Beth Dye

🌞Good Morning Canada 🇨🇦☕️ Slept well? Donald Trump has done something remarkable. Nearly 100 years after the United States learned the hard way that Smoot-Hawley-style protectionism can become an economic disaster, Trump has decided to reach back into the 1930 Tariff Act and use Section 338 against Canada. Yes. 1930. In 2026. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff was supposed to protect American workers and industries. Instead, America's trading partners retaliated, trade collapsed and the policy became one of the great historical warnings against protectionism. The numbers tell the story: 🇺🇸 U.S. exports to Europe fell from $2.341 billion in 1929 to $784 million in 1932. 🇺🇸 U.S. imports from Europe plunged from $1.334 billion to $390 million. 🌎 World trade collapsed by roughly 66% between 1929 and 1934. And Canada retaliated against the United States then, too. Economists and historians don't claim Smoot-Hawley single-handedly caused the Great Depression, but it deepened the economic damage, provoked retaliation and contributed to the collapse of international trade. So here we are in 2026. Trump has dusted off a nearly century-old tariff provision and imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods. Canada has responded: dollar for dollar. Think about that. ✨️A president supposedly making America "great again" has reached back almost 100 years for a trade weapon whose historical legacy is largely a warning about what happens when countries turn trade into economic warfare. America tried this before, Donald. It didn't end well. And apparently, the lesson had to be taught twice. Good morning, Canada. 🇨🇦 History remembers the mistakes we repeat.