In a sense you can think of it that way, as a Canadian we counter-tariff the US and that can be considered punishing us; however the US is only one country and it encouraged more free trade with every other one of our trading partners so in a game theory sense it's affecting Canadian trade negatively with one country and affecting US trade negatively with you know.. every country.
Exactly right. There are trade deals forming between countries that in unprecedented ways to avoid dealing with the constantly changing tariffs while one country says they'll take their ball and play alone.
But the US is the bigger country just next to it, also the most practical to trade with. Trading with country further appart means less efficient in transport. Is it not still self inflicted harm?
The Econ 101 view would say yes, note most countries haven't imposed 1:1 retaliatory tariffs.
But economic considerations are not the only ones. Opposition to the American Revolution is a fundamental theme in Canadian history. People shouldn't be surprised when Canada acts accordingly.
What options do Canadians have? Deal with the wildly capricious economic policies of the US president, or go seeking other, more stable opportunities elsewhere? Almost all countertariffs we have in place are targeted as opposed to the sweeping tariffs Trump is implementing.
They could seek other opportunities elsewhere without adding tariff themselves: continue to import from the US and other countries like before. They may indeed export less to the US due to reduced demand from the US, but reciprocating the tariff won't help with that.
It's not practical when Trump sees a TV ad that enrages him and then cancels all negotiations, how are Canadian leaders supposed to proceed? There's no good faith whatsoever from him.
