O Canada! US imperialism digs its claws into my country of origin

A temporary truce is called in the trade war Trump has launched against its so-called "northern neighbor" ( the way he wants it spelled.)

By Alan Story

In 1995, I moved with my family to the United Kingdom from Canada, where I was born. That country is now seldom at the forefront of my mind often, but I do retain a very strong Canadian accent.

So at least once a week over the past 30 years, when I have opened my mouth to speak to strangers, I inevitably get a response such as “where are you from?” or “from what part of America do you come?”

I have developed a standard response: “Donald Trump is NOT my president.”

If the person was especially friendly, I might break into a few bars of O Canada! the national anthem. (To be clear, I am not a Canadian nationalist.)

Most people get the point quickly. Mind you, not always. The next words from me: “there are two countries in North America.” After trying “SNOW?” I usually give up.

Yesterday when I was out for a walk and I opened my mouth, a pleasant-enough woman soon asked,” so where are you from?”

I replied with my usual” Donald Trump” line. No need to wave a maple leaf. She got it immediately. “Yes, terrible” she replied emphatically. Thank you.

“They always get their man” is an expression associated with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) or “The Mounties.” The phrase has been used since 1877 but is not official…and they often don’t. Too bad.

TRUMP KICKS OFF TRADE WAR

Now about the trade and tariffs issue. Over the weekend, the US president started a trade war between two of the largest trading partners in the world.

Starting 4 Feb, he said he would impose a 25% tariff or tax on all Canadian goods entering the US market, except 10% on energy products (chiefly fossil fuels). Mexico was to get similar treatment on its goods and Chinese goods were set to face 10% tariffs.

An Associated Press report over the lunch hour on 4 Feb. from Beijing said “ China countered President Donald Trump’s across-the-board tariffs on Chinese products with tariffs on select U.S. imports Tuesday, as well as announcing an antitrust investigation into Google and other trade measures.” Tit for tat is the phrase of the moment.

In any event, the three disputes are moving at the pace of a digital video game on speed. By the time you read this piece, several facts may be out of date. Now Trump has ratcheted up a dispute with South Africa stretching back to its apartheid era.

Trump's illegal actions - illegal because Mexico and Canada have trade agreements with the USA which forbid erecting such barriers - were challenged by both governments with threats of countermeasures. Now Trump and these two governments have agreed to a 30-day cooling off.

”Trump has declared trade war on the world as he said he would ”, wrote accounting practice professor Richard Murphy in Funding the Future on 2 Feb. And such trade wars “will not end well”, he continued.

This is not the place to do an in-depth analysis of the various disputes or speculating how they may unfold. In truth, I am not the best person to do such an analysis under deadline pressure.

But I do know several things. These disputes need to be taken seriously. Some people don’t. When Trump said in mid-January, he wants Canada to become the 51st American state, the Canadian ambassador to Washington replied, “I think the president-elect is having a bit of fun.”

This is no joke. “The tariffs and the talk of making Canada the 51st state are related and negotiations over Canadian sovereignty have started, “a long time mate of mine, Howard Epstein, a retired Halifax Nova Scotia lawyer wrote to me in an e-mail over the weekend.

HOW ABOUT 20 EXTRA US SENATE SEATS?

Howard added “And never mind retaliatory tariffs: we need to talk about retaliatory Senators, meaning that Canada would not become the 51st state, rather there would be 10 new states, one comprising each province. That would add 20 Senate seats, entirely altering USA politics. They would hate it.”

There is no space here to discuss Howard’s proposal, except to say this is not the deal that Mister “Art of the Deal” deal has in mind for Canada.

But there is space to make five points:

1) To repeat: none of these disputes “will end well” for the peoples of the world and especially the working classes. Among the consequences will be increased inflation and recession.

2) We are witnessing an inter-imperialist crisis and rivalry that will only produce more xenophobia and narrow nationalism across the globe. Who needs it? Who wants it?

3) The solutions being proposed to assuage Trump, such as to increase national military expenditures across NATO countries to 5% of gross domestic product, will not help the 99% of us. These moves only benefit arms manufacturers, chiefly based in United States of America.

4) Reducing immigration is seen as another bargaining lever. Further steps in this direction only promote the far-right agenda of Elon Musk, Nigel Farage, the wacky militia groups in America, and Germany's AfD party as elections in Europe’s most populous country draw nearer. On immigration, Keir Starmer reinforces the right wing message.

5) To make one final and longer point: These tariff wars are a distraction from starting to work on confronting far more critical issues such as climate change.

Canada has the third largest oil reserves, behind Saudi Arabia in Venezuela, in the world. Much of this oil is found in the Province of Alberta tar sands - see photo of this wretched environmental catastrophe occupying the lands of Indigenous peoples – and much of it is sent to the United States. So it is right at the centre of the current Canada US trade dispute.

Aerial photo of the Alberta Tar Sands. In case you’re wondering, the black stuff is crude oil. These tar sands stretch across 142,000 square kilometres, an area larger than England ( 132, 932 square kilometres) . Existing, approved and currently planned tar sands mines and related projects “ will directly impact more than 2000 square kilometres of boreal forests” …. or approxiamately 28,000 football stadiums the size of Old Trafford. BIG AND BRUTAL.

For his part, Trump proposed a lower 10 % tariff on this oil, realising that whacking on a 25% tariff would result in even higher US gasoline/ petrol prices at the pumps for US car drivers. There is one cardinal rule in US domestic politics that Trump knows well: try to keep gasoline prices as low as possible.

As for Canada, this could be a moment to ask itself: isn't it time to start a process that would ASAP lead to the wrapping up of the tar sands as an energy source and a shameful fossil fuels disaster par excellence. They pollute the earth, the forests and the skies 24/7.

Do it for Canada and its peoples, do it for the world.

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CHECK THIS OUT

From a recent cover. As one of my soon-to-be sisters-in-law ( from an upcoming civil partnership) wrote, “ how much do we love Private Eye!”

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Explore Gaza by Mr Fish. Artwork used in a Chris Hedges’ substack of 1 Feb. “The Western Way of Genocide.”

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Note to THE LEFT LANE subscribers and regular readers:

I have been quite sick for the past six days. That is why Part Two of the “Open Letter” to the leadership of Collective hasn’t appeared. It will be coming soon with more details on how this group operates and features a petulant reply to Part One (24 January) by Collective number one Karie Murphy. We hope TLL readers will debate and add to our coverage of how to build and not build a new socialist party.

One news slash: For many months, Collective has said it will be fielding candidates in the May 2025 local elections. To be eligible to run candidates at those elections, a party must have been registered by 17:00 on 31 January, announed the The Electoral Commission some time ago.

Collective has missed that deadline, TLL can reveal, and it is now “highly unlikely” it could run as a party, said a Commision spokesperson on 3 Feb. in an inerview with us.

In Part Two, TLL will also be releasing what is called Collective’s “draft interim constitution.”

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Edited by Alan Story, THE LEFT LANE is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber: http://theleftlane2024.substack.com/subscribe

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