Born and raised in Canada, I remember the pre-free trade Canada of the eighties was not as prosperous as we eventually became starting around 1989. We've slowly built our wealth into becoming one of the most desirable countries to live in.
Have we really been ripping them off this whole time? I really don't know. Except, if Trump says we have, I'd like to see a press release of the paperwork that proves so.
Someone with power should pressure him for that.
Once again today, President Trump accused Canada of ripping off the USA, citing tariffs of 400% on dairy products. The situation has been brought up again and again. It has also been refuted again and again.
No U.S. farmer or dairy has paid such duties. They are a barrier imposed in excess exports. The USA has done likewise in aspects of its agricultural system employing supply management, such as sugar and peanuts, to protect domestic agriculture.
In the USMCA negotiations, U.S. producers were authorized a 10% share of the Canadian dairy market, tariff free. That is the deal that was signed by the President, then abrogated in his second term.
Canada imported over $1 billion in dairy products last year from the USA, nearly three times the value of dairy products Canada exported to the USA.
The angry tone of the President actually impairs discussions on trade. He is making up his own facts. He is creating conditions detrimental to the economic benefit of the USA.
I genuinely don’t get the strategy here.
Canada is probably the closest and most integrated ally the US has. It’s also the biggest source of US crude oil imports, and we rely on Canada for a bunch of minerals and things like potash. (U.S. Energy Information Administration)
Yet we keep escalating tariffs and trade fights with them.
I understand the argument about dairy, autos, trade barriers, etc. But is the upside really worth damaging one of the most important economic relationships the US has?
Feels like Canada is the last country we should be trying to alienate.
What am I missing?
Has any economist done a deep dive into the effect the tariffs have had on manufacturing output and employment?
I have seen a lot of arguments as to legality and theories of how the economy would behave, but it seems to me that eighteen months in, we should be seeing actual outcomes, both negative and positive.
Also, can anyone explain the rationale for putting tariffs on raw materials needed in manufacturing, such as steel, aluminum, lumber and plywood?
The CIT has certified a class for purposes of refunding IEEPA tariffs on finally liquidated entries covering importers that have not yet filed a CIT action.
Is the Iran-US war spreading too broadly to be contained?
Iran has bombed US allies in Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and the US have bombed Iranian proxies in Iraq.
All the while, the US has been in fevered negotiations with Iranian parliamentarians, who may have no capacity to overcome the Iranian military’s refusal to brook any concessions.
I spoke with Chris Glover on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning, on whether Iran and the US can step back from the abyss.
https://www.reuters.com/business/us-trade-deficit-widens-august-amid-strong-imports-2026-10-06/
Imports push US trade balance deep into the red in August, Reuters, 10:39 AM EDT, 10/06/2026
Trade deficit widens 13.7% to $105.6 billion, highest level in 17 months
Imports increase 4.3% to record high $420.8 billion
Exports rise 1.4% to $315.2 billion
By Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - The US trade deficit widened more than expected in August as imports jumped to a record high against the backdrop of robust domestic demand, keeping trade on track to again subtract from economic growth in the third quarter.
The deterioration reported by the Commerce Department on Tuesday was despite President Donald Trump's aggressive tariffs on imports, which he has argued are meant to shrink the trade gap. The nation posted record goods trade deficits with at least three countries, including Mexico.
Economists have long argued that the US did not have the capacity to produce enough goods to meet its consumption needs.
"The administration's trade policies have largely been a failure, trade tariffs have done nothing to reduce America's reliance on the import of foreign-produced goods," said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS. "The cost of American labor is simply too high to produce goods here cheap enough for consumers to even think about purchasing. Even if US manufacturers were willing, the factories could not be built here fast enough to produce the goods that consumers depend on."
The trade shortfall increased 13.7% to $105.6 billion, the largest since March 2025, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau said. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the deficit would be $102.0 billion.
The trade deficit was at $79.8 billion when Trump was elected for a second term in November 2024. August's deterioration was flagged by data last week that showed an import-driven surge in the goods trade deficit.
Domestic demand increased at its fastest pace in more than 3-1/2 years in the second quarter, reflecting robust consumer spending and business spending on equipment, mostly related to AI. The trend appears to have spilled over into the third quarter, with data last month showing strong consumer spending in August as well as orders and shipments of nondefense capital goods, excluding aircraft.
But businesses are relying on imports to meet demand. Imports increased 4.3% to an all-time high of $420.8 billion in August. Goods imports jumped 5.3% to $342.2 billion. They were boosted by a $9.1 billion increase in industrial supplies and materials, which include petroleum.
Crude oil imports rose $3.3 billion while nonmonetary gold increased $3.1 billion. Nonmonetary gold is excluded in the calculation of gross domestic product. Capital goods imports soared $6.2 billion to a record high $146.4 billion, driven by semiconductors and other industrial machinery. But imports of computer accessories decreased $1.6 billion.
TRADE SET TO WEIGH ON GDP GROWTH
Exports rose 1.4% to $315.2 billion. Goods exports increased 2.2% to $205.7 billion, reflecting a $6.3 billion rise in industrial supplies and materials, mostly nonmonetary gold, crude oil and fuel oil. Capital goods exports rose $1.3 billion, lifted by semiconductors and computers. But exports of civilian aircraft fell $1.0 billion.
Consumer goods exports dropped $2.2 billion, pulled down by a $2.4 billion decline in pharmaceutical preparations.
The goods trade deficit increased 10.3% to $136.6 billion in August. When adjusted for inflation, it widened $8.7 billion, or 8.2%, to $114.7 billion. Trade has subtracted from GDP for three straight quarters, and economists estimate it could cut as much as 2.5 percentage points from GDP in the third quarter.
Growth estimates for the July-September quarter are mostly above a 3.0% annualized rate, with consumer spending expected to offset the drag from imports. The economy grew at a 2.2% pace in the second quarter.
Services imports rose less than $0.1 billion to $78.5 billion in August, amid a small gain in transport. Charges for the use of intellectual property fell as did travel.
Exports of services also advanced by less than $0.1 billion to $109.5 billion. There were modest increases in charges for the use of intellectual property and other business services. Travel and financial services both declined.
The nation had record goods trade shortfalls with Mexico, Vietnam and Malaysia. It maintained deficits with Taiwan, China, the European Union, South Korea, Canada and India among other trade partners. It, however, posted a record goods trade surplus with Belgium, while maintaining surpluses with the Netherlands, South and Central America, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Brazil, Australia and Saudi Arabia.
We had over a hundred shipment from overseas between FedEx and DHL during the IEEPA period. So far we haven't received any refunds from either carrier.
We found it's hard to find a good channel to communicate with both carriers to follow up on the status and the process.
Here is the limited information we could get so far from both carriers.
FedEx
They created an IEEPA tariff refund portal, by entering your shipment details to verify if FedEx has received your refund from the U.S. Treasury, including the amount, interest, and receipt date.They anticipate that disbursement of initial refunds will begin on or about August 10.
We found FedEx already received some refund payment for our shipment. We don't know where is the customer support contact we can check the refund status.
DHL
We reached out to their billing support by email. They advise that
"“DHL will submit refund requests for eligible shipments in phase 1. If your shipment is eligible in phase 1, this process can take up to 90 days with CBP, plus an additional 30–90 days for DHL to issue the refund.”
At this time we are not able to check individual shipments however, in the event that DHL was the IOR, we will submit for refund on all eligible shipments during each phase. We apologize as this is a quickly evolving situation.”
We appreciate if anyone can share your experience getting status, walk through the process for refund.
Probably asked here already, but looking for any sort of information. Legal, class action, advice, etc.
I'm calculating my unit economics now prior to launching a jewelry business and the courier quote came back and shocked me. With the de minimis gone, the DDP is eating so much into my margins that it doesn't even make sense to sell to the US anymore.
I see some competitors have warehouses in the US so that they can send in bulk so that the wholesale price gets considered instead. Does that mean if I don't do that (since I'm not at that scale yet) all the duties will be calculated based on the retail price that I sold to my customer?