Coincidence? Is Trump screwing Canada because he’s pissed off at Mexico for reaffirming that Mexico will not pay for Trump’s wall? In Trump’s tweet he blames his Trade War on “a certain country” who ‘got cute.’ Is that country Mexico? (And what in heck does Trump mean in his tweet where he write: “don’t trade anymore” with that country because “they got cute.” )
On January 11, 2018 CNN reported that Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he’d use NAFTA to force Mexico to pay for the wall.
TRUMP: "They can pay for it indirectly through NAFTA," Trump said Thursday in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "We make a good deal on NAFTA, and, say, 'I'm going to take a small percentage of that money and it's going toward the wall.' Guess what? Mexico's paying."
Last year, in a January, 2017 phone call, Trump begged Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto to stop saying publicly that “Mexico will not pay for the wall.”
TRUMP: I have been given as President tremendous taxation powers for trade and for other reasons – far greater than anybody understands. The powers of taxation are tremendous for the President of the United States and if you study that you will see what I mean. That is why I did not want to have the meeting, I just wanted to tax the border … With that being said, if you would like to try and work a deal, that is okay. But if we cannot work a deal, I want to tell you we are going to put a very substantial tax on the border coming into the United States because, honestly, we will not want your products unless your products are going to be taxed ... I do not want to do that if we can work out a deal, so Jared Kushner and Luis can have the teams work out the deal. The only thing I will ask you though is on the wall, you and I both have a political problem. My people stand up and say, “Mexico will pay for the wall” and your people probably say something in a similar but slightly different language. But the fact is we are both in a little bit of a political bind because I have to have Mexico pay for the wall – I have to. … So what I would like to recommend is – if we are going to have continued dialogue – we will work out the wall. They are going to say, “who is going to pay for the wall, Mr. President?” to both of us, and we should both say,“we will work it out.” It will work out in the formula somehow. As opposed to you saying, “we will not pay” and me saying, “we will not pay.”… We cannot say that anymore because if you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that.I am willing to say that we will work it out, but that means it will come out in the wash and that is okay. But you cannot say anymore that the United States is going to pay for the wall. I am just going to say that we are working it out. Believe it or not, this is the least important thing that we are talking about, but politically this might be the most important talk about.
PENA NIETO: But my position has been and will continue to be very firm saying that Mexico cannot pay for that wall.
TRUMP: But you cannot say that to the press. The press is going to go with that and I cannot live with that.
That was last, but this year, Trump “lost his temper” when Mexico President Peña Neito reaffirmed Mexico will not pay for Trump’s wall. The Washington Post reports that on February 20, 2018 Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto got in a heated arguement with Trump over the wall.
One Mexican official said Trump “lost his temper.” But U.S. officials described him instead as being frustrated and exasperated, saying Trump believed it was unreasonable for Peña Nieto to expect him to back off his crowd-pleasing campaign promise of forcing Mexico to pay for the wall.
After that phone call, President Peña Nieto cancelled his White House trip … nine days later Trump haphazardly announces a Trade War on steel & aluminum.
The top five exporters of steel to the United States are:
1. Canada
2. Brazil
3. South Korea
4. Mexico
5. Russia
The top four exporters of aluminum to the U.S. are:
1. Canada
2. Russia
3. United Arab Emirates
4. China
So, is Trump screwing over Canada because he’s pissed off that Mexico will not pay for his wall?