Trump’s high-risk tariff play could help close US border and win at trade: Pray it works
With President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico (and a 10% slap at China, too) set to go into effect Saturday night, Americans need to remember that this is how this president negotiates.
And there’s good reason to think it’ll work.
Sure, expect the usual media freakout; it happens whenever Trump plays hardball on anything, from crime to DEI.
Indeed, journos are already prophesying death, destruction and more expensive avocados.
But don’t bet the farm on their doomsaying — even though such domestic histrionics help sell the threat abroad.
The White House linked these tariffs to the three countries’ refusal to meaningfully step up and end the flow of illegal migrants and fentanyl across our borders, a campaign promise from Trump.
If President Claudia Sheinbaum and lame-duck PM Justin Trudeau crack down, that gives Trump a major potential exit ramp.
(Xi Jinping may be more resistant.)
And Trump ran a near-identical play on Colombia’s lefty prez Gustavo Petro — take back the illegal migrants from your country or face tariffs.
Petro, after a public tantrum, folded like a cheap suit; Trump let him off the hook.
The new tariffs may vanish as well if these other nations prove compliant, which would also almost certainly mean restrictions on migrant flow.
Remember too that in July 2026 the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (Trump’s first-term revise of Bill Clinton’s NAFTA) is up for renewal.
The tariff move sure looks like it’s also battlespace prep for the high-stakes haggle ahead of that decision.
Trump showing he means business now strengthens his negotiating position to get a better deal during the USMCA talks.
To be clear, the tariff threat — a centerpiece of Trump’s foreign policy — is high risk.
It could go go south in the end.
But “peace through strength” is not merely a military concept; it’s true in global trade as well.
Playing the role of superpower will earn you respect as a, well . . . superpower.
We hope Trump’s big move here works as intended.
