Oh you shouldn't have got me started:-) Let's recap this trade war with our beloved neighbours up north...... Trump runs in 2016 on an anti NAFTA platform which at the time was mostly pointed at Mexico, not Canada. None the less Trump replaces NAFTA with the USMCA which is basically NAFTA 3.0 with a couple of key provisions.....

1. Automobiles must have 75% of components manufactured in North America, up from 63%. A nice addition but nothing earth shattering here.

2. At least 40% of automobile parts must be made by workers making $16 an hour. I also would not consider this a tectonic shift in policy but kudos to Trump, clearly a win for his blue collar base.

3. Labour laws were strengthened in Mexico to make it less of a sweat shop hub for manufacturing. Still arguably a sweat shop but now they are subject to inspections and some collective bargaining. Fair to say it was a nice addition.

4. American farmers were given more access to the Canadian dairy market. Unfortunately that access never materialised to the extent the Trump administration hoped it would, so not really a win but it would be fair to say Trump and his cohorts have a legitimate gripe in this trade war. Or do they?..... Farming is probably the most subsidised industry in the world. Almost every country subsidises it's farming industry and has strong protectionist measures in place. None morse than the US of A! So are we really going to pick a fight over this because looking inward brings about a whole host of questions along with that while we poison the world with fructose.

Other than these four points it is basically the same deal. Now the kicker in all this of course is that Trump is basically saying the US is getting ripped off ON THE DEAL HE NEGOTIATED. This is where the MAGA policy of flooding the zone really works. When we are bombarded with a daily deluge of subterfuge it's hard to make even the most lucid of points stick. It's completely absurd! But this "trade war" was never about the inequities in our trade agreements (because largely there are none!), what it was about is expanding his kingdom. And thankfully the Canadians are doing what the Democrats and feckless remaining old guard Republicans never could- standing up to him and punching him in the mouth. They're done trying to convince him to play nice and are shifting their economy to other markets and matching him punch for punch with these stupid tariffs.

Who knows how it all ends but when you treat your partner like crap and that partner starts looking for other partners it's awfully hard to get the old relationship back. This is something that will effect us way beyond Trump because it's not Trump that they don't trust, it's the American electorate!