Trade war!

But nah, actually, sort of.

Hello and welcome to the political orphanage, a home for plucky misfits and problem solvers.

I'm your host, Andrew Heaton, a trader and peddler of ideas, information, and occasionally off-market

Seattleisi selling bathrooms at airports.

And today, we are going to discuss the trade war that wasn't or will be or is a negotiation tactic that threatened to do a trade war,

or is perhaps the opening salvo in a trade war, except for China where we're actually starting a trade war.

On Saturday, President Trump announced exactly what I had predicted, what I had feared, and what I had loathed in the lead up to the election.

Heavy tariffs on our three biggest trading partners.

25% tariffs on imports from our neighbors of Mexico and Canada and 10% imports on stuff from China.

And 10% on Canadian energy exports.

But moose, Poutine, hockey sticks, all that stuff, 25%.

Ontario responded by banning US liquor.

And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a 25% tariff

on over $100 billion of US goods.

Then, before the tariffs took effect, Trump reached deals with Mexico and China

for them to bump up some security at the border and put some funds into anti-fentanyl task forces,

and the tariffs have been delayed for a month. My friend Justin Robert Young describes this as pulling a gun out to make your kid

clean up their room, and they clean it up, they do it, but maybe not the best parenting

method to get there. On today's show, we will hear from the Political Orphanages Senior Logistics

and Falconry expert, Big Jim, as well as call

up some European diplomats that I tricked into coming onto the program to explain what exactly

...