After taking a break from criticizing Gary Horton’s “Full Speed to Port,” his July 29 column has irritated me enough to respond once again! It isn’t that Mr. Horton doesn’t raise valid concerns or consider important topics. It is just that he misrepresents critical facts in order to “prove” his point. His column about tariffs is another perfect example.
Admittedly, I do not favor tariffs as long-term economic solutions. But Mr. Horton misses the legitimate debate by deliberately or ignorantly misstating facts about the problems.
Looking at Mr. Horton’s prime example, Canadian wooden hockey sticks, it is true: On Aug 19, a wide-ranging tariff of 50% will apply to many (not all) products, including wooden hockey sticks. But let’s list some fact-checking conflicts with Mr. Horton’s article:
1) The tariff does not specifically target wooden hockey sticks, but the overwhelming number of Canadian sticks are wooden — composite hockey sticks are mainly made in China.
2) Mr. Horton states “Canada remains America’s largest trading partner.” In government statistics, “trade” is the total of dollars going both ways. However, he doesn’t say that Canada BUYS more American products than any other country (even with their own steep tariffs on incoming U.S. products). Canada buys enough U.S. products to overcome the major disparity of U.S. purchases of products from China according to U.S. Trade Representative and Department of Commerce reports.
3) So what are we buying from Canada? According to Forbes analysis of U.S. Census and USTR reports, in 2025, 61% of ALL U.S. imported oil came from Canada — not the Mideast. Note: Energy products are not in the new 50% tariff, so this will not raise gas pump prices.
4) After oil, what is Canada’s next biggest import by the U.S.? It is the automotive industry. Is it included in these tariffs? It might be if were a Canadian car. But I have yet to find a Molson-mobile, yet Canadians are driving Fords and Chevys.
5) Next, Mr. Horton states that aluminum products are a more troubling problem. But is it? For over a century, steel and aluminum products have been the center of trade disputes. On the U.S. side, our suppliers produce competitive materials, but other developed nations (ie: Canada, Mexico, China) impose severe tariffs to make U.S. goods expensive compared to their domestic industries. Simultaneously, they offer financial aid or energy subsidies to reduce the relative cost of products in the U.S. market, according to the Bank of Canada.
6) Mr. Horton then cites automobiles and beverage cans as the impacts of these tariffs. However, those are the least impacted industries of the new tariffs.
Currently, we have a cross-border pissing contest between our governments. Each side keeps trying to hurt the other until one side gives in to political, diplomatic pressure. We will not go to military war with Canada, but our governments will continue to find ways to punish the other’s citizens until it hurts too much.
If Mr. Horton would have used his first few paragraphs and then concluded with his last few paragraphs, we could have had a thoughtful discussion on some very important issues. However, Mr. Horton has once again taken facts out of context, creating an inaccurate picture to create a sympathetic argument for a biased opinion.
Jim Scott
Santa Clarita
