Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney tells the truth about Trump’s tariffs

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a news conference about tariffs on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

With $6 trillion lost in the US stock market, it’s good to know at least Filipino Canadians are getting the truth from their PM Mark Carney.

It’s a bit different from what Filipino Americans and the world are getting from Donald Trump.

But first, let’s address the legion of Filipino American Trump voters out there.

Your guy just sold you into tariff hell.

But don’t worry, we’re all in it together. All Americans will now pay tariffs on goods from 180 countries. China retaliated with a 34 percent tariff on us, so the trade war is on. That’s how much more your sneakers, shoes, electronic gizmos will cost.

And this is all courtesy of the businessman you wanted to be president again, to lower prices and the cost of living.

What’s he done? He’s just raised the cost of everything.

Were you going to buy a car this year? New cars will be as much as $10,000 t0 $14,000 more, even if you buy a car from the McDonald Islands, inhabited only by penguins.

Even a non-existent penguin car, if you were to buy one, will come with a tariff.

Because the T in Trump stands for tariffs, which if it hasn’t sunk in yet, are sales taxes. Sales taxes are applied across the board to consumers which means rich and poor alike, but I’m sure a 34 percent tariff from China will impact Elon Musk a lot less than it will a working person like you and me.

Trump insisted that foreign countries will pay the tariff, but just like he said, Mexico will pay for the wall – he’s lying.

The cost is incurred by the US manufacturing companies, and they will pass it on to the end user.

You, many of whom are Trump voters.

Or maybe, former Trump voters.

But don’t worry, as I said, you are not alone. Trump is sticking it to all of us.

Unity at last!

If nothing else, the tariffs are good because we now see the sticker shock under the US of Trump (For Filipinos, a different kind of UST).

The prices will be higher. And Goldman Sachs and others say it makes a recession as much as 60 percent more likely.

Recession? But we were on a roll during the Biden years, and the results of those years (lower inflation, steady job growth) were inherited by Trump in January. But now because of what some economists are calling the worst, most economically illiterate move in 100 years of American history, Trump has started a trade war, with everyone.

He not only dislikes immigrants, he dislikes their home countries.

Trump insists that trade not come with imbalances. But there’s a reason for the imbalances. Americans wanted cheaper goods. US companies benefited from sending labor overseas. The consumers benefit with cheaper prices.

But now Trump portrays it all as Americans getting cheated and ripped off. And he’s going to stop it.

It’s a total misunderstanding of the trade situation, and his reaction is to start a trade war.

This is a massive miscalculation, attempting to use tariffs as a negotiation tactic, and then relying on countries to either lower their prices to American companies, or to devalue the dollar to offset the cost to American consumers.

Sounds good, but practical in a real trade war? China’s retaliation with a 34 percent tariff shows Trump lives in a fantasy world.

But the pain we are all going to feel is no fantasy.

What can we expect?

Higher prices, of course. That means consumers won’t buy, which in turn means companies will see lower profits. Already Whirlpool anticipates this and has laid off more than 600 workers in Iowa. That’s just this week. As the fallout continues, expect higher unemployment, and slow growth.

The cherry on top? High inflation under this scenario has a term all its own.

Those of us who remember the 1970s recall the term that described the economy of those times. Stagflation.

That’s when everything’s high but your paycheck. The economy is stuck. And all this because Trump has decided to wreck a good thing and go after 180 countries with tariffs.

This is the self-inflicted stupidity of it all. And it all happened within 72 days of Trump’s second coming. That’s all he needed to set off an economic armageddon for the nation and for the world.

Armageddon? After the first two day of tariffs, the stock market shed an estimated six trillion dollars.

Trillion with a T. Sort of like Trump and tariffs.

Trump’s response?

He doubled down. “My policies will never change,” Trump said on social media. “This is a great time to get rich, richer than ever before.”

Essentially, he’s saying stocks at new lows are a bargain.

But not cheaper than groceries.

In the meantime, in a time of world crisis, Trump showed how much he cares about us all.

In a move that is akin to Nero fiddling while Rome burns, Trump went golfing.

Thank you Mr. President?

Is this any way a world leader acts? Of course not.

But this is the real issue Americans must grapple with.

America is no longer the leader of the world’s global economy. Nor of…. Anything. Not anymore. That’s Trump’s desire. Go back 100 years, socially, economically. Tariffs? They were last in vogue and the cause of the Great Depression. That’s where Trump wants to take us.

And now even if he were to undo the tariffs, it may be too late. The world sees the US not as smart nor as trustworthy partner. And the suspicion goes beyond Trump, to the uninvolved low interest voters who put him back in office.

With Trump 2.o, without the guardrails, we get to deal with the fallout of the isolationist tendencies of Trump and his protectionist policies.

Whereas we really should be protected from him and all his bad ideas, he unleashes a wrongheaded trade war that has our closest allies wondering, WTF.

Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on our closest ally, after which it reciprocated with tariffs on American cars.

Here’s the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. “The system of global trade anchored on the United States that Canada has relied on since the end of the Second World War, a system that, while not perfect, has helped to deliver prosperity for our country for decades is over,” Canadian PM Mark Carney said Thursday. “Our old relationship of steadily integrating with the United States is over. The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect, and championed the free and open exchange of good and services is over. While this is a tragedy, it is also the new reality.”

It’s a stark assessment, but one that should be said.

America is not the leader of the world any longer.

It’s a country run by a man who started a wrongheaded trade war with the world, and let everyone see his true ambition for America. To go backward, not forward.

Under Trump, the US no longer wants to be No.1. Trump’s USA wants to be isolated, alone, alienating all our former friends, and making everyone pay to kiss the ring.

Who emerges as leaders? Europe? Maybe. But already, the so called BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have a larger GDP than the US.

Meantime, the cost of everything goes up domestically for Americans. If you’re one of those low-interest voters who voted for Trump because he was a businessman and promised to lower costs and inflation, please re-assess.

You’ve got higher prices, higher inflation and a precarious job situation. That’s no bingo.

But maybe the US under Trump is purposefully tanking like a pro sports team tanks for a No.1 draft pick? Like Cory Booker? Or some other leader who will right the ship and who after this Trump debacle will revive us from his MAGA stupor?

One can only hope.

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist, news analyst and stage monologuist. He writes for the Inquirer.net’s US Channel. He has written a weekly “Amok” column on Asian American issues since 1995. Find him on YouTube, patreon and substack.