Last month, Section 338 of the US Tariff Act went into effect, levying 50% tariffs on Canadian goods valued at around $20 billion. This was the latest escalation in the ongoing US-Canada Trade War, which began in February 2025 following US President Donald Trump’s executive orders to impose near-universal tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican goods entering the US. 

With Canada pulling its negotiating team from trade talks and, in turn, America announcing new tariffs against the Canadian automotive and steel industries, the US-Canada Trade War is now intensifying. While sensing that the trade war is fuelling economic hardship on both sides of the border, American and Canadian officials alike are using the war as an opportunity to politically capitalize on the growing distrust rather than to support the public’s well-being. 

Indeed, the US-Canada Trade War has nothing to do with the interests of the people on both sides of the border, but rather, it is a twisted game between the elites of both countries for full control over the American continent’s vast markets, rich resources, and critical infrastructure – all at the cost of the lives and well-being of the people living in these lands.

A ‘Winner Takes All’ Trade War

To understand this trade war, it is important to identify the actual belligerents. 

Both American and Canadian leaders have framed the trade war as a conflict between the two countries – i.e., a struggle between the people for jobs, sovereignty, and economic well-being. Indeed, both sides accuse the other of stealing jobs, trafficking banned goods, wielding unfair advantages over the other, and trying to impoverish their so-called trading partner.

Indeed, as the trade war ramps up, the average person on both sides of the border is bearing the damage. It is much harder to get a job. The price of food and essential goods has gone up sharply. And even running a business – i.e., once a sure way to be relatively shielded from the regular economic ups and downs – is extremely difficult due to tariff costs. 

Since Trump launched the tariffs, household costs in the US have gone up by $1,100 a year (Yale Budget Lab). Likewise, small and medium businesses that had relied on imports were hit extremely hard, costing each one, on average, $306,000 per year and causing them to let go of employees and raise prices (NFIB). Likewise, small/medium businesses in Canada are also paying an additional median of $65,000 per month, with 18% of them saying that they will lose viability and shut down if these escalated costs run past three months (CFB).

So, people are directly and greatly feeling the damage of this war and, as such, will feel that they have a stake in this war. However, this is not a war about their well-being; rather, it is a struggle between the Capitalist elites of both countries for economic dominance. It does not matter who wins because, ultimately, the average person in both countries will suffer.

The proof for this is to recall everything that had happened in the decades leading up to this trade war – i.e., when there was peace. In the late 1980s, the US and Canada signed NAFTA (i.e., the North American Free Trade Agreement). This cleared the way for the Capitalist elites from both countries to shuttle 700,000 to 800,000 manufacturing jobs in North America to China and Mexico. This led to severe structural economic harm to the middle class in both countries – neither of which fully recovered. So, where was the pro-Canadian or pro-American rhetoric back then from Washington or Ottawa? 

Likewise, the Capitalist elites are pumping vast sums of money into artificial intelligence (AI) via massive data center projects. To date, not a single American AI lab has shown signs of any actual profitability. So, why is AI drawing nearly a trillion dollars per year in investment? Well, the AI labs are all promising ‘Artificial General Intelligence’ (AGI), and the investor class – i.e., the Capitalist elite – views AGI as a potential replacement for labour, which currently costs the US economy around $16 trillion per year. For these investors, even replacing $2-3 trillion worth of labour with AGI would be a meaningful return on investment (ROI), but where is the concern about the millions of jobs lost, families impoverished, and communities destroyed? 

Finally, between 2020 and 2024, the cost of groceries in both Canada and the US went up by around 25% (well before the trade war). Likewise, rent in both countries also increased by roughly 25% in the same period, while gasoline and electricity costs increased by 31% and 30% in Canada and the US, respectively. However, real wages in both countries only grew by 2%. 

If we take the Trade War out of the conversation and look at the direction both the Canadian and American economies were heading anyway, then it is clear that the elites on both sides never cared about the average person. They were – and are – working to steal the jobs and hike the prices regardless. Rather, this trade war reflects how deep their greed really goes – i.e., they are warring over who gets to monopolize the consumer markets, control gas, oil, and fuel, and exploit cheap rare earths and other minerals. In other words, the Capitalist elites are simply fighting over the right to completely exploit the average person  – that is it. 

The World Genuinely Needs Islam to Save It

The world has effectively become the playground for the Capitalist elites. Through their nations and countries, these elites compete with one another to strip bare the world’s resources, exploit cheap labour, and drive prices up so as to maximize profit. These elites think that they have the right and freedom to do whatever they want with the world, regardless of how many millions – if not billions – of people are harmed as a result of that corruption.

The only thing that will stop that corruption is Islam, which has specific aHkam or rulings on how to manage the public’s economic affairs. So, for example, Rasul’Allah (SAW) said, “There is no right for the son of Adam other than these things: a house in which he lives, a garment to cover his nakedness, a piece of bread, and water.” (Tirmidhi 2341). This hadith shows us that every human being has the right to a dignified life. Rasul’Allah (SAW) also said, “People are partners in three things: grazing, pasture, water and fire.” (Abu Dawud). In other words, society should benefit from the profits of natural resources, not billionaires.

Through Islam, Allah (SWT) has given humanity a robust, just, and productive economic system. But the only way to implement it is through the Khilafah, the governance or ruling system. 

Rasul’Allah (SAW) began implementing and instructing the Sahaba (RA) or noble companions on the aHkam only after establishing the Islamic State in Madina. After he (SAW) passed away, the Sahaba (RA) expanded this state – i.e., Khilafah Rashidah – to Persia, the Levant Palestine, Syria, Jordan, etc), South Asia, Central Asia, and Africa. After them (RA), successive generations of Muslims expanded the Khilafah until the demise of the Ottomans.

The Khilafah does not currently exist, and the impact of its absence is being felt by the whole world. However, it is only through the Khilafah that the Ummah will be able to not only take care of itself, but also fight the Capitalist elite and their corruption globally.

Today, the Capitalist elite are the carriers of severe corruption and have spread it globally such that there is not a single household that has not been touched by it in some shape or form. Their corruption is like a plague, and no one is there to stop it. 

However, Allah (SWT) requires the Ummah to fight such corruption. He (SWT) said: 

“Had Allah not repelled a group of people by ˹the might of˺ another, corruption would have dominated the earth, but Allah is Gracious to all.” (TMQ: 2:251)

This ayah is from the story of Prophet Dawud (AS), whom Allah (SWT) empowered to defeat Jalut, whose corruption was rampant at the time. The lesson from this story is that the Ummah of Rasul’Allah (SAW) is now responsible for carrying this mandate, i.e., for fighting corruption through a state – the Khilafah – wherever it may be. It is our responsibility, which we are neglecting because we lack the Khilafah to implement it.

For example, in today’s environment, the Khilafah would cut the Capitalist elite off from any access to the Ummah’s wealth, i.e., natural resources, vast markets, and trade routes. This action alone would decimate the power of the Capitalist elite, certainly in our lands, but also within the West as well, since these elites rely on the Ummah’s wealth (given to them by the rulers of the Muslim lands) to fund their policies. In tandem, the Khilafah will also implement Islam’s economic aHkam, which would show the whole world how Islam upholds human life while Capitalism cheapens it. Finally, the Khilafah will give birth to the Dawuds; the world now needs to fight the Jaluts of today, be it the likes of Trump, Epstein, Modi, and so on. 

Thus, the US-Canada Trade War should serve as another reminder – especially if (may Allah SWT protect us) it harms us or our families – of the obligation to restore the Khilafah upon the method first implemented by Rasul’Allah (SAW).