On August 22, a new set of US tariffs went into effect. Those tariffs charge American buyers of Canadian goods — 569 categories of stuff including dairy, alcohol, electronics, furniture, building materials, and other items, amounting to a usual annual value of nearly $25 billion — an extra 50%.

Let me re-state and clarify that:

In order to supposedly punish Canada for supposedly discriminatory trade measures, US president Donald Trump wants to charge Americans a potential $12.5 billion in new taxes. I say “potential” because that 50% Trump tax hike will price many Americans out of the goods in question; the previous year’s $25 billion in imports will go down.

By way of “retaliation,” the Canadian government has announced it will tax Canadian buyers of US goods, according to finance minister François-Philippe Champagne , “dollar for dollar, rate for rate.”

To which Trump replied with a prospective doubling of auto and steel tariffs and the renaming of Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”

Trade wars are odd in that the dueling governments’ weapon of choice is confiscatory taxation imposed on their own citizens.

“I’m mad at you — I’m going to break my son’s arm.”

“Oh yeah? Well fine, I’ll break my wife’s leg — how ya like them apples?”

“You’ve done it now — I’m dousing my whole family in gasoline and lighting a match!”

When I point out how idiotic all that is, a few doofs come back at me with: “Buy American — problem solved.”

But no, buying American doesn’t solve your problem as a consumer. You’re going to pay more, whether you pay it directly  to Uncle Sam or not.

Suppose you  … well, no, let’s talk about me.

I had plans for a small construction project this fall. I was going to buy lumber for it next month and work on it at a leisurely pace through September and October. One of the ingredients: Plywood.

Lots of lumber comes from Canada, and these new tariffs will affect building materials, so I moved up my timetable and had the plywood delivered yesterday. It happens to be southern yellow pine plywood, grown and cut in the good ol’ USA. But you can bet the price will be going up anyway, due to the tariffs.

If Canadian lumber gets 50% more expensive, American producers can raise their own prices to any amount lower than that new, higher price and remain competitive. The increased demand for their  domestic supply versus Canadian goods will also tend to make it a seller’s market unless they’re built out to produce a lot more than normal, very quickly.

Which, I’ve often opined, usually seems to be the whole point. Politically connected industries make bank not by competing, but by getting their friends in government to make sure they don’t HAVE to compete.

These days, I’m less sure. Trump’s tariff antics don’t come off as following that corrupt logic. In fact, they don’t seem to be rooted in any logic at all. They look a lot more like a toddler’s unpredictable, unappeasable tantrums.

But either way, you pay and America loses.

Thomas L. Knapp (X: @thomaslknapp | Bluesky: @knappster.bsky.social | Mastodon: @knappster) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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