America Doesn’t Subsidize Canada. Canada Helps Power America.
Trump keeps telling Americans they don’t need Canada. The numbers tell a very different story.
Most Americans probably couldn’t tell you who their country’s biggest customer is.
Many would guess China.
Others might say Europe.
Some would probably say Mexico.
The answer is Canada.
That’s important because Donald Trump has spent years telling Americans that Canada is somehow living off the United States. That America subsidizes us. That America doesn’t need us. That we’d be better off as the 51st state.
It sounds tough.
It just isn’t true.
Canada isn’t America’s charity case.
We’re one of America’s biggest customers.
Every year Canadians buy enormous amounts of American products. Cars. Machinery. Equipment. Food. Technology. Manufactured goods. Energy equipment. Medical products.
In fact...
Canada buys more American-built automobiles than Mexico, Japan and Germany combined.
Think about that for a second.
Three major economies together...
...and Canada still buys more.
That isn’t a country freeloading.
That’s a customer every business wants.
Here’s another fact Americans rarely hear.
Canada is the number one export market for more than 30 U.S. states.
Not China.
Not Europe.
Canada.
For almost every other state, Canada ranks in the top three export markets.
Millions of American jobs depend on selling products north of the border.
Factories.
Farmers.
Truck drivers.
Rail companies.
Manufacturers.
Ports.
Small businesses.
When Canada buys less...
Americans work less.
That’s why tariffs don’t magically hurt Canada while America walks away untouched.
When trade slows, businesses on both sides of the border feel it.
Then there’s something else Americans almost never hear.
Canadians buy roughly forty times more American goods per person than consumers in China, India or Europe.
Forty times.
We’re only about 41 million people.
We punch far above our weight because we buy so much from our closest neighbour.
That’s why serious American business leaders don’t talk smack about Canada the way politicians sometimes do.
They understand customers.
Lose a customer...
...and you lose revenue.
The irony is almost funny.
Trump says America should put America First.
Fair enough.
Every country should look after its own people.
Canada certainly should.
But “America First” shouldn’t mean pretending your best customer doesn’t matter.
That’s bad business.
Canada has spent decades being a dependable neighbour.
Reliable.
Stable.
Predictable.
We show up.
We buy.
We invest.
We build things together.
None of that sounds like a country being subsidized.
It sounds like a valuable trading partner.
Canadians need to stop talking like we’re lucky America puts up with us.
The truth is much simpler.
America matters to Canada.
Canada matters to America.
And every time someone says America doesn’t need Canada...
they’re telling a story the numbers simply don’t support.
The Recap...
Canada isn’t America’s dependent.
We’re one of America’s biggest customers.
More than 30 U.S. states count Canada as their largest export market, and Canadians buy more American goods per person than almost anyone on Earth.
That’s not a subsidy.
That’s a partnership.
The Gut-Punch...
Customers have value.
Canada isn’t asking America for charity.
We’re walking into their store with our wallet open.
Someone should remind Washington before they insult one of their best customers.
Source Credit:
Remarks based on public comments highlighting Canada’s role as the largest export market for more than 30 U.S. states, Canada’s position as the largest foreign buyer of American automobiles, and Canada’s exceptionally high per-capita purchases of U.S. goods.
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Fred, it's sad to say, but too many Americans are ill-informed and don't do any fact-checking on their own. Trump has remarked that he loves the uneducated (I'm paraphrasing). These uneducated MAGA supporters will believe anything that their "fearless leader and idol" tells them. And of course, the oligarchs with their multi-billions gravitate to Trump because they know that his economic "policies" match their selfish goals.
So, as Bev has already commented, your articles would be so useful if the uneducated cohort within MAGA could actually see them. Leading up to November's midterms, the Democrats have an enormous task to reach these people. Their needs to be a tsunami wave of support for the Democrats so they take both the House and the Senate. The current regime in the US needs to be held accountable for their corruption, chaos, and lies.
So are these perfectly expressed facts out there anywhere that many Americans can actually read them? They re in the kind of language they might understand if only they could see outside Fox…. Not disparaging Substack, I just dont know the reach of anything any more.