Oh, Canada.

Remi, French-Canadian from Montreal, and my cousin, gives first response to Chretien:

Jean Chrétien was one of my favorite Prime Ministers. He is brilliant, but we joked that he was the first Prime Minister who spoke neither official language since he massacred both when he spoke.  Jean has a very thick French-Canadian accent and speaks English somewhat like the ‘Little Bateese’ of Henry Drummond.

Chrétien is correct that this threat could strengthen the Canadian economy in several ways. The 25% tariffs will likely provoke a more significant backlash than Trump’s freeze on federal spending did. North American auto parts cross the borders up to 7 or 8 times before a vehicle is finally assembled. As one mogul in the auto industry stated, “It wouldn’t be more than a week before we would see vehicle production in North America come to a halt, which would result in millions of people being laid off, the majority of whom would be in the U.S.” Let’s hope these fiascos will finally prompt Americans to come to their senses.

from Canadian friend: Trump has made us enemies, but we will remain friends.  Bad times ahead.

POSTNOTE: As I note from time to time, my father was 100% French-Canadian; our roots in North America go back to 1618 with the arrival of Jean Nicolet from France.  I have many cousins and families north of the border.  Over time I’ve gotten to know two Canada Consul Generals in Minnesota, and been to a number of consulate sponsored events over the years.  One of the events involved Canada, U.S. and Mexico representatives together.

June 26, 2013 at Canada Consulate, Minneapolis MN, Mexico, Canada and U.S. Trade Representative gathering.

COMMENTS:

from Remi:  It’s risky to be America’s enemy, but it can be fatal to be its friend. The Wall Street Journal called this “The Dumbest Trade War in History.”