Terence Corcoran: The tariff speech Trudeau didn’t deliver

financialpost.com:

Good evening. Today, the Trump administration informed us it will be imposing a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian exports to the United States and 10 per cent on Canadian energy.

First I want to speak directly to Americans, our closest friends and neighbours. This is a choice that, yes, will harm Canadians. But beyond that, it will have real consequences for you in the United States. Tariffs against Canada will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American auto assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities.

They will raise prices for you, including food at the grocery store and gas at the pump. They will impede your access to an affordable supply of vital goods that are crucial for U.S. security, such as nickel, potash, uranium, steel and aluminum.

They will violate the free trade agreement that the president and I, along with our Mexican counterpart, negotiated and signed a few years ago.

While parts of the Canadian economy will suffer under these illegal tariffs, our government has no intention of joining in this illegal and irrational economic decision. We will not impose on Canadians the same destructive tariffs that are being imposed on Americans.

Canada is a trading nation that aspires to a free-trade economy that allows Canadians to participate in the global marketplace. The United States has also been part of the global economy for decades. Canada will not join this new move by the United States to build tariff walls.

If the United States wants to put up trade barriers, drive up inflation, disrupt supply chains and cause hardship to U.S. industry and consumers, Canada will not participate.

We will not impose the same hardship and disruptions on Canadians that are now being imposed on Americans. We