damage Florida\u2019s economy<\/a>. But Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed \u201cvery stable genius,\u201d has done just that.<\/p>\nThreatening Canadian sovereignty<\/p>\n
To hear Trump\u2019s trade negotiator tell it, Canada walked away at the last minute from an offer too good to refuse.<\/p>\n
From Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s standpoint, Canada had no honorable alternative. At the 11th hour, he said, the U.S. wanted to restrict Canada\u2019s ability to trade with other nations, a threat to its sovereignty.<\/p>\n
Trump immediately executed his threat to levy 50% tariffs on hundreds of Canadian goods, including clothes, holiday ornaments and 36 kinds of plywood, yet another kick in the chops to U.S. builders and would-be homebuyers. Trump even singled out dog leashes and collars. What\u2019s next? Ordering Katy Perry to break up with Justin Trudeau?<\/p>\n
Canada had no choice but to respond in kind. Among the U.S. products targeted by tariffs: Harley Davidson motorcycles, honey and cheese curds. (You know things are getting serious when Canada puts a key ingredient of poutine at risk.)<\/p>\n
Now people on both sides of the border will pay for a senseless trade war instigated by a petulant and vengeful president. It looks like payback for the failure of Trump\u2019s haughty demand to make Canada our 51st state. With 41 million people, Canada is bigger than California, and it has more total land area than the U.S.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s belligerence has done Canada a favor. Support in French-speaking Quebec for independence from Canada has fallen to 30% \u2014 the lowest in years, Reuters reports (separation narrowly failed in a 1995 referendum).<\/p>\n
Trump divides, they unite<\/p>\n
The pro-separation Parti Quebecois has led in polls ahead of an October provincial vote. Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the party leader, said it would not call for another referendum while Trump is still president. To his credit, he said Quebec\u2019s future \u201cmust not be hijacked by the upheaval of American politics, the outbursts of an unpredictable president or by a campaign of fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is highly commendable for Carney, the national premier, to stand up to Trump. No other nation is so exposed economically to his wrath, yet none has shown the spunk of Canada in dealing with Trump\u2019s threats.<\/p>\n
Too bad Carney\u2019s gumption doesn\u2019t rub off on Congress, which has abdicated its duty to stop Trump\u2019s vainglorious, hideous ballroom project, curb the cruelty of his mass deportations or stop the ruination of our national defense in a war with Iran that he seems clueless of how to manage, let alone win.<\/p>\n
Consider the recent list of recent House aggressions against values we once shared with our North American neighbor: Postal rules that will implement his restrictions on mail voting, despite a federal court order against that voter suppression scheme. Lawsuits against think tanks that criticize his policies. The Departent of Homeland Security\u2019s proposal to equip law enforcement officers\u00a0 with gloves that give electric shocks.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s enough to make you consider moving to Canada \u2014 a place where they stand up to Trump.<\/p>\n
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Executive Editor Roger Simmons, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant, Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman. Send letters to insight@orlandosentinel.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rarely have there been two better neighbors than the United States and Canada. We like each other. We…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[57332,6795,111,3119],"class_list":["post-186563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-editorials","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mark-carney","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Canadian](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787919433_556_YMBJ4X2IARH5TFCZ65UXQZ7MII.jpg\")
<\/p>\n