(Maire Clayton, Headline USA) Canada decided to impose a long list of retaliatory tariffs with a few obscure and bizarre ones.
The 25% tariffs include products such as dog coats, dog food, and animal meat (camels, primates and manatees), according to CTV News.
Live animals are also going to be hit with tariffs including “primates, camels and manatees,” per the outlet.
CTV News noted more than 6,200 items will soon have tariffs.
“Emus and other birds, decoy birds, and explosive bird-scaring devices,” also made the cut.
It will soon cost Canadians 25% more if citizens decide they want to record their thoughts in a diary as well.
Ian Lee, a professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, told the outlet the list appears to just be politically motivated.
“Why would you list such a plethora of small, obscure products?” Lee said. “I think it’s being driven by the need to produce visible optics, and so they can say, ‘Look, we’ve got six thousand, two hundred (items), we’re really going at this, we’re really sticking it to Donald Trump and the Americans.'”
Social media users had a wide variety of responses from annoyance with the insanity to making jokes about the nonsensical tariffs.
“This is yet another example of how out of touch government is with the times,” one user wrote.
Another jokingly had follow up questions regarding the manatee meat.
“I noticed you specifically said manatee ‘meat’, so manatee nuggets are exempt? And while we’re on the subject .. can you stop labeling Canadian caught manatees as ‘Florida Manatees’ everyone can taste the difference.”
Economics professor Jason Childs told the Canadian outlet he believes the obscure items are just attempting to make the country’s response more impressive.
“These are some odd items to be sure,” Childs said. “This is likely about things that aren’t going to make too many Canadians mad.”
President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” is set to take effect on Wednesday. Trump is expected to issue a long list of tariffs that will take immediate effect, according to the Washington Post.
