David Cohen, former ambassador to Canada, speaks on President Trump's tariffs

Between the Presidential election and the inauguration, former ambassador to Canada David Cohen says the biggest question he got asked during that period was about tariffs. 

“The biggest question was whether I really thought that Donald Trump would implement a 25% across the board tariff,” Cohen said in an interview with NBC10’s Battleground Politics with Lauren Mayk. 

A 25% tariff on goods from Canada went into effect on Tuesday under the Trump administration. President Trump has said he wants Canada and Mexico to address fentanyl trafficking and immigration issues. Canada has said it would impose its own tariff on U.S. goods. 

Cohen, who served as ambassador to Canada during the Biden administration, said he’s not opposed to tariffs and respects the president’s prerogative to set his own foreign policy, but questioned the approach in this case, saying the amount of fentanyl coming from Canada is small. 

“I view it as going mosquito hunting with an elephant rifle,” Cohen said. “It’s just an overreaction to a problem.”

In Pennsylvania, Cohen said there is a “substantial amount” of Canadian business at the port in Philadelphia, including automobile, construction-related material and agricultural products. 

“It in all likelihood decreases the demand for all of them,” he said, predicting it could eventually lessen port traffic and impact jobs. 

Cohen also said the President’s talk of making Canada the 51st state of the United States “rankles” Canadians – but he suspects the rhetoric may continue.

“He knows he’s got an issue that really irritates Canadians and he likes irritating people who he’s going to negotiate with and try and leverage and try and get something from,” Cohen said. “And right now there is no issue that gets under the skin of Canadians more than saying Canada’s going to be the 51st state of the United States.”