Politicians denounce U.S. protectionism while imposing trade barriers at home
Marco Navarro-Genie
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Canada’s political class champions free trade when it suits them, but their response to U.S. protectionism reveals their protectionist instincts.
When U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on Canadian imports, most Canadian leaders reacted with hysteria. Their outrage signalled an entitlement—the belief that Canada has an unrestricted right to sell in the U.S. market and that any challenge to this imagined right is an attack on sovereignty. Ironically, this reaction inadvertently endorses free trade: if tariffs are bad, then open trade must be good.
Yet the same politicians lamenting Trump’s protectionism impose internal trade barriers within Canada and call on Canadians to “buy local” as a retaliatory measure. This exposes a deep intellectual inconsistency. Protectionism, by definition, is a policy designed to shield domestic industries from external competition. The very leaders denouncing Trump’s tariffs are guilty of implementing similar economic barriers at home.
 If Canada hates tariffs, why are internal trade barriers alive and well? |
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Trump’s threatened tariffs—25 per cent on general imports and 10 per cent on Canadian energy—were not arbitrary economic belligerence. They were part of a broader “America First” strategy to revitalize domestic manufacturing, reduce trade imbalances and protect national interests. The president justified these measures under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, tying them to concerns over illegal immigration, drug trafficking and unfair trade practices. The objective was clear: make imports more expensive to encourage American consumers and businesses to buy American.
In other words, Trump’s trade policy was simply an extension of the same “buy local” economic nationalism that Canadian leaders support—just on a larger scale. Whether one agrees with it or not, the U.S., like any sovereign nation, has the right to set its trade policies. If Canada believes it has the right to retaliate with tariffs, then the U.S. has the right to initiate them.
Despite their vocal opposition to protectionism, Canadian leaders were quick to respond to Trump’s tariffs with protectionist policies of their own. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and former Calgary mayor and now Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi all urged Canadians to “buy local” and support domestic industries. Their reaction exposes three key contradictions.
First, if tariffs are economically harmful and morally wrong, why do Canadian provinces impose trade barriers on each other? Quebec restricts Alberta’s oil pipelines, limiting the free movement of goods within Canada. If tariffs between countries are bad, they are even worse between provinces.
Second, the definition of “local” is flexible. Politicians like Ford and Nenshi insist that “local” means provincial or pan-Canadian, but Trump’s “local” means American. The logic of protectionism works in any direction—Ford and Nenshi’s economic nationalism is no different from Trump’s. The only difference is the scale.
Finally, Canadian economic patriotism is selective protectionism. Trudeau, Ford and Nenshi do not oppose protectionism in principle—they simply favour a version that benefits their own interests. Their nationalist rhetoric mirrors Trump’s; the only variance is the colour of the flag behind them.
The fact that no significant federal leader in Canada has made a forceful case for genuine free trade, either internationally or domestically, is a damning indictment of the country’s political landscape. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been one of the few leaders to advocate for the free movement of goods, yet even she has not fully dismantled provincial trade barriers.
The outrage against Trump’s tariffs was never a principled defence of free trade. It was an opportunistic backlash against competition. Canada’s political class cannot preach free trade while practising protectionism at home. Until they dismantle internal barriers and embrace true economic openness, their outrage over U.S. tariffs is nothing more than self-serving hypocrisy.
Marco Navarro-Genie is VP of Policy and Research at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. He is co-author, with Barry Cooper, of COVID-19: The Politics of a Pandemic Moral Panic (2020).
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