I noticed a few Canadian flags flying in Madison this weekend. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one relishing watching Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney take on Donald Trump by saying, essentially, “No.” to his demands in trade talks. Many Americans are tired of heads of state who tiptoe around the bombast and bluster from this White House. It is only natural that this rare willingness to show spine would draw cheers from this side of the Canadian border.
But of course, Trump’s impulsive trade wars bring hard realities to the Badger State, where Canada is Wisconsin’s largest foreign trading partner. Our farmers, manufacturers, and small businesses have felt the impact of the tariffs. (Additionally, farmers have been burdened with fertilizer price spikes following Trump’s decision to start a needless war with Iran, which has now closed the Strait of Hormuz.) Canada’s retaliatory tariffs, however justified, are set to start September 8th and will hurt Wisconsin.
Our dairy producers rely heavily on Canadian markets, as they export cheese and butterfat northwards. Local heavy equipment manufacturers face steep new duties on outbound tractors and harvesters. Our paper and lumber industries are intertwined with cross‑border supply chains. When Canada imposes tariffs in response to Trump’s self-generated trade war, Wisconsin becomes collateral damage.
The tariff trade wars, which started in 2025, united economists and academics in decrying they are detrimental to the international economy and international relations. After the Supreme Court struck down much of Trump’s earlier tariff program in February, the administration turned to other attempts to raise tariffs. For Canada, Trump has invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, a rarely used Depression-era provision allowing tariffs of up to 50% against countries deemed to discriminate against U.S. businesses.
The provision is part of the Smoot-Hawley tariff law, widely blamed by economists and historians for worsening the Great Depression by restricting global trade. Section 338 has never previously been used to impose tariffs.
We are in the midst of a maddening paradox in that we can certainly appreciate Canada’s necessary backbone in battling Trump’s idiotic trade war, while still wincing at the blowback Wisconsin will experience. I absolutely applaud a leader who refuses to let Trump bulldoze international norms while knowing the tariff war he started will ricochet back into our own communities.
You and I have heard Trump’s base supporters insist this trade war is all part of a grand strategy that involves short‑term suffering leading to long‑term gain. That argument is just verbal cow pies. We know the added tariffs will force some farms to close, and small businesses trying to stay afloat will face added pressure from more of this madness. Trump thinks small business operations can absorb the high tariffs and just wait for the always-promised payoff. Economics and history say that day is not coming.
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