With roughly 3 million active-duty personnel in 2026, the Canadian military expanded its 2025 budget to $49 billion Canadian, up 25% since 2022, with major expansions and investments in Arctic and global security operations amid concerns that China and Russia are staging attacks from the Arctic and northern seas.
Those investments include 88 U.S.-manufactured F-35 fighter jets, eight icebreaking ships, and 12 under-ice submarines. The United States and Canada also share responsibility for NORAD operations.
Perhaps a bit overstated, but Canada is our friend!
Another quick reminder: Countries do not pay tariffs. Countries do not pay tariffs.
Importers, wholesalers, and corporations pay tariffs, and typically, they pass those costs on to their customers, predominantly us consumers.
President Trump also recently attempted to block the opening of the massive Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting the twin cities of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, across the Detroit River. The nearly $6.4 billion bridge, financed by Canada, was completed after nearly eight years of construction. It officially opened to traffic on July 27, 2026.
Trump threatened to prevent the bridge from opening in February, citing concerns about the project and its financial arrangements. The dispute was eventually resolved through a U.S.-Canada agreement involving toll governance, transparency, and a 15-year economic development fund tied to a portion of bridge profits.
The bridge was designed as a new competitor to the privately owned Ambassador Bridge, the only other bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor. The Ambassador Bridge, which opened in 1929, has long carried a significant portion of the commercial traffic between the two cities. Its owners have opposed the Gordie Howe project for years, arguing that the new crossing would compete with their business.
Although construction began during Trump’s first term in 2018, it did not become a major political issue until the bridge neared completion and the owners of the Ambassador Bridge faced the prospect of losing traffic and toll revenue.
Trade advocates on both sides of the border have viewed the new bridge as a potential boon to U.S.-Canadian trade, economies, and commerce. The Windsor-Detroit corridor is one of the busiest trade routes between the two countries, with hundreds of billions of dollars in commerce moving through the region each year.
It finally opened on July 27, 2026, after the two countries reached an agreement to resolve the outstanding issues surrounding the crossing.
And don’t forget: During Trump’s first term, as late as January 2020, he touted his revised USMCA trade agreement, a retooled NAFTA, as the largest, fairest, and best trade agreement in history.
But just like that overserved uncle during the holidays with his spirits-impaired logic, at least one of these two nations at present is letting facts, logic, and proven economic theory be repeatedly trumped by whim, petty jealousy, and protectionism.
And again, just to be clear, none of those things are synonyms for patriotism.
Thankfully, though, like a hangover from a few too many Labatts … this, too, shall pass.
To our many Canadian friends, I say, “G’day, aye,” as I look forward to my next visit and a rousing rendition of “O Canada.”