The impact of the trade war between the U.S. and Canada

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with Democractic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan about the trade war between the U.S. and Canada.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Let's hear next from Representative Debbie Dingell, who represents Michigan's 6th Congressional District, which touches Canada. Welcome back to the program. DEBBIE DINGELL: It's great to be with you on this nice August morning. INSKEEP: All right. How much trade comes across the border where you are? DINGELL: Michigan exports, just where I am, $23.2 billion to Canada. Or that's what we did in 2025. Our - we have a new bridge, which took way - Canada built it. We had an agreement that took many years to get it open. And it took far too long to get it open because of - I'm sorry - President Trump's shenanigans and Secretary of Commerce Lutnick's trying to disrupt trade. And it's impacting us. It is impacting us in Michigan. Canada's our neighbor. It is our friend. It is our partner. It is economically and important for our national security. And this war we're in right now isn't helping anyone, but it's hurting our country. INSKEEP: I'm trying to figure out the practical day-to-day effect here, though. We know that consumers generally pay the tariffs in each country. And so now - each country, assuming these tariffs go into effect, people will be paying more. The U.S. put tariffs on hockey sticks, false beards and comics. Canadians are now putting tariffs on seats, furniture, crustaceans, fish, also steel and aluminum. Is this going to matter to people? DINGELL: It is going to matter to people. One, I just want to say that what - really, the irony of naming the bridge that connects us, the newest bridge, the Gordie Howe Bridge. And then putting a 50% - and Gordie Howe was born in Canada, was one of the greatest hockey players in the United States of America - and putting a 50% tariff on hockey sticks. What kind of message is that sending? It's - and American people are going to pay more. But I'll get - tell you something right now. Our American - our hospitals in Detroit, Michigan - if our relationship continues to deteriorate - it's Canadian nurses that keep them working. When traffic on the bridge is impacted, those hospitals become in danger of closing. There's really basic relationships that matter that nobody's focusing on. INSKEEP: We've heard a lot over the last few years of tariffs about how the United States and Canada are intertwined when it comes to things like the auto industry, and there's a lot of manufacturing that goes back and forth across the border. Do you see any of these kind of random tariffs that would disrupt that? DINGELL: Well, what we have to watch is, you know, many times an automobile - parts of it will go back and forth across the border eight times. And the - Shawn Fain, who has at times supported tariffs in the past, who's the president of the UAW... INSKEEP: Right. DINGELL: ...Put out a very strong statement denouncing this yesterday. We are going to have to watch and monitor very carefully what could be the impact on the industry. I don't think that that is clear right now. And as the reporter before you and I came on discussed, everybody's watching with fear about what else is going to happen as this ratchets up. But our auto industry, between the Canadians and the autos, is highly, highly integrated. And Canada, by the way, treats its autoworkers well. They have labor agreements like the ones that we have in the U.S. And they are not the same country as Mexico - which, quite frankly, we are treating better - in not having labor standards, not having safety standards, not having environmental standards. INSKEEP: Is the damage already done, in that there's been this extended uncertainty and no one can really plan, if they're a business, on what's going to happen next? DINGELL: So yes. Let's just be honest. I mean, we've got to try to get back to stability, but it's not just in these Canadian tariffs. Our companies in this country need certainty. They are tired of being a ping-pong ball between administrations. And I am hearing their concern, hopelessness in some cases, of smaller businesses. One of our jobs in public service is to give companies certainty so they can be economically strong. INSKEEP: But they also - of course, Americans also would like to reshore jobs, as we put it. Do you see anything in this strategy that would tend to do that? DINGELL: I think that when you're having a trade strategy, that trade with China is very different than trade with Canada. You know, they really are our neighbor, our friend. And I think that if we continue at war with Canada, it's actually going to hurt the auto industry, unlike China, which will destroy our auto industry. INSKEEP: I think you're telling me a few jobs one way or another across that border is not worth fighting about. Is that what you're saying? DINGELL: Oh, it's not. I mean, we have 230,000 jobs supported by Canada-U.S. trade just in Michigan. INSKEEP: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan, thanks so much. DINGELL: Thank you. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Let's hear next from Representative Debbie Dingell, who represents Michigan's 6th Congressional District, which touches Canada. Welcome back to the program. DEBBIE DINGELL: It's great to be with you on this nice August morning. INSKEEP: All right. How much trade comes across the border where you are? DINGELL: Michigan exports, just where I am, $23.2 billion to Canada. Or that's what we did in 2025. Our - we have a new bridge, which took way - Canada built it. We had an agreement that took many years to get it open. And it took far too long to get it open because of - I'm sorry - President Trump's shenanigans and Secretary of Commerce Lutnick's trying to disrupt trade. And it's impacting us. It is impacting us in Michigan. Canada's our neighbor. It is our friend. It is our partner. It is economically and important for our national security. And this war we're in right now isn't helping anyone, but it's hurting our country. INSKEEP: I'm trying to figure out the practical day-to-day effect here, though. We know that consumers generally pay the tariffs in each country. And so now - each country, assuming these tariffs go into effect, people will be paying more. The U.S. put tariffs on hockey sticks, false beards and comics. Canadians are now putting tariffs on seats, furniture, crustaceans, fish, also steel and aluminum. Is this going to matter to people? DINGELL: It is going to matter to people. One, I just want to say that what - really, the irony of naming the bridge that connects us, the newest bridge, the Gordie Howe Bridge. And then putting a 50% - and Gordie Howe was born in Canada, was one of the greatest hockey players in the United States of America - and putting a 50% tariff on hockey sticks. What kind of message is that sending? It's - and American people are going to pay more. But I'll get - tell you something right now. Our American - our hospitals in Detroit, Michigan - if our relationship continues to deteriorate - it's Canadian nurses that keep them working. When traffic on the bridge is impacted, those hospitals become in danger of closing. There's really basic relationships that matter that nobody's focusing on. INSKEEP: We've heard a lot over the last few years of tariffs about how the United States and Canada are intertwined when it comes to things like the auto industry, and there's a lot of manufacturing that goes back and forth across the border. Do you see any of these kind of random tariffs that would disrupt that? DINGELL: Well, what we have to watch is, you know, many times an automobile - parts of it will go back and forth across the border eight times. And the - Shawn Fain, who has at times supported tariffs in the past, who's the president of the UAW... INSKEEP: Right. DINGELL: ...Put out a very strong statement denouncing this yesterday. We are going to have to watch and monitor very carefully what could be the impact on the industry. I don't think that that is clear right now. And as the reporter before you and I came on discussed, everybody's watching with fear about what else is going to happen as this ratchets up. But our auto industry, between the Canadians and the autos, is highly, highly integrated. And Canada, by the way, treats its autoworkers well. They have labor agreements like the ones that we have in the U.S. And they are not the same country as Mexico - which, quite frankly, we are treating better - in not having labor standards, not having safety standards, not having environmental standards. INSKEEP: Is the damage already done, in that there's been this extended uncertainty and no one can really plan, if they're a business, on what's going to happen next? DINGELL: So yes. Let's just be honest. I mean, we've got to try to get back to stability, but it's not just in these Canadian tariffs. Our companies in this country need certainty. They are tired of being a ping-pong ball between administrations. And I am hearing their concern, hopelessness in some cases, of smaller businesses. One of our jobs in public service is to give companies certainty so they can be economically strong. INSKEEP: But they also - of course, Americans also would like to reshore jobs, as we put it. Do you see anything in this strategy that would tend to do that? DINGELL: I think that when you're having a trade strategy, that trade with China is very different than trade with Canada. You know, they really are our neighbor, our friend. And I think that if we continue at war with Canada, it's actually going to hurt the auto industry, unlike China, which will destroy our auto industry. INSKEEP: I think you're telling me a few jobs one way or another across that border is not worth fighting about. Is that what you're saying? DINGELL: Oh, it's not. I mean, we have 230,000 jobs supported by Canada-U.S. trade just in Michigan. INSKEEP: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan, thanks so much. DINGELL: Thank you. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Let's hear next from Representative Debbie Dingell, who represents Michigan's 6th Congressional District, which touches Canada. Welcome back to the program. DEBBIE DINGELL: It's great to be with you on this nice August morning. INSKEEP: All right. How much trade comes across the border where you are? DINGELL: Michigan exports, just where I am, $23.2 billion to Canada. Or that's what we did in 2025. Our - we have a new bridge, which took way - Canada built it. We had an agreement that took many years to get it open. And it took far too long to get it open because of - I'm sorry - President Trump's shenanigans and Secretary of Commerce Lutnick's trying to disrupt trade. And it's impacting us. It is impacting us in Michigan. Canada's our neighbor. It is our friend. It is our partner. It is economically and important for our national security. And this war we're in right now isn't helping anyone, but it's hurting our country. INSKEEP: I'm trying to figure out the practical day-to-day effect here, though. We know that consumers generally pay the tariffs in each country. And so now - each country, assuming these tariffs go into effect, people will be paying more. The U.S. put tariffs on hockey sticks, false beards and comics. Canadians are now putting tariffs on seats, furniture, crustaceans, fish, also steel and aluminum. Is this going to matter to people? DINGELL: It is going to matter to people. One, I just want to say that what - really, the irony of naming the bridge that connects us, the newest bridge, the Gordie Howe Bridge. And then putting a 50% - and Gordie Howe was born in Canada, was one of the greatest hockey players in the United States of America - and putting a 50% tariff on hockey sticks. What kind of message is that sending? It's - and American people are going to pay more. But I'll get - tell you something right now. Our American - our hospitals in Detroit, Michigan - if our relationship continues to deteriorate - it's Canadian nurses that keep them working. When traffic on the bridge is impacted, those hospitals become in danger of closing. There's really basic relationships that matter that nobody's focusing on. INSKEEP: We've heard a lot over the last few years of tariffs about how the United States and Canada are intertwined when it comes to things like the auto industry, and there's a lot of manufacturing that goes back and forth across the border. Do you see any of these kind of random tariffs that would disrupt that? DINGELL: Well, what we have to watch is, you know, many times an automobile - parts of it will go back and forth across the border eight times. And the - Shawn Fain, who has at times supported tariffs in the past, who's the president of the UAW... INSKEEP: Right. DINGELL: ...Put out a very strong statement denouncing this yesterday. We are going to have to watch and monitor very carefully what could be the impact on the industry. I don't think that that is clear right now. And as the reporter before you and I came on discussed, everybody's watching with fear about what else is going to happen as this ratchets up. But our auto industry, between the Canadians and the autos, is highly, highly integrated. And Canada, by the way, treats its autoworkers well. They have labor agreements like the ones that we have in the U.S. And they are not the same country as Mexico - which, quite frankly, we are treating better - in not having labor standards, not having safety standards, not having environmental standards. INSKEEP: Is the damage already done, in that there's been this extended uncertainty and no one can really plan, if they're a business, on what's going to happen next? DINGELL: So yes. Let's just be honest. I mean, we've got to try to get back to stability, but it's not just in these Canadian tariffs. Our companies in this country need certainty. They are tired of being a ping-pong ball between administrations. And I am hearing their concern, hopelessness in some cases, of smaller businesses. One of our jobs in public service is to give companies certainty so they can be economically strong. INSKEEP: But they also - of course, Americans also would like to reshore jobs