US posture in the hemisphere

Assessment

The US-Canada trade war is in open retaliation: Canada's dollar-for-dollar tariffs on about 27.6 billion Canadian dollars of US steel, dairy, electronics, agricultural equipment and pulp and paper took effect on Sept 8 in answer to the 50 percent US duties imposed on roughly 20 billion dollars of Canadian goods from Aug 22, and on Sept 8-9 Washington announced outright import bans on Canadian dairy, motorcycles and alcoholic beverages from Sept 29. Carney, who said on Aug 22 that Canada is at war because it was attacked, has told Canadians to hold firm and said talks can resume when Washington is serious, while the US trade representative and his Canadian counterpart have kept a channel open. Annexation rhetoric toward Canada and Greenland continues alongside an expanding domestic military role and mass visa revocations, though on Aug 31 the chairman of the Joint Chiefs told the Senate in writing that the Joint Force has no plans to send federal or federalised troops to polling places for the November midterms or to seize ballots or voting machines. No new escalation was verified between Sept 14 and Sept 15.