i'm no free market advocate, but that's exactly it. ricardo was a socialist. tariffs are neither foundationally good or bad, what they are is hard, and what the americans are threatening to do is dumb. let them do it and let the ricardan models work themselves out. they will lose market share in the end.

the theory of free trade does not tell us to retaliate, it tells us to avoid retaliating. it's really economics 101. canada shouldn't get feisty and act like rocky, it should be smart and listen to the academics and avoid a fight.

...except in a small, very targeted manner, that is designed to make american businesses absorb the losses rather than canadian consumers.