I'm an Irish permanent resident currently waiting on my Canadian citizenship. It's a country that I
proudly call home. The people here are good, kind and overwhelmingly care deeply about our friends and relationship south of the border. This isn't just economic to most Canadians, it's deeply personal.
I also want to share that nobody, and I mean absolutely NOBODY up here wants a trade war to be hitting the US back with tarriffs. We know that predominantly we really are not going to make a major dent owing to the population and GDP size disparity - this is a gesture of protest and to say that we won't be doormats.
Having said that , what I will say is that for many up here anger is not the public sentiment that I'd say most folks are feeling. It's actually hurt and disbelief.
Canada has long supported and gone hand in hand into wars around the world with the US - Iraq wars with Bush senior and Bush junior, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan. We've taken a position with China largely because we want to show solidarity with the US. For many people up here who's ancestors bled side by side in countless wars even going back to World War 2, there is a sense that the US is our 'brother from another mother' so to speak. The US is family.
With the wildfires in LA recently, we sent many of our finest firefighters and equipment south of the border to help our friends in trouble.
This is all a long winded way of trying to get across why the public sentiment on the ground with Canadians is so stinging - there is a sense that the US government has betrayed that special relationship that has gone back over a century and the current administration has fed a bunch of
disinformation to the American people to damage what has always been a very tight and close relationship.
The simple fact of the matter is that the notion that Canada is a primary exporter of fentanyl is a blatant lie (
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation...ada-a-big-player-in-the-fentanyl-trade-is-it/). Yes we have problems with fentanyl as do many countries, but the notion that we try to export south of the border is a lie. Seattle times estimates that what little does get smuggled across the bother represents 0.2% of what comes in from Mexico. We incredibly strict laws on chemical imports and border detection. It also helps that we have the natural barrier of the arctic to the north.
Donald Trump’s tariff threat is apparently aimed at tackling illegal migration and drug smuggling at the U.S.-Canada border
thelogic.co
I'd also go so far as to say that my family and friends back home in Ireland and Europe are frightened by notions of US imperialism and invading Greenland. That the French prime minister has offered to provide troops to protect the sovereignty of Greenland is a damning indictment of just how much damage is being done to the US's allies right now. Everybody is in disbelief. I have to believe that the over 50% who voted for the Trump administrations, were so worried about their own economic situation that they didn't consider beyond their own borders, the impact to the United States by going after it's closest historic allies?!
I know that for most folks on this forum, none of this needs to be said. There are
many good, kind hearted people here and I know from your words on these forums that the behaviour of your current administration and president does not represent your individual belief systems. My words here are targeted at the administration, not the American people.
I'm sorry if this sounds ranty - really it's a vent to people whom I feel will understand and also be frustrated on the other side of the border. I'm talking with our brothers and sisters from another mother!
www.businesstoday.in
you good Americans. 
