Here’s Some Facts . . . You Be The Judge

THE FOLLOWING IS SOMETHING FOR YOU TO THINK ABOUT:

I Think About Things Like This All The Time . . . Then I Comment – Now It’s Your Turn.

IS THE ART OF THE DEAL . . . WORTH A LIFELONG FRIENDSHIP?

Canadians – Undoubtedly . . . America’s Closest Friends, Neighbors & Trading Partners, Have Had a Shared Familial Relationship with America for More than 200-Years, Living Side by Side Divided by the Longest Peaceful Border (5,525-Miles) in the World.

For More Than 200-Years, Since The End Of The War Of 1812, Canada & America Have Shared Everything . . . from Culture, Products & Security. We Have Cheered for Each Other, Have Gone to War for Each Other, Laughed with Each Other in Good Times . . . And Cried For One Another When Times Were Bad.

We Have Had Our Spats . . . We Have Argued & Competed Against Each Other as Great Friends & Family Do . . . But I am Unaware of any Time in our History, Since The End Of The War Of 1812, When We Didn’t Like Each Other.

Trump Claims To Love Canada & Has Great Canadian Friends . . . as Trump Simultaneously Insults Canadian Leaders, Demeans Canada as a Nation (Fifty-First State), Reneges on Past Mutual Agreements – Even Agreements of his Own Making, As Trump Tries To Cripple Canada’s Economy.

For Me . . . The Latest Trump Screw-Job of Canada Over the Gordie Howe Bridge, was One Insult Too Many.

Canada & America Spent Two Decades Planning & Building a Badly Needed Second Bridge to Unite Windsor Ontario to Detroit Michigan, Where About 25% Of All Inter Country Commercial Traffic Crosses.

The Deal Was Made . . . Canada Agreed To Pay 100% Of The Cost Of Construction, Including all Costs on the American Side of the Bridge, Using American Labor & American Construction Materials.

This Was The Deal . . . Both Countries Would Plan the Building of the Bridge Together. Once Built, Both Countries would Share Equally in the Maintenance & Management of the Bridge, with Canada Receiving 100% of Toll Generated Revenue Until the Cost of Building the Bridge would be Repaid . . . After Which, Canada & America Would Share 50/50 In All Revenue.

This Was A Great Deal Which Both Countries, Provinces, States & Cities Celebrated . . . Then Came Trump.

Trump Unilaterally Decided . . . That a Deal he Had Nothing to do with, was Somehow Another Canadian Rip-Off to America, Specifically after a Wealthy Trump Campaign Donor, who Just Happened to Own the Competitive Bridge Across the Detroit River, Wanted the US/Canadian Bridge Ended, Because He Would Lose At Least Half The Toll Revenue To The New Bridge Which He Currently Monopolized.

So What Did Trump Do? Trump Did What He Always Does . . . Trump Created an Issue that Didn’t Exist. He Cancelled The Opening Of The $6-Billion-Dollar Bridge, Until in Trump’s Words . . . America Got Its Fair Share – Regardless Of The Deal Agreed Upon By All Parties.

After Months Of Delayed Bridge Openings . . . The Bridge Will Finally be Opened July 27, 2026 (Next Week) WITHOUT Canada’s Participation at the Grand Opening, since Canada is Not all that Much in a Celebratory Mood, After being Screwed Royally through Trump’s Bully-Boy Art of the Deal, Including The Onslaught Of New 50% Tariffs Against Canada To Be Imposed Within The Next 30-Days.

HERE ARE SOME THE FACTS . . . SHOW ME WHERE I AM WRONG:

NAFTA . . . Better Known as the North American Free Trade Agreement Between America, Canada & Mexico Came into Effect January 1, 1994.

At The Time Of The Creation Of NAFTA, which was Years in the Making Between Tough Give & Take Bargaining Between Three Different Nations, each with their Own Wants & Needs . . . The Deal Finally Emerged That Carried Successful Trade Arrangements Between America, Canada & Mexico For Some Twenty-Six Years.

On June 30, 2020 . . . Trump Officially Ended NAFTA, which Trump Described as the Worst Trade Deal America Ever Made. And On July 1, 2020, Trump Replaced NAFTA with his Own Trade Deal – USMCA – United States, Mexica, Canada Agreement, which at that time, Trump Declared The USMCA To Be The Greatest Trade Agreement Ever Negotiated.

Fast Forward . . . 4-Years & A Bit To 2025, the Re-Elected Trump, After 4-Years In The Political Wilderness, Came Back to the White House Declaring the USMCA (His Own Trade Agreement) To Be A Horrible Arrangement That Allowed Canada & Mexico To Rip-Off America.

Virtually Within Weeks, Trump Placed Onerous Tariffs on Imported Goods from Canada & Mexico. But for the Purpose of this Editorial, I Will only Deal with the US/Canadian Relationship.

First it was a Trump Tariff Against Canada for the Smuggling of Fentanyl into America from Canada, which Proved to be About 1% Of The Total Amount Of Fentanyl that was Smuggled into America According to the DEA. Then it was tariffs for Illegal Aliens Running the Northern Border from Canada into America . . . It Was Actually In Reverse.

Then it was Tariffs against Canada because of a Lopsided Balance of Trade Between Canada and the United States, where Canada Had a $40-Billion-Dollar Trade Surplus Over America, which was True, ONLY Because America Bought an Enormous Quantity of Canadian Oil at Discounted Prices, and Also a Huge Amount of Electricity that Powers Much of America’s Northeastern Industrial States, Not Including the Electricity Purchased by the Pacific States from British Columbia – Also At Heavily Discounted Rates.

Take Away Canada’s Energy Sales To America – And The Surplus Is On The American Side.

Trump Decided that Canada is Ripping America-Off in the Auto-Trade . . . Manufacturing & Assembly, even though Canada is America’s Single Largest Purchaser of American Made Cars & Trucks, in the Entire World outside of America . . . which was Irrelevant to Trump – More Restrictions On Canada With More Tariffs.

Canadian Steel & Aluminum . . . Another Target for Massive Trump Tariffs, even though Canadian Steel & Aluminum is Crucial to Much of the American Manufacturing Industry.

Then It Was Canadian Softwood Lumber, which Accounted for Some 30% of the Lumber Used in American Homebuilding. That Too Was Tariffed Up The Ying-Yang.

I COULD GO ON & ON . . . BUT I BET YOU GET THE POINT:

Canada Is Not A Perfect Country . . . But No Country Is.

Canada Does Not Deserve The Crap Coming From Trump’s White House, which in Just Two Years, Has Created such an Animosity to America from a Huge Percentage of Canadian Citizens . . . That I Could Never Have Before Imagined.

I Easily Separate The Government From The People . . . But That’s Me.

It is Not Quite the Same with Many Canadians with whom I Speak, who Refuse to Buy American Goods if they Could be Avoided . . . Who After Decades of Traveling to America for Getaways, Now Prefer To Go Anywhere Other Than To America.

Are We No Longer Friends? – Because Friends Don’t Treat Friends Like The Enemy.

Trump Doesn’t Like Canada’s Government – I Get-It . . . Neither Do I . . . But is that a Reason to Create an International Fissure over Nothing, Between Two Great Friends & Neighbors – That Might Not Be Reparable In My Lifetime?

Trump’s Art Of The Deal Might Be Great In Business – But Not So Great Between Friends.

Best Regards . . . Howard Galganov