James Moore is a former federal cabinet minister under prime minister Stephen Harper, and a columnist for CTVNews.ca.
In late June 1939, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Information produced three posters to boost domestic morale and focus the public anxiety about the war around them and the anticipated coming invasion.
One poster read “Freedom is In Peril / Defend It With All Your Might.” A second poster read “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory.”
The third poster is the poster that is better known because of its recent commercialization. The third poster was rediscovered by Stuart and Mary Manley while sorting through a box of second-hand books that they purchased at an auction in Alnwick, Northumberland.
It read “Keep Calm and Carry On.” The couple hung it in their bookstore, it was noticed, adored and reproduced and capitalism did its things and now “Keep Calm and Carry On” mugs, posters, t-shirts, stickers and fridge magnets are for sale in every shop you walk into in London these days.
“Keep Calm and Carry On” is good advice in war. It is also a good mantra in peace, in business, in relationships, in life, and, yes, in international trade wars with longstanding historic friends.
Reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of “reciprocal” tariffs on countries across the globe Wednesday by executive order has been swift, brutal, and almost uniformly unrelenting in the criticism of this historic shift in American policy.
For Canada, I believe we need to keep calm, respond with measure when and where appropriate, look for opportunities to support our economy and impacted industries, and we need to play the long game.
Time is on our side, here are five reasons why:
One
First, the economic impact of President Trump’s tariffs is disastrous for Americans, and the impact will take time to be felt at the depths needed to shift public opinion.
Tony Redondo, founder of Cosmos Currency Exchange, says PC makers like Dell and HP could face cost increases of 10 to 25 per cent, adding $200 to $500 in new costs per unit – a direct tax/tariff hit to consumers for no discernible reason.
Apple’s shares dropped 8.8 per cent on day one of the tariffs because 90 per cent of their products are manufactured in China and consumers are anticipated to buy fewer of their products. Analysts show example after example of how these tariffs will hurt America’s middle class consumers, and the longer the policies are in place, the angrier those consumers will get. Time is on our side here.
Two
Second, President Trump’s tariffs will hit about 90 countries around the planet, and each of those countries will respond to the tariff hit in different ways. Some will implement aggressive retaliatory measures. Some will do nothing immediately and diversify their trade market to mitigate the impact.
Most will find their way to Washington D.C. quickly and try to engage the White House to work towards resolution. Each of those efforts will come with a different demeanor, vocabulary and diplomatic engagement strategy. Some might work, others won’t. We can observe, take notes, and draw as much intel as possible on effective engagement for our benefit when our prime minister heads to Washington in the weeks after the April 28th election. Again, time is on our side.
Three
Third, we need to unite as a country. In reaction to the Trump tariffs, regional and ideological differences within Canada have been exposed. This is to be expected and is healthy at a time when the public is looking for their political leaders to reflect their frustration and remedies outwardly so they can feel comfort that our system is reflective of their needs.
However, there are dangers to Canada when the gaps in policy and politics across the country are exposed for exploitation by the White House. Once the election is over, our prime minister must engage all our premiers and build the trust necessary to fulfill the mandate that rests solely with the prime minister: the direct engagement with the president of the United States on behalf of Canada.
Between today and when the prime minister is elected and when the prime minister heads to Washington, Canada’s premiers need to think through their expectations and strategic advice to the prime minister, advise the prime minister of the pressures on their economies and provinces, and then stand with the prime minister as he heads to Washington to lead team Canada on behalf of us all. Time, again, is on our side here.
Four
Fourth, as the days tick by and members of the U.S. Congress and a third of the Senate march closer to the midterm elections of 2026, they will be the first cohort of political leaders to bear the reaction of American voters to their handling of this atrocious policy.
Given the narrowness of the Trump majority in the House of Representatives and the recent results of state elections where there has been a clear shift away from President Trump’s candidates, the midterms could well prove helpful in electing members of Congress who will be mandated to stop the tariff madness and drive towards resolution – particularly between the United States and Canada and Mexico. This outcome only serves to help Canada, and again, time is on our side.
Five
Fifth, while all the above is happening, the time we have should be used meaningfully by the Government of Canada and the provincial governments to genuinely move forward on policies that will make Canada less vulnerable to the effects of these tariffs and the harm they can do to our economy.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s proposal to drop the GST on new car sales of Canadian-made cars is a good example. Opening government procurement opportunities to bidders from other provinces to ensure the capture of that spending within Canada while the American tariffs are imposed is another. In area after area, all of our governments must think about maximizing the Canadian benefit to buffer the impacts of the Trump threat.
Time is on our side. The tariffs are awful and will hurt Canada, the world, Americans and the downstream geopolitical consequences are only beginning. Things could get very chaotic and dark because Donald Trump has chosen to deliberately impose greater poverty, mass business disruption, political realignment and economic harm around the world because of his flawed vision of how things ought to be.
We can take advantage of the coming weeks and couple months to bolster the Canadian interest and protect ourselves from the worst of things. Keep calm and carry on.
