to benefit America greatly in the not-too-distant future.
Rucker is no economist, as is clearly seen here. He pushes whatever Trump does at a given moment, irrespective of the negative consequences. J. D. obviously doesn’t understand economics and though
he plays one on the internet, is no conservative.
Rucker then goes on to attack true fiscal conservatives, for having the nerve to criticize this foolish
move by the president, who of course understand that the government meddling in our economy has
historically ALWAYS backfired. He calls us naysayers and fearmongers. I suggest that is far better than
being a lemming, and as is sadly displayed here. J. D. is WAY over his head.
Being loyal to a leader is one thing. Being a blind follower is quite another. Some folks should just sit
out certain discussions, and let others will think they are wise. Rucker just couldn’t do that.
You use many words repeating your disappointment over the author of the article, and few to no words in support of any position of your own.
Typical of those I disregard.
Summarizing your ignorance, “Rucker is way over is head”. Translation: When people think differently and you have no response but scream fear without facts because you too think ideas other than the grifters that you support have proven bankruptcy both societally and morally. When historically speaking their anti God anti Righteous platforms have proven bankrupt both societally and morally.
What do you think the US did before the North American Free Trade Agreement? No need to be scared.
The US doesn’t export way too much to Canada and Mexico, but Canada and Mexico export almost everything they make to the US to get at our money and suck the blood out of our economy. Including their own citizens. All they’ve done is take. That makes them parasites. The proof is in the cutting off of their free ride. Look how vile they’ve all become. Paying tariffs for the right to trade in a country is not some radical unheard of idea. It’s the status quo, and for a good reason.
Consider what kind of neighbors Mexico and Canada have been to us. They’re terrible and always have been. The US companies who ran to Mexico to get cheap labor being punished is just a nice bonus.
Ahhh, another one plagued by TDS speaks. Run along now.
I’ll just say this. If this backfires, it’s gonna look very bad for Trump.
. . . “I’ll say this . . . ” doing the same thing(s) over and over again, EXPECTING DIFFERENT RESULTS, is why the United States of America is experiencing the disruptions, disconnects, failures of law, institutions, safety ( as in the skies, our food, ) managing of God’s earth allowing eco-environmental jihadis to dictate like an authoritarian Hitler how resources “shall be distributed” . . . probably the clearest anology is that RFK Jr. called out the Senate Committee their covert financial support from the Big Pharma is the millions of dollars, the same shrills who point their tarnished fingers at ( get ready ) Big Pharma, corporations while totally dismissing every day normal people . . . we’ve been sold out by the swells, the elites and the ideologies of destruction . . .
then ATLAS SHRUGGED so the moochers are in a state of panic . . .
Well, we could just sit here and do nothing like the Biden regime, collecting big payback. Fortunately, Trump can’t be bought.
Trump and the USA are in a panic and are desperate, the USA is being flushed down the toilet as I type..
Companies will have two choices. Send their products to Canada and lose 25% or put it on the American market and compete locally. Yes they will lose some profits, but as long as it’s a better deal than foreign tariffs, they’ll do it. This will cause deflation of product prices here at home. Most of the food we grow and energy we pull from the ground is sold outside of our country. If it stays here, prices for all of it will be reduced. Supply chains will realign and jobs will be created.
Tariffs at their core are meant to protect domestic manufacturing. They worked very well in the past to do so when there was domestic manufacturing. For many of the products in question, there is no domestic manufacturing. The tariffs will only increase costs for Americans or cause shortages. Tariffs are an economic tool for use in specific circumstances. Trump is using them as a diplomatic tool. It took decades to offshore basically all American production. Why does anyone think it can be replaced quickly. Tariffs may work on small countries dependent on US aid, but China will just increase prices or find other markets. This is not going to end well. I’m a huge proponent of MAGA, but I don’t think this will go like Trump thinks.
It is not inconceivable that China’s drug push is tied to their perception of what the West did to them in the era of opium dens. Many there have such a perception.
In 2023 CBP seized 27000 lbs of fentanyl at the southern border vs 2 lbs of fentanyl at the northern bother. (I’m having a hard time sourcing the 2024 numbers but I’ve read that they are similar). This is a Mexico and China problem -not a Canada problem. I’m a Trump voter, voted for him 3 times, but I do not support this bullying of Canada.
Always everyone else to blame. Did it ever occur to attack the supply side (addicts)? Blaming the supplier for our addictions seems a little arrogant and blind.