Today’s quote comes to us from Canadian business mogul Tobi Lutke, who co-founded Shopify the country’s second largest publicly traded company.
Mr. Lutke is, shall we say, less than taken with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s performance vis the tariffs threatened, and now put in place, by President Donald Trump. Here is his take on what has transpired so far:
“Canada thrives when it works with America together. Win by helping America win. Trump believes that Canada has not held its side of the bargai.,”
“These are things that every Canadian wants its government to do, too. These are not crazy demands, even if they came from an unpopular source. These tariffs are going to be devastating to so many people’s lives and small businesses.
“Leadership is about doing what’s right, not what is popular. And hitting back will not lead to anything good. America will shrug it off. Canada will decline.
“It’s simply the wrong choice in a possibility space where much better options would have been available.”
A reminder: all Trump is asking – ok, demanding – is that Canada get far more serious about preventing the flow of illegal aliens and drug trafficking from Canada to the United States. Why Prime Minister Trudeau would be this obstinate – and, by so doing, created the rationale for Trump’s tariffs – is a mystery to me…and, obviously to Mr. Lutke as well.
(Maybe it’s because he has resigned, is on his way out the door anyway, and thinks this enables him to exit with some kind of major flourish. Believe me, it doesn’t.)
I award Tobi Lutke Quote Of The Day honors for seeing through this nonsensical excercise, and pointing out that it should have never taken place.
FYI: My personal guess is that Trudeau, having put up similar tariffs on US goods/services, fantasizes this makes his action in some way equivalent to Trump’s…when the reality is that Canada gets hurt far worse than the USA.
Then, in a few days, maybe a few weeks, before leaving office, he will announce a willingness to “negotiate” an acceptable solution that is “beneficial to both sides”.
That way, when he caves in to Trump’s perfectly reasonable demands, he can pretend it was just an evenhanded negotiation on both sides and that he will have exited on a high note. I’m sure there are at least some people who will believe it.
Bottom line? The tariffs will be lifted and we will have gotten the result we could – should – have had in the first place, without all the unnecessary drama.
