I’ve admitted in the past that I am something of a news hound.  I like to be aware and keep up as much as I can on what’s happening in Saskatoon, the province, the country and the world.    However, there are two words I’m sick and tired of hearing and both words begin with the letter T.  The words are tariff and Trump.  We’ve obviously entered a new era of tariffs, taxes imposed by a government on goods and services imported from other countries.  A tariff is really a form of trade barrier.  They make imported goods more expensive, potentially leading to higher prices for consumers.   In his quest to “make America great again”, the other T word, Trump, has stated that tariff is probably his favourite word.  Trump would like us to believe that Canada, as well as just about any other country you can name, has for decades been taking advantage of the poor old USA, which to my recollection has through these same decades enjoyed the world’s biggest economy and the U.S. dollar has been the world’s foremost reserve currency since the 1940’s.  How does one negotiate a trade deal in good faith with someone who changes his mind like the wind changes direction?   Canada is the biggest market for US exports, and we have a massive and integrated trading relationship.  I wish our team luck with their elbows up as they try to hammer out a trade deal going forward with Trump’s people.  You know, I really look forward to the day when Donald Trump is once and for all done and gone, out of the public eye, put out to pasture, unmentioned and unthought about. 

That’s Coffeetalk.  I’m Vic Dubois.