When Canadian fans boo the American national anthem at ice hockey and basketball games, it might be dismissed as unsporting behaviour. When stock markets fall across Europe and Asia, it might be seen as part of the ups and downs of the global economy.
However, when both sets of events are linked, there is something odd going on in the world. That odd something can be traced back to Donald Trump, who has imposed a 25 per cent tariff on goods coming into the US from Canada and Mexico and a 10 per cent tariff on Chinese goods.
Mr Trump has a fine track record in disrupting the norms of government, politics and society in his own country and he has now decided to export that chaos to much of the rest of the world.
His reasons for tariffs against Canada and Mexico are irrational and inconsistent. It may be that his ambitions go beyond trade and that he is using tariffs for leverage in other dealings with his neighbours. His reported decision to delay the tariffs on Mexican goods for a month tends to confirm this.
The US relationship with China is different. From 2000, US industry has outsourced much of its manufacturing to China and South-East Asia.
Lower wages and cheaper production costs meant greater profits for US businesses and lower prices for US customers. President Trump now wants to reverse that process.
However, this will mean higher prices for many goods, which will break his pledge to bring prices down. Rather than imposing a 25 per cent tariff, his 10 per cent tariff on Chinese goods shows that he possibly appreciates the risks of a full-scale trade war with China.
Mr Trump apparently intends to turn his attention next to the European Union. Imposing tariffs on EU goods will be particularly problematic for Ireland, which exports about £70 billion worth of products to the US annually. Many American companies pay their taxes in Ireland rather than the US, a situation which Mr Trump has also promised to tackle.
If the US President pursues his promise, the impact on the Irish economy will be serious. Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, has sensibly cautioned against any premature response to Mr Trump’s threat and urged EU unity in the face of his economic aggression.
Although Mr Trump should stop talking and start listening, it is hard to envisage him doing either, unless he meets serious opposition. With 500 million citizens, a united Europe offers the best hope of spearheading that opposition.
Ireland has an economic interest in being part of that process. By challenging Trump’s macho-economics, it will do a valuable service to the people of both Ireland the US.
