Mohawk Council of Kahnawake responds to trade war

The Canada-US trade war escalated again this week with the implementation of dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs against the US, affecting a wide range of goods and resulting in steep levies at the border.

“Our position is that First Nations shouldn’t be paying these tariffs,” said Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) grand chief Cody Diabo. “These are between Canadians and Americans, not on us.”

The sweeping tariffs follow the breakdown of trade talks between Canada and the US last month, with the US reportedly changing terms at the last minute in a way Canada judged unacceptable, including an insistence that the deal limit Canada’s trade partnerships with other countries.

When talks failed, US president Donald Trump unleashed a wave of 50 percent tariffs, and on Tuesday Canada responded with its own suite of tariffs as high as 50 percent.

Tariffs are a form of tax, often used to protect a country’s industries from competition from foreign imports. Tariffs, which are implemented depending on a raw material or product’s country of origin, rather than sale, are paid on imports. This means that while they are wielded against a foreign country in one sense, they are ultimately paid by the people of the country receiving the goods.

Canadians can expect the price of goods to rise, with complex supply chains established after decades of free trade, in ways invisible to the consumer. But when individuals bring goods across the border themselves, they must pay tariffs themselves.

The MCK is urging Kahnawa’kehró:non to keep all their receipts as they seek a solution. Letters are also being sent to both Trump and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney to object to the impacts on the community.

Diabo said Canada’s border services agency has already been contacted, and the MCK is seeking meetings with the finance ministry. Economic tables are already established on both sides to the border that should help the message get through.

“Brothers are fighting, and First Nations are being caught in the middle of it,” said Diabo. “All our thing was, we just wanted to be able to live out our lives unencumbered by the colonial governments, but it’s like deja vu all over again.”

Community members have been frustrated to see ramifications of the dispute impact them, since Kanien’kehá:ka territory stretches across the colonial boundary.

“We aren’t Canadian and neither are we American. This trade war they are having shouldn’t affect us. We see no borders,” said Kahnawa’kehró:non Ioronhiateka Delisle.

While the situation might have impacted his shopping habits, his son is playing AAA hockey in Boston, so he feels his family doesn’t have much choice.

“It sucks, but what am I going to do? He’s got to eat and we have to pay his tuition and rent. We try to cut costs by bringing pre-packaged meals from Canada, but now with the tariffs, we aren’t sure what they are going to say at the border.”

Diabo said that ultimately Kahnawake wants to see a big-picture solution through organizations like the Iroquois Caucus, on which he is the chair, and the Jay Treaty Alliance, on which he is a co-chair, to ensure solutions do not fall on the individual.

The Jay Treaty, signed by the US and Great Britain, guarantees freedom of movement across the border for Onkwehón:we. While agreement is in effect in the US, Canada’s position is that it does not apply here, which the Jay Treaty Alliance vociferously advocates to change.

“Their stand is always that it was pre-Confederation, that’s kind of done with now that the monarch’s not here anymore,” said Diabo. “But they’re changing all their $20 bills now to put King Charles on it. It kind of feels like they still do things that England wants.”

While there are currently no tariffs on electricity going into the US, the idea has been raised in Ontario. According to Diabo, Kahnawake’s major investment in the Hertel line, which delivers electricity from Quebec to New York City, should not be affected.

“We will be getting paid,” he said, since the agreement, which will be backdated to June 1 when it is finalized, depends on the infrastructure, not the volume of electricity sold.

Trump has implemented and removed tariffs against countries around the world at whim since taking office this term, even amid pushback from American courts. He insisted on renegotiating the previous trade agreement between Canada and the US, which was negotiated in his first term.

A complete list of goods affected by tariffs is available online.

marcus@easterndoor.com

Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter