Canada is planning to manipulate our elections
Canada is planning to manipulate our elections
We vacation in Canada and have many dear Canadian friends. As an economics major, I believed that free trade with Canada is good for us. Canadians have rich natural resources, have good incomes, and are nice people. They seem to be the perfect trading partners. Canada’s rich resources essentially become our rich resources, if we trade freely with them.
I was watching a Canadian news channel this week as they announced a new round of tariffs against American products. They openly explained that these tariffs are targeted to manipulate our mid-term elections.
Focusing on swing states and certain Republican legislators; they are planning tariffs on cheese to target Wisconsin elections, whiskey to target Kentucky, chocolate to target Pennsylvania, etc.
We, as a nation, have been so concerned about whether Russia manipulated our elections. Yet, our neighbor, Canada, is now threatening it openly.
Trump’s planned tariffs on Canada for products like steel have been for our national security, making sure we can make our own steel if we need it. I didn’t agree with Trump before. I thought we could depend on Canada for our national security.
Now, I agree with Trump. A foreign nation that is willing to manipulate our elections is not a nation we can depend on.
We should respond appropriately against Canada to make it clear to them that it is not acceptable to manipulate our elections.
Mark Beeksma, Koloa
Right, Mark. Canada is a BIG threat to the U.S. Maybe we should just invade them right now and teach those Canucks a lesson. Sheesh.
Mr. Beeksma, it seemed just a matter of time before the likes of you demonstrated support for our clown-in-chief. Are you listening to yourself?
Trump openly slaps huge tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, angering the Canadians and quite possibly influencing their elections. The Canadian government respond in kind with their own tariffs to level the playing field. Unlike the Russians, they do so openly and without subterfuge. No one is colluding with them. It is simply tit for tat and, to their credit, that want to damage Trump and his swamp full of cronies who are harming Canadian interests.
International retaliation (which you term “manipulation” is simply part of international diplomacy. It happens daily. Trump has turned our allies against us: Canada, Germany, England, Australia, France, all of Latin America, everyone involved with climate change….the list goes on. You can expect retaliation from all quarters. But please do not term it “manipulation”.
It is when a foreign government like Russia invades us subtly using social media to brainwash our electorate and manipulate our elections, especially with the help of the likes of Manafort, Donald Trump Jr, and quite possibly Trump himself, not THAT is underhanded nasty business, fully illegal and actions for which the President should not be allowed to pardon anyone, including himself.
Good on ‘ya, Canucks! I hope that they are successful in bringing down this self-appointed emperor and his spineless Republican minions. We may end up with crediting our northern neighbors for restoring common sense, decency, and democracy to a nation which is being led into authoritarianism by wannabe King Trump.
Ha ha ha ha!!!
You really think that a tariff on cheese and whiskey is going to change the outcome of our next election ?? trump’s idiotic policies are to blame for the results of the next election.
Mark; I hope your letter spews satirically. If so, good one. If not, there’s a huge difference between what Russia did (and continues to do) with the collusion of the Trump campaign criminals, and a sovereign country responding to tariffs Trump decided to impose on them. They are free to respond as they see fit to counter Trump’s tariffs, and good for them if they are honest enough to say they hope these tariffs help get rid of Trump and his Republican enablers. They are open about it and exercising their sovereign rights in response to Trumplethinskin’s idiocy. Russia, on the other hand, secretly interfered with the 2016 elections to benefit from secret financial and political deals with the Trump administration. Big difference!
Do you understand that trump has claimed the tariffs he’s slapped on our our long time friends including Canada, was said to be for our security which was insulting to them. Do you understand that when tariffs are implemented they can and do start trade wars? Can you begin to contemplate when ‘former’ allies place retaliatory tariffs on us in response those we’ve placed on them they can only hope our elections will be a referendum on trump’s follies and lack of judgment? If you think that’s manipulation you aren’t paying attention. Canada is not hacking our elections, not are they running political ads while claiming to be U.S. citizens.
So, according to many comments here, foreign governments are welcome to meddle in our elections, as long as they are trying to help Democrats. I wonder how widely that view is held.
Mark “false equivalency” Beeksma is actually comparing, as equal, the anti-tariff comments of an ally and neighbor to what has become a hostile enemy nation that supported a concerted and massive misinformation campaign in our social media during our election period!. Oh….You Go Girl!
Now, when people all over the World and Nation continue to say the president is a petty, unfaithful, immoral, unthoughtful, ignorant and racist bullyboy, Mark will bring out his “They’re only trying to help the Democrats” horn and toot it for us!
Hilarious letter! It’s supposed to be funny, right? Right??
Trump is merely trying to achieve a level playing field with Canada regarding tariff and import restrictions that previous US administrations have complied with to the detriment of US farms and industries. That a look at what Canada had been doing:
https://www.export.gov/article?id=Canada-Import-Tariffs
Thanks for the link. I had a look at what Canada is doing. Exactly what detriment are you referring to?
“Although Canada eliminated tariffs on all industrial and most agricultural products imported from the United States under the terms of NAFTA, tariffs and tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) remain in place on dairy and poultry tariff lines.”
Looks like Canada is protecting some of its basic food-producing industries. Nothing wrong with that. And the tariffs do not approach 25%, at least not for now.
Mr. Beeksma-
Spoken like a real Trumpet, your comment about your LTE continues to harp on “election meddling”. Canada, or any other country with a backbone, will respond to increased tariffs which bode a trade war, whether those tariffs are brought to bear by a Republican or Democrat.
Your myopic view of the world is astounding.
If Trump has his way (and it is equally astounding that a president can unilaterally declare tariffs the like of which is he implementing) you can expect your next auto, appliance, or infrastructure purchase to cost 20+ percent more than you would pay today.
I am not defending tariffs or a trade war. Nor I am saying that Canada cannot respond.
I see three kinds of tariffs here. A more reasonable tariff is for national security. That is, protecting your own supply of essential products that would be needed in wartime. That is what Trump is doing.
A second kind of tariff is a general trading tariff, meant to give your own companies an advantage or raise taxes. This could also include retaliatory tariffs or tariffs to pressure the other country for a level playing field. I would not be upset if Canada threatened these kinds of tariffs in response.
A third kind of tariff is targeting specific areas of the country to punish or change the outcome of specific elections. I am making the point that this third kind of tariff is very objectionable. Canada is free to try to meddle in our elections, but we are free to get very upset about it and threaten to put them on our crappy trading partner list.
I consider our democratic election process to be a great privilege that should be highly protected and cherished. I am not sure why Canada would be so disrespectful of our elections. Maybe it is because they have a Queen so elections are not so culturally important to them.
I’m not sure why you are trying to argue with me about the benefits of free trade. I don’t know if you are also an Economics major, but I already understand the benefits of free trade quite well. That is a different topic than election meddling.
Canada is fully justified, IMHO, in targeting specific areas of the country to change the opinions of voters who live in those areas. Trump is damaging Canada, and other allies, with his tariffs, not to mention his assault on the environment and many other actions which are detrimental to the world community.
YOU are free to get upset, but I’d be willing to bet that 90% of the citizens of Hawai’i not only understand why Canada thinks of our clown-in-chief as a pain in their side, but applaud them for doing whatever they can to help Americans understand what damages this presidency is doing to our nation and the rest of the world’s view of our current administration.
Trump has made the US a “crappy trading partner”, not the other way around.
BTW, although Canada honors the Queen, they are far more concerned with their Prime Minister and his concern about how Trump is treating Canada and Canadians.