I swear there are times when I think President Trump is bipolar.

Recall that since April he has placed 50% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, threatened to crush the Canadian auto industry with import taxes, said he would use "economic force" to make Canada the 51st state. But now the Canadian public has shown two can play that game:

• Brown-Forman said organic net sales plummeted more than 60% in the first half of its 2026 fiscal year, with CEO Lawson Whiting calling the Canadian consumers' boycott "worse than a tariff."
• Jim Beam halted production for a year at its main distillery in the face of a whisky glut. Jim Beam didn't link the whiskey glut to Canada, but DISCUS noted steep declines in exports to Canada, the EU, UK and Japan.
• Phillips Distilling said its sales to Canada fell 70%. It responded by moving production of some of its Sour Puss liquor to a contract manufacturer in Montreal
• The Agriculture Department reported exports of wine to Canada are down 84% and distilled spirits 56% from a year earlier.

Now Trump wants Canada to end the boycott of U.S. distillers. Surveys find the Canadian public is opposed to caving to the U.S., and every time Trump makes a threat, public opposition grows stronger.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Government itself is reassessing orders for defense goods from American suppliers, actively considering buyiong from European suppliers. Canadian oil industry executives are urging the government to permit pipelines to ship heavy crude to Europe and Asia. U.S. refiners are equipped to process heavy crude, not the light crude produced domestically; they get 70% of their supply from Canada.

People with bipolar disorder are characterized by sudden mood swings. You can be their best friend today and their biggest enemy tomorrow. Remind you of anyone?