Tank: Moe must get muscular on Sask. Trump tariffs response

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It should surprise nobody that Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe’s trips to Washington to try to stop Donald Trump’s loony plan for potentially-crushing tariffs failed.

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Moe’s message seemed reasonable enough — that 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports would hurt American consumers. On any other president that might have worked.

But no other president would have considered such an outlandish strategy for reasons that remain elusive. Most presidents surround themselves with trusted advisors; Trump’s inner circle is comprised of loyal sycophants and puppets.

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Trump himself credited his campaign victory to his focus on high grocery prices and his promise to reduce them. But tariffs will undoubtedly increase the cost of food, in no small part through levies on Canadian potash, which accounts for 80 per cent of that used by U.S. farmers.

If Trump cared about the average person, Saskatchewan could deliver a compelling message as Canada’s major source for potash. But Trump, a narcissistic sociopath bent on vengeance, cares only about himself and, by extension, his billionaire buddies who offer him the praise he craves.

Trump is prohibited from running for president again and he would be fine to leave the Republican Party as a smoking carcass. Trump likes to be seen as popular, but he’s equally willing to dismiss reality.

Perhaps he cares about his legacy beyond gratitude from the wealthiest for whom he schemes to deliver unneeded tax cuts. But he also manufactures his own alternate universe and will claim to be the greatest president ever even if he leaves his country in perpetual decline.

On Monday, he advised American farmers on social media to ramp up production and “Have fun!” Increasing costs for farmers through senseless tariffs will surely provide big laughs.

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In that context, the idea that somehow the premier of a Canadian province could sway this erratic president sounds utterly ludicrous.

Moe summed up his most recent trip to Washington last week by claiming he achieved “good engagement with senators, with secretaries, with congressmen as well as with many others on the periphery of the Washington D.C. decision making circle.”

In normal times, that describes a productive journey. But it remains unlikely whether any of that will achieve much with tariffs that have been imposed with shifting motives and justification. Canada has been targeted because it accounts for a large share of American trade.

If you believe Trump really cares about fentanyl, you’re probably willing to pretend that the former reality show host’s hair and skin colours are also genuine.

So Moe must now adopt the more muscular strategy the rest of Canada’s leaders have long been employing. Appeasement failed as it almost always does with bullies and authoritarians.

Saskatchewan needs the tough guy who was willing to stand up to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over just about every issue, with the province now facing a much greater threat from Trump.

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That will represent a major shift for Moe, who had invested his efforts in the fantasy that somehow you could reason with the new American president, despite all of the evidence to the contrary.

Trump cares less than any other modern world leader of a significant nation. But other Americans and other U.S. politicians do care and those are the ones who will feel the pain of tariffs and counter-tariffs.

Moe was perhaps predictably scarce Tuesday as tariffs kicked in, aside from a typically tepid mid-afternoon social media post. That quiet distinguished Moe from virtually all other Canadian leaders, including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who had embraced a similar approach of appeasement.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford publicly urged Moe to “make sure America feels the pain” by finding other markets for Saskatchewan’s potash, uranium and oil.

That seems unlikely given Moe’s comments so far. But maybe Moe truly believed until this week that tariffs could be averted through logic and rational arguments.

A new era of instability dawned Tuesday and Moe and his government must rise to the challenge.

Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

[email protected]

twitter.com/thinktankSK

@thinktanksk.bsky.social

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