Circuit Court Judge, Florida                                                                            September 9, 2018

Robert Meadows (Circuit Court Judge, Florida) wrote:

Here is one American’s take on the growing trade war with the US and Canada.

"Have you ever stopped to consider how lucky we Americans are to have the neighbors we have?

Look around the globe at who some folks have been stuck sharing a border with over the past half century:

                                 North Korea / South Korea

                                 West Germany / East Germany

                                 Greece / Turkey

                                 Iran / Iraq

                                 Israel / Palestine

                                 India / Pakistan

                                 China / Russia

We’ve got Canada!  Canada.  About as inoffensive a neighbor as you could ever hope for. In spite of all our boasts of “American exceptionalism” and chants of “America first,” they just smile, do their thing and go about their business. They are on average more educated, have a  higher standard of living, free health care, and almost no gun problems. They treat immigrants respectfully and already took in over 35,000 Syrians in the last two years.

They’re with us in NATO, they fought alongside us in World War I, World War II, Korea, the Gulf War, the Bosnian War, Afghanistan, the Kosovo War and came to our defense after 9/11.  There was that one time when Canada took a pass on one of our wars: Vietnam.  Turned out to be a good call.

They’ve been steady consumers of American imports, reliable exporters of metals and petroleum products (they are the biggest importer of U.S. products from 37 states), and partnered with NASA in our space missions.

During 911 many aircraft were diverted to Newfoundland, an island province off Canada's east coast where Americans were housed in people's homes for two weeks and treated like royalty.  In return for their hospitality, this administration slapped a 20% tariff on the products of Newfoundland's only paper mill, thereby threatening its survival.

And what do Canadians expect of us in return?  To be respected for who and what they are: Canadians.  That’s what I call a good neighbor.

But the King of Chaos couldn’t leave well enough alone.  Based on his delusions of perpetual victimhood, out of the clear blue, he’s declared economic war on Canada. On CANADA!  And he did it based on Canada being a national security risk to the US! For no good reason, other than the voices in his head that told him it was a war he could win.  So why not do it, then?

Trump went ahead and imposed his tariffs on aluminum and steel even though we have a trade surplus with Canada on those products! Trudeau retaliated in kind. And now this morning, the White House is preparing a new wave of tariffs in retaliation for Trudeau’s retaliation. This time he threatens a tariff on automobiles even though 70% of their components originate in the U.S.!  It’s just a temporary spat, right?  Except for that smile on Vladimir’s face in the Kremlin, as the NATO pact unravels a little more with each passing day.

Again, we’re talking about Canada. Our closest ally, friend and neighbor.

On behalf of an embarrassed nation, people of Canada, I apologize for this idiotic and wholly unnecessary attack. Please leave the back channels open.  We the People of progressive persuasion stand with you.

Robert Meadows