It’s getting exhausting spending so much time and energy on a man whose whims could plunge all of Canadian agriculture into chaos.
As an agriculture reporter based in Ottawa, I monitor Parliament Hill and keep an eye out for developments relevant to Canadian farmers. I stay on top of press releases, pay attention to bills in the House and show up to events that key politicians and industry leaders will be attending.
That job becomes a bit more challenging when the biggest topic anyone is talking about is the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads, ready to drop and stab the Canadian agriculture sector (as well as the entire national economy) in the heart.
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Of course, I’m referring to the on-again-off-again tariff war with the United States and the fact that every development is worthy of media attention.
It’s usually easy to tell when U.S. president Donald Trump’s threats feel like momentary flights of fancy.
After his inauguration in January, Trump was asked if he would go forward with his threatened 25 per cent tariffs and the answer we got was so vague and noncommittal it came across with all the sincerity of a teenager who will “totally do those chores later, Mom.”
What’s frustrating about this situation is that everything, no matter how ridiculous it sounds, must be covered, especially when they stop being just hollow threats.
Eventually Trump did get around to implementing his precious tariff, and maybe he’ll make good on his promise to escalate in early April. Or maybe he won’t.
But as American economics journalist Noah Smith put it in one of my favourite takes on this situation, “one thing people seem to forget about The Boy Who Cried Wolf is that at the end of the story, there’s a real wolf.”
In other words, every false threat counts for nothing if eventually one becomes real, and now I, as an agriculture reporter, have to hang on every word.
This isn’t just a problem because it’s irritating to journalists like me; with a new potential crisis always on the back burner, it becomes difficult to focus on important everyday topics such as breeding innovations, federal research funding and anything else relevant to Canadian producers.
We haven’t even made it through Trump’s first 100 days and I’m already begging for something, anything, other than his constant threats and mockery to be the biggest agriculture news of the day.
Jonah Grignon is an integrated media reporter for Glacier FarmMedia, based in Ottawa.
