Here are some things we should take away from the Trump Tariffs:
The President has far too much power to apply tariffs. The US government is supposed to be structured with checks and balances. No President should be able to restructure our economy without involving Congress. (As many economists point out, it will take longer to move factories and shift supply chains than the remainder of Trump’s presidency, and the next president could eliminate the tariffs.)
Why aren’t we hearing complaints from the “cut taxes” crowd? Given that our current supply chains are import-heavy, the tariffs are essentially a major tax increase.
We really need to eliminate the border with Canada (and perhaps Mexico.) We have strong cultural and economic ties with both Canada. There are areas in the Northeastern US where roads were built when travel between the two countries was unrestricted.
What is Trump’s long-term plan? Some news articles point out that, before the income tax, the US government used to get its revenue from tariffs. Tariffs are similar to consumption taxes, which I generally prefer over income taxes. What is Trump’s plan for revenue generated from tariffs? Replace income tax? Cover Social Security shortfalls?
Focusing on the US Canada Border
Many Americans forget that, at one time, the border between the US and Canada was more like crossing between states. There are country roads in the woods that now have roadblocks. Businesses and farms abut the border. Some links about the absurdity of our shared border:
The US-Canada border splits this road down the middle. In this video, Tom Scott shows a road where one side is in Canada, and the other is in the United States. He points out that it is illegal to cross the street, and that the “Canadian” road might, technically be in the US.
The Aroostook Valley Country Club was historically accessed by a road in Maine, but resides almost completely in Canada. The Wikipedia page explains the complexities of entering the golf course from both the US and Canada. When looking at https://maps.app.goo.gl/wWo9gZ3Z64octcuE8, observe that the golf course is on Russel Road, in the US, and that slightly north is Brown Rd, which is in Canada.
Roxam Road, https://maps.app.goo.gl/JZEzPJwEsHDak3kt5, a rural road that predates the US-Canada border, is very controversial within Canadian politics. Currently, it is a source of illegal immigration into Canada from the US. In the past, it did not have customs and was used by bootleggers.
The above links demonstrate that the US-Canadian border is quite arbitrary in an area where the border was imposed for political reasons.
Some Approaches to get rid of the US-Canadian border
What if Canada is the 51st state? What if each province becomes a state? Although we can laugh at the joke, it really puts shade on our attitude of American Exceptionalism. Although many Americans will admit that our government is dysfunctional, many of us are blissfully unaware that our democracy is outdated. Although Canada is a democracy, they operate their government differently than we do. To quote the Wikipedia page on Canada:
Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy in the Westminster tradition.
In contrast, the problems in our outdated democracy are explored in the book Breaking the Two Party Doom Loop by Lee Drutman. Part of the book explains how other democracies run their elections, and how that avoids the political gridlock and disfunction that we have.
I don’t think Canada wants to trade its form of government for ours.
What about an EU-Style Union? Summaries on this topic on Wikipedia indicate that it has poor popularity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Union and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_monetary_union. I wonder if Trump is trying to push this issue with jokes about the 51st state.
What about a constitutional convention? Ultimately, the flaws Drutman describes in “Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop,” and the fact that the president shouldn’t be able to impose so many tariffs without congress, demonstrate that we need to revise our constitution to be more in line with lessons learned from our history, and lessons learned from other democracies.
We could invite Canada to observe our own convention, and give them the option of joining.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, Trump’s tariffs need to make us think more deeply about how much power we give the president, how we can eliminate our border with Canada, and how we can solve political problems in our own country.