Letters: The truth about tariffs; Unelected billionaire causing chaos
The truth about tariffs
“Speak truth to power” — Bayard Rustin
Among other justifications for threatening tariffs on Canadian products, President Trump said that “they (Canada) don’t allow our farm products in.” Well, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA), that’s far from true.
According to the ITA, “Most U.S. agricultural products have entered Canada duty-free since 1989 under the USMCA (and the preceding NAFTA and U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement).” In 2023, Canada imported $28 billion in U.S. agricultural products. The same year, the U.S. imported $37 billion in agricultural products from Canada.
In 2023, the agricultural trade imbalance was $9 billion in Canada’s favor. But consider this context: Our population of about 335 million is more than eight times as large as Canada’s 40 million people. So, counting consumers, even an imbalance of $80 billion would be reasonable to expect.
Lots of numbers, but a simple bottom line: Canada has not, as Trump claims, “abused” the U.S. The ploy is that instead of taxing the richest, tariffs would be a tax that will land hardest on about 300 million of us. The other 35 million, multi-millionaires and billionaires, of course won’t feel the pain.
We must not placidly accept the false statements being put out by the present administration to justify their wrecking of the economy. Speak truth to power and in 2026 vote to stop the current craziness.
BTW, get your government fact sources now before they disappear!
Unelected billionaire causing chaos
We no longer have a functioning Congress in Washington, DC. The GOP House and Senate have abdicated their constitutional responsibilities to a private citizen. Millions of Americans have had their personal and financial privacy compromised by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and his easily manipulated adolescent IT team. We don’t know why or what he intends to do with the information he has stolen. If you receive any sort of benefit from the federal government, your information has been captured. Social security, health care, your banking information, student aid, SNAP, food stamps, WIC, small business loans, etc. I do mean anything and everything. It can all be manipulated. It isn’t being categorized or safeguarded based on your political ideology. Your political party does not protect you.
Those who believe that the federal government is the “deep state” will learn that is not true. The federal government is what makes this country run. The nonpartisan civil servants are the ones who issue the checks, protect our food and water, enforce our laws and work to protect us. They are not some nebulous conspiracy group out to get us. There is nothing wrong with wanting to improve processes and making things better for all of us. However, burning everything down is not the answer. Our representatives have walked away from that job.
The elected president has abdicated to an unelected billionaire. Don’t be indignant when you find that you have been adversely impacted. It is a coup.
Trump can do no wrong with his supporters
Trump supporters unquestioningly believe in anything Trump says or does. It is amazing. When Trump speaks of taking over the Gaza strip and forcing out 2 million Palestinians with no plans of what to do with them, his supporters love it. When he speaks of invading Greenland or Panama — or making Canada the 51st state — they think those are good ideas. When Trump cuts off veteran benefits or Medicaid health care to impoverished or elderly people nationwide, Trump supporters cheer him. When Trump directs immigration officials to raid schools or churches to seize immigrants, his supporters regard it as wonderful. When Trump appoints ill-qualified leaders to head federal agencies, Trump supporters are not worried about how devastating government workers could affect their benefits. When Trump cronies invade FBI headquarters and force agents to complete McCarthy era-style questionnaire, resulting in a lawsuit against Trump joined by 5,000 FBI agents, Trump supporters think it was just great. Trump’s proposed tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China would raise grocery prices — and prices on many other goods — for all Americans, and yet his supporters love the move. (What happened to Trump’s vow to lower the price of eggs?) When Trump’s people gain access to the U.S. Treasury records, which pierces the privacy of all Americans, his supporters are delighted. Nothing Trump does is wrong to his supporters. The same unquestioning feeling Trump supporters express for their Dear Leader was also expressed by the supporters of Germany’s leader in the 1930s.
Where do Dave Sunday’s loyalties lie?
Two recent lawsuits, State of New York et.al. vs. Trump, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, et.al. vs. NIH, have recently been filed to prevent federal funding cuts and the NIH’s cap on research funding. The plaintiffs are coalitions of state Attorneys General. In both cases, judges issued temporary restraining orders (TROs) to stop the Trump administration from pursuing its chaotic attacks on its perceived political enemies.
When a TRO is issued, it generally protects the interests of only its plaintiffs, the states that joined the lawsuit. But Dave Sunday, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, joined neither of these lawsuits. Why? In the case of the funding freeze, Medicaid recipients and local charities in Pennsylvania have lost access to payments they need. In the case of the NIH suit, research conducted at Penn State, Temple, Pitt, etc. is jeopardized, research that benefits Pennsylvanians both in terms of its potential discoveries and in the jobs created by this funding.
By declining to join these lawsuits, Sunday puts Pennsylvania at a competitive disadvantage. Where do Dave Sunday’s loyalties lie, with the Pennsylvanians he’s sworn to protect or with Trump’s MAGA agenda?