Wednesday was Donald Trump’s proclaimed Liberation Day in the United States.

It was the day his administration’s senses were liberated as they mistook tariffs for economic salvation, the day American consumers could look forward to their savings being liberated as they soon pay more for imported goods, and the day U.S. businesses can anticipate being liberated from keeping their workforces on their payrolls as countries eschew and tax American products.

It was staged at the White House’s Rose Garden as a momentous show of economic force that most every expert believes will prove farce, a professed shot across the bow that is really closer to a shot in the foot.

And, even though Canada didn’t get the full force of the dangerous gas, it was a sad day for two countries that like each other – to put it mildly—and whose historic relationship is now held hostage by a misguided handful of revisionists reckless and hellbent with their authority.

There is nothing financially freeing or emotionally empowering about this day, unless it’s an........

© Times Colonist