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On D-Day, June 6, 1944, as American forces stormed Omaha Beach at a cost of 2,800 lives, our Canadian neighbors and friends stormed Juno Beach at a cost of 381 lives. (Our population in 1944 was 130,000,000, more than 10 times Canada's 12,000,000).
Canadians served alongside our armed forces in Korea, Vietnam, Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in Iraq, and in Afghanistan after the 9-11 attack on our Country.
Until Donald Trump became President and treated Canada with no respect, as a non-nation that should be our 51st State, as something to be punished with punitive tariffs, our prior Presidents treated Canada for what it always was; our neighbor, friend and trusted ally.
President Ronald Reagan's treatment of Canada, for example, was 180 degrees different from the Trump Administration.
In 1988 President Reagan entered into a free trade agreement eliminating all tariffs between the United States and Canada.
President Reagan told us, "The people of the United States and Canada have a long and harmonious friendship that is the envy of the world. Now, in addition to sharing the world's longest undefended border, we will share membership in the world's largest free trade area."
Even before President Reagan, the United States and Canada had been one combined market for automobile manufacturing since the 1965 Canada-U.S. Automotive Products Agreement.
It defies history and common sense that the current President of the United States uses harsher language about the Prime Minister of Canada than he does about Putin of Russia or the dictator of North Korea. He also is using 50% tariffs to punish Canada, while reluctant to punish Putin's Russia for its four-year-old illegal aggressive war against democratic Ukraine.
Chautauqua County businesses and attractions were already paying a huge price for Donald Trump's antipathy toward our good neighbor even before the latest 50% tariff, imposed by Trump, on Canadian goods.
Trump's March 2025, 25% tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum was of concern to the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier (MAST). MAST, along with the Buffalo Niagara Manufacturing Alliance, expressed opposition to the tariffs in effect in 2025 as well as proposed tariffs on Canadian goods.
MAST found that 80% of manufacturers reported higher material costs due to Trump's tariffs.
At a recent Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau (CCVB) board meeting, it was reported that our county's tourist-related businesses and attractions had seen anywhere from a 20% to 50% drop in Canadian visitors since Trump took office in 2025.
The trade war the Administration has launched against Canada has hurt Chautauqua County manufacturers as well as our tourist-related businesses.
A recent Associated Press report carried by our newspapers was headlined: "US-Canada trade war further taxes small businesses as costs rise during the Iran War".
The opening paragraph of the AP report reflects the reality our Chautauqua County businesses are facing: "A trade war between the United States and Canada is making it more difficult and expensive for small businesses in the economically entwined countries to operate, according to business owners caught in the crossfire."
The Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce recently observed that the U.S. and Canada auto industries are "deeply integrated." Examples of the integration of the U.S. and Canadian auto markets include Ford building engines in Canada, Stellantis (fka Chrysler) building the Chrysler Pacifica minivan and the Dodge Charger in Ontario, Honda building the CRV and Toyota building the RAV 4 in Canada for the entire American market.
Here in Western New York, the Ford Stamping Plant in Hamburg, sends its production to a Ford assembly plant in Ontario.
This tariff trade war can be stopped by Congress.
The power to tax, which includes tariffs, rests entirely with the Congress.
The Supreme Court this year already rejected some of Trump's tariffs as not being authorized by Congress and ordered the refunding of the billions of dollars Trump's Administration had collected.
Congress could meet and in one day strip the President of the authority to impose tariffs on Canadian goods. It is unfortunate that Congress has not already done so.
As in our own lives, our Country can benefit from as many friends as we can possibly have.
Oh Canada, we in Chautauqua County, and American football fans throughout Bills country, continue to respect you as friends and allies. At Sabres games and now at Bills games we will join with you in singing the Canadian national anthem as you join with us in singing our national anthem. RESPECT for each other is the foundation of positive relationships.
Fred Larson is a graduate of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Yale Law School, served as Chautauqua County Attorney from 1998-2005, is a retired City Court Judge and serves as a Chautauqua County legislator.