It seems like so long ago, but in the not-so-distant past, all of us were roaming the supermarket aisles for the last roll of TP, cursing at those who began stockpiling the rolls, and blaming the relative who brought a bidet back from Japan for not bringing one back for you as well. While the days of reaching for the last TP under a “limit one roll per customer” sign shoddily taped to the rack may be over, the thought of a shortage possibly returning to haunt the same president six years later isn’t far-fetched.
After trade talks between the U.S. and Canada broke down in late August, Washington imposed a 50% tariff on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods under a section of the Tariff Act of 1930—a Depression-era law that lets the president retaliate against countries seen as discriminating against U.S. commerce. In response, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed to match the US “dollar for dollar,” and unveiled retaliatory tariffs on close to 900 American products, set to take effect next week, on Sept. 8. Chief among them? Toilet paper and paper products.
