On Sept. 17, Canadians woke to the following headline in their nation’s newspaper of record, The Globe and Mail: “[Prime Minister] Carney’s Davos Speech Diagnosed the Problem. His EU Speech lays out the cure.”
Indeed, the newspaper's op-ed column touched many points of the globe: Ottawa to Washington, D.C. to Davos, Switzerland, back to Ottawa and then on to Strasbourg, France. And in between the lines was, of course, Boise, Idaho.
Following what had become a routine back-and-forth war of words between President Donald Trump and Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister lit a fuse in January while addressing perhaps the highest profile gathering of world economists in Davos. Carney described a “rupture in the world order,” and “end of a pleasant fiction,” as he described the Canadian/U.S. trading alliance.
Quite ironically, Carney’s Jan. 20 speech at Davos was delivered on the first anniversary of Trump’s second inauguration.
“Trust is a very dangerous thing to lose,” said Boise State Professor Dr. Ross Burkhart.
Meanwhile, Trump has responded with an ever-growing list of tariffs on Canadian goods.
Alongside this, Trump has threatened to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America,” called Canadian officials “clowns,” and has dismissed Carney as a “governor” instead of a prime minister.
In a more somber but powerful tone, Carney followed through on a previous warning when he initiated dollar-for-dollar tariffs on American goods. Soon thereafter, when Carney visited Strasbourg, officials of the E.U. offered Canada the rare opportunity of an “associate partnership” with the Union.
Which brings us to the Gem State. Canada is Idaho’s top trading partner. In fact, Idaho's next six trading nations – Taiwan, Mexico, Singapore, Japan, China and Malaysia, combined – total fewer Idaho exports when compared to what we send to Canada.
Among many other products, Idaho sends gems, fertilizer, live animals, prepared vegetables, pasta, breads, cereals, dairy products and agricultural machinery. Imports from Canada to Idaho are just as bountiful, averaging about $1.2 billion annually. And that includes animal feed, softwood lumber, animal and vegetable fats, plastics, salt, sulfur, animal meats and firearms.
“[Presently], there are some very targeted and bitter types of tariffs,” said Burkhart.
The professor joined George Prentice for an in-depth analysis of the severity of the trade war.
“It's difficult to speculate when this trade war will end,” said Burkhart. “Conventional trade theory would suggest that it ends when the pain is too much.”
Find reporter George Prentice @georgepren
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