Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown is calling on Canada’s allies in Washington to break their silence and slam the brakes on President Donald Trump’s spiraling trade war. Fresh off a whirlwind trip to the U.S. capital last week with a posse of Ontario and Canadian big-city mayors, Brown says he found plenty of friends—Republican and Democrat alike—who need to start shouting louder.
“We zipped down to chat with senators and congressmen, especially from border states like Michigan and New York,” Brown told reporters Friday at Brampton City Hall. “These tariffs don’t just hammer us—they’ll smash their economies too.”
Monday’s stock market plunge—890 points off the Dow Jones, part of a 2,558-point (5.75%) slide over the past month—gave his pitch a grim underscore. Trump’s tariff threats, targeting Canada, Mexico, China, and soon the EU, are rattling markets hard. He’s set to slap a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports worldwide starting March 12, with a broader 25% hit on Canadian and Mexican goods (10% on energy) back on the table for April 2 after a brief pause last week.
Brown’s message? The fight’s not with Americans—it’s with Trump’s “misguided” playbook. “Republicans tell me they’re all about free trade—Ronald Reagan’s ghost is nodding. Democrats warn jobs in New York and Michigan are toast. This could be a disaster,” he said. Yet, he noted, GOP voices have stayed mum in public, leaving Canada’s case dangling. “We need our buddies in D.C. to step up—loudly—before this wrecks jobs, spikes inflation, and drags everyone down.”
Meanwhile, Trump, breezing with reporters aboard Air Force One, doubled down. “Tariffs are the golden ticket—America’s gonna be swimming in cash,” he crowed. “Hundreds of billions rolling in—we’ll be so rich, you won’t know what to do with it!”
But with recession jitters mounting and markets tanking, Brown’s plea to Washington’s “friends” carries a sharp edge: speak now, or watch Trump’s gamble torch both sides of the border.