President Donald Trump blindsided economic and geopolitical observers on Monday with his announcement of 50 percent tariffs on a broad range of Canadian goods.
This move comes after multiple federal courts have slapped down Trump's attempts to impose worldwide tariffs. It also comes after Trump and his supporters spent much of the weekend blaming Canada's forestry policy for the plumes of wildfire smoke that blanketed much of the eastern United States for days — although a senior Trump administration official told CNN these tariffs are unrelated to the wildfires and are instead about perceived unfair trade practices.
Regardless of the motivation, commenters on social media burst with indignation over Trump's latest move to punish one of America's closest geopolitical allies.
"I’ll never stop fighting to protect Ontario," wrote Doug Ford, the conservative premier of Canada's largest province. "If these tariffs proceed, Canada should respond tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar."
"This is so stupid," wrote Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA). "All this president’s trade wars have done is hurt our economy, alienate our friends, and raise our prices. Congress should be doing everything we can to rein in this man’s tariff powers, not expand them."
"If there were ever a proof point that this president doesn’t need more tariff authority, it’s this," wrote Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA).
"Trump promises to use Section 338 - a short, vague, 96YO law that's never been used (and that most experts think is defunct bc it was superseded by Sec 301) - to impose 50 [percent] tariffs on Canadian imports," wrote Scott Lincicome, vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute. "Tariff Crazytown is officially BACK, baby."