By AFP
February 2, 2025
The US-Canada rift brought by Trump's tariffs threatens to divide inter-connected border communities. — © AFP Geoff Robins
Canadian border cities were left saddened and angered on Sunday over US President Donald Trump’s move to impose steep tariffs, with the mayor of Sarnia, Ontario likening the rift to a “failing marriage.”
The city of 85,000 across the border from Port Huron, Michigan is an energy hub with 26 transnational oil and gas pipelines.
Residents of both cities for more than a century helped each other out, for example, if a fire broke out. They jointly held hockey tournaments, the last one just two weeks ago.
Their economies are very integrated and personal bonds run deep, Sarnia mayor Mike Bradley told AFP.
“But it all seems to be coming to an end. And it does not appear that we’re going to be able to resurrect that relationship in the future,” he said.
Trump on Saturday signed off on a 25-percent tariff on all Canadian imports except energy, which will see a 10 percent levy.
“There’s just a great sadness,” said Bradly of his community. “The anger is deep.”
“We’ve had squabbles in the past (with the US), but it’s different this time, it has become personal.”
“It’s like a failing marriage. You do everything possible to save the marriage, but in the end, you can’t do it, and so then you deal with the impacts of it,” he said.
Much of the past quarter century saw governments and industry on both sides of the border link a tight web of pipelines and refineries in Canada and the United States.
This interdependence was meant to strengthen continental energy security by reducing reliance on overseas oil.
So it came as a shock to Canadians that Trump would target Canada with tariffs that risk upending cooperation in the energy sector.
Bradley described stopping at a fast-food restaurant on his way home Saturday evening, after the US tariffs were announced, where “instead of the usual talk, there was a half dozen people upset and angry about what was happening.”
He said he has also fielded a flurry of calls from locals demanding that American flags lining Sarnia streets alongside Canada’s Maple Leaf be taken down.
“Those flags were a sign of goodwill and acceptance of our (bilateral) relationship, and now that’s in tatters,” he said, agreeing to remove them. “It’s just symbolism. But I’ve learned from our American friends that symbolism is very important.”
Mexican farmers, auto-parts makers urge dialogue with US
By AFP
February 2, 2025
Mexican auto-parts makers say they exported $36 billion in goods to the US in 2023 - Copyright AFP/File Guillermo Arias
Mexican agricultural and auto-parts producers called Sunday for “dialogue” to head off the trade war prompted by US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum meantime said that she was waiting for a response from Trump to her proposal for talks and to form a working group on migration and drug trafficking.
She said she would detail her government’s next steps by Monday.
The agriculture and auto-parts industries are expected to be among the hardest hit by Trump’s action, which he says is designed to pressure the US’s closest neighbors — and partners in a trade accord — to crack down on migration and drug trafficking.
Both Mexico and Canada have announced counter-tariffs. The US is also targeting China with new 10 percent tariffs on top of those already in force.
The US tariffs, slated to take effect Tuesday, will undermine North America’s “competitiveness,” and put millions of jobs at risk, Mexico’s National Auto Parts Industry (INA) and National Agricultural Council (CNA) said in separate statements.
Emblematic of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) negotiated during Trump’s first term in office, the Mexican automotive industry exported some $36 billion in goods to the United States in 2023, representing 5 percent of Mexico’s GDP, according to Capital Economics.
The automotive sector and auto-parts makers support some 11 million jobs in the three countries, according to the INA.
“Weakening this trade… will only reduce the region’s competitiveness and affect stability,” according to the union.
The INA says tariffs could add $3,000 to the cost of an average automobile, leading to a drop in overall sales of one million units this year.
Adding to the impact of tariffs, some parts cross national borders seven or eight times in the course of vehicle assembly, the union said.
The CNA farm group, meantime, said that 50 percent of all avocados, tomatoes, chili peppers and berries consumed in the US come from Mexico. The country also exports more than $1.5 billion in beef and pork to the United States.
It called for “unity and dialogue” in the face of US pressure, saying it was putting aside past disputes with Sheinbaum.
By AFP
February 2, 2025
Mexican auto-parts makers say they exported $36 billion in goods to the US in 2023 - Copyright AFP/File Guillermo Arias
Mexican agricultural and auto-parts producers called Sunday for “dialogue” to head off the trade war prompted by US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum meantime said that she was waiting for a response from Trump to her proposal for talks and to form a working group on migration and drug trafficking.
She said she would detail her government’s next steps by Monday.
The agriculture and auto-parts industries are expected to be among the hardest hit by Trump’s action, which he says is designed to pressure the US’s closest neighbors — and partners in a trade accord — to crack down on migration and drug trafficking.
Both Mexico and Canada have announced counter-tariffs. The US is also targeting China with new 10 percent tariffs on top of those already in force.
The US tariffs, slated to take effect Tuesday, will undermine North America’s “competitiveness,” and put millions of jobs at risk, Mexico’s National Auto Parts Industry (INA) and National Agricultural Council (CNA) said in separate statements.
Emblematic of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) negotiated during Trump’s first term in office, the Mexican automotive industry exported some $36 billion in goods to the United States in 2023, representing 5 percent of Mexico’s GDP, according to Capital Economics.
The automotive sector and auto-parts makers support some 11 million jobs in the three countries, according to the INA.
“Weakening this trade… will only reduce the region’s competitiveness and affect stability,” according to the union.
The INA says tariffs could add $3,000 to the cost of an average automobile, leading to a drop in overall sales of one million units this year.
Adding to the impact of tariffs, some parts cross national borders seven or eight times in the course of vehicle assembly, the union said.
The CNA farm group, meantime, said that 50 percent of all avocados, tomatoes, chili peppers and berries consumed in the US come from Mexico. The country also exports more than $1.5 billion in beef and pork to the United States.
It called for “unity and dialogue” in the face of US pressure, saying it was putting aside past disputes with Sheinbaum.
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