Trump & Musk: A Massive Conflict of Interest

I’m stating the obvious, but Donald Trump as a puppet for Elon Musk is just a massive ball of conflict of interest.

Elon runs a car company, so he uses his pawn putz to put tariffs on the industry that is most tightly integrated in the United States and Canada: automobile manufacturing.

The whole thing is a mess and Canada needs to act quickly with Europe and China to shed our reliance on the United States.

It won’t happen fast, but it has to happen eventually and in a very methodical way.

But let’s talk about tariffs for a second.

These tariffs are designed specifically to benefit Elon Musk and his businesses.

In most traditional cases, tariffs are all about protection.

Trump claims it’s to protect Americans from fentanyl.

Show us the numbers.

In the meantime, let’s remind ourselves of what tariffs actually are: they protect weak businesses and/or profit taking.

Traditionally, they might have been imposed to create a price difference from a massive competitor and a weak local business or economy.

Applying a broad sweeping tariff across many industries are a clear admission that your businesses are weak and need protection.

When applied long-term, they also have the unfortunate influence on things like innovation, productivity and profitability because those tariffs become artificial price levels that protect poor decisions.

Finally, the reality is that the cost of tariffs are almost always borne by the consumers in the country that places the tariffs. Exporters to the US seek out other customers and in the long run, tariffs do irreparable harm to once-productive and profitable relationships. Canadian companies will get stronger and more independent and Canadian consumers will find other suppliers.

In the case of Trump’s tariffs, an unfair tax is imposed on the automobile sector that is not owned by Elon Musk. Trump and Musk are effectively killing the industries that they swore to rebuild and ‘make great again’.

This is what Trump is creating: an environment of bad decisions that are based on stupidity rather than the market.

All businesses in the US should be begging Trump to back down on tariffs.

If they don’t, millions of soon-to-be unemployed auto workers will rebel.