US President Donald Trump has escalated the country’s trade stand-off with Canada, announcing plans to raise tariffs on a range of Canadian imports to 50 per cent from January 1, 2027. 

US political commentator Robert Reich explains why the move is “absurd”.

Not exactly a war, but a trade war – which will impose huge costs on both American consumers and on Canada.

As I said, Donald Trump is now completely and utterly out of his mind.

The very idea of a trade war with Canada – our neighbour, our ally, our closest friend, a nation that’s peaceful and whose people have a reputation for kindness – is absurd.

But Trump is doing it anyway. He’s imposing a 50 per cent tariff on goods coming from Canada – which, remember, is an import tax paid by you and me.

The tariffs account for US$20 billion ($A33 billion) of the US$382 billion ($A623 billion) worth of products Americans bought from Canada last year and cover a wide array of goods (the full list of more than 500 products can be found here, here, and here).

Trump has singled out several Canadian industries – especially forestry, including building products like plywood.

The obvious effect will be to make it more expensive to build houses in the United States.

Couple this with the rise in long-term interest rates – i.e. mortgage interest rates – courtesy of Trump’s war spending, his tax cuts mainly for the rich and big corporations, and the giant corporate AI debt (encouraged by Trump) – and the result will be to make housing even less affordable than it already is.

This is another example of Trump’s perverse rage. I say “perverse” because I’ve come to believe that his insanity is expressing itself in ways deliberately contrary to what’s expected of a president of the United States – ways considered wrong if not stupid by most serious observers – which makes him want to do it all the more.

He’s lost his war in Iran, most Americans are struggling financially, his mass deportations are unpopular – so what does he do? He flips the finger at Canada because Canada is exactly the kind of nation that an American bully targets.

Bullies always go after targets that won’t or can’t fight back.

Trump has been bullying Canada since the start of his second term. Six months ago, Trump suggested the border between Canada and the US was an “arbitrary” line.

He’s repeatedly proposed that Canada be annexed as the 51st state. He said he’s willing to inflict “economic pain” on Canada to get what he wants.

On July 1, Canada’s national holiday, Trump declined to renew the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade, which means the agreement will now have annual reviews.

Mostly, though, Trump is enraged that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney asserted in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the US is no longer a guarantor of stability in the world and that middle powers like Canada must unite in order to survive.

It was a forceful speech – and the first time that a US ally has stood up to Trump.

The day after Carney gave his speech, Trump told the same World Economic Forum:

“Canada gets a lot of freebies from us. By the way, they should be grateful also, but they’re not. I watched your Prime Minister yesterday. He wasn’t so grateful — they should be grateful to us, Canada. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”

Trump is a peevish, angry, perverse child.

The question I ask myself is how much worse will his behaviour have to get before Republicans and suck-ups around him take some action to stop him?