Opposed to counter-traiffs

“If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.” – Tony Robbins.

Opportunity knocking is usually disguised as adversity. Choose to see the opportunity and make waste of the adversity.

Tariffs are a tax, not unlike a carbon tax, intended to change behaviour. Rather than tax to change behaviour, I would prefer to see incentives.

Tariffs will increase the price of imported goods, in theory imported goods will become more expensive and be less desirable than domestically produced goods. In practicality, the domestic producer, seeing their foreign competitor selling at a higher price, can, and likely will, raise their price and increase domestic profits. The loser is the consumer.

Tariffs will lead to higher prices. Only true competition leads to lower prices. Protectionism does the opposite, meaning higher prices.

On the other hand, the U.S. is a much larger economy and can afford to, through tax incentives, offset the negative impact of exported goods on U.S. firms. Canada cannot win a trade war.

In response to retaliatory tariffs by Canada, we can expect the U.S. to up the ante. This is not a game or war Canada can win. Strategy will win. Retaliatory salvos will only make the Canadian domestic problems worse.

Find the opportunity in the negative to take action to improve the Canadian economy. Trust the Canadian people to have pride in our nation to make voluntary changes to consumption patterns. Penalizing Canadians further through tariff countermeasures is a losing game for Canadians.

Decreasing regulatory barriers to domestic trade within Canada for all goods and services, coupled with meaningful tax policy changes to incentivize business, service providers and consumers is a smarter course of action.

Do we want a 50¢ Canadian dollar or a dollar on par compared with the U.S. dollar? The choice is ours and will be determined by how our government leaders respond.

So far, I am not seeing a smart policy response. Instead, I see a government responding with anger and a "you-hit-me-first" attitude.

Jeffrey M. Simon