In this video, Tod Maffin uses a humorous reference to a Ferris Bueller classroom scene to introduce the Smoot‑Hawley tariffs of the early 1930s, explaining how the United States raised import duties to protect domestic jobs, only to provoke retaliatory tariffs that collapsed global trade and devastated US exports. He then shows how Canada, which at the time sent roughly 40 % of its exports to the US, responded not with confrontation but by diversifying its trade partners—shifting its largest market to Britain by the mid‑1930s and reducing reliance on American suppliers. Maffin draws a parallel to the Trump administration’s recent trade actions, arguing that Canada’s “boring” and predictable approach—eschewing spectacle, loosening inter‑provincial trade barriers, and emphasizing stable regulations—has attracted investment in sectors such as automotive, battery, and clean‑energy manufacturing. He cites rising provincial GDP, wages, employment, and a current global trade surplus as evidence that Canada’s steady, non‑confrontational strategy has paid off, while US projects stall amid culture‑war‑driven uncertainty. The overall message is that Canada’s quiet, trust‑building trade policy has turned a potential crisis into economic growth.
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One of the funniest scenes in the hit 1980s film Ferris Bueller's Day Off is also its most boring.
Anyone? Anyone? The Great Depression.
The teacher's talking about tariffs, the class is falling asleep. The tariffs he's talking about in that scene were called the Smoot-Hawley tariffs. The idea was simple: jack up taxes, protect American jobs, and force other countries to play along. Our way or the highway, the attitude the US has always been known for. Instead, an interesting thing happened. The other countries retaliated. Global trade collapsed. US exports fell off a cliff.
Canada at the time sent about 40% of our exports to the US. We actually benefited the most.
We diversified trade, strengthened ties with other countries, and slashed buying from American suppliers.
By the mid-1930s, Britain had replaced the US as Canada's largest trading partner.
The policy meant to protect America ended up crippling it while simultaneously helping Canada grow up economically.
We didn't fight back, we just pivoted. Boring, maybe.
But it worked. History has never been Trump's strong point, and it shows. I mean, to be fair, his policies are working, just not for the country he keeps yelling about.
They're working for Canada.
Not because we got louder or angrier in response, but because we stayed exactly who we are: boring and profoundly uninterested in spectacle. Trump's illegal trade actions were supposed to scare countries into submission. What they actually did, at least here in Canada, was remind us how exposed we are to one customer.
So Like in the '30s, we started fixing it.
With spreadsheets and policy meetings. Interprovincial trade barriers that everyone agreed were stupid but politically convenient are loosening. Provinces are buying from each other more.
Canadian companies are sourcing Canadian, not out of philanthropy, but because the American products just get left on the shelf unsold. We're not buying them. And while Trump keeps picking fights with allies, our Prime Minister is flying all over the world reminding our trading partners that Canada is is boring and predictable.
And investors love boring and predictable. Boring means contracts get honoured. It means regulations aren't changed at the whim of a culture war. Boring means you can plan for the next quarter without wondering if the government will tweet your industry into closure at 3 in the morning. And so money, big money, has started to flow north. Cars, batteries, clean energy. Check the headlines. Canadian plants landing major commitments while US projects stall in courtrooms and culture wars. And how's it working? Provincial GDP up. Wages up. Employment up. We're now posting a global trade surplus.
None of this has changed who Canada as a nation is.
We didn't become louder or get angrier slogans.
We simply made room at the table for people who treat us with decency.
Trump can thump his chest and cosplay leadership all he wants. We'll be up here. Boring Canada. Quietly building trust instead of burning it for ratings.
The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act. Did it work? Anyone? It did not work, and the United States sank deeper into the Great Depression.
