A Ford Motor Company employee at the Oakville Assembly Plant. Photo by Sam VarnHagen/Flickr.

From the outset of the trade war, the United States has imposed tariffs in order to strongarm Canada into adopting its preferred policies. In the beginning, the Trump administration complained that Canada insufficiently polices its southern border, and that it does not spend enough on its own defence. Washington has also pressured Canada into abandoning a digital services tax, and stated that Ottawa’s intention to recognize an independent Palestine is an obstacle to signing a trade deal. These are not complaints about the economic relationship between Canada and the US—the point of Trump’s tariffs is to economically coerce Canada into doing what Washington’s wants.

Despite the tough talk and “elbows up” nationalism, the Canadian government has largely acquiesced to American demands. Before the Trump administration even took office, the Trudeau government announced that Canada would spend $1.3 billion to reinforce the US-Canada border with 10,000 personnel, helicopters, and AI technology. In June, the Carney government announced its plan to meet a NATO target of spending five percent of GDP on defence. This measure would cost Canada an estimated $150 billion a year. These gestures were transparently an attempt to mitigate the tariff threat by kowtowing to American demands. Insofar as that was the point, they have failed.

Likewise, when Trump began criticizing Canada’s new digital services tax, Carney scrapped the initiative to placate him. Following the lead of various European countries, the digital services tax was intended to ensure that tech companies like Amazon, Apple, and Uber were paying taxes on revenues from sales to Canadians. After rescinding the tax on June 29, the Department of Finance

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