The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, July 22, edition that Unifor's new collective agreement with Ford, ratified on Sunday, has brought optimism to Canadian auto workers. The Globe's Rita Trichur writes that this is a positive step for workers and the industry. The reality, however, is that President Donald Trump's trade proposals for the auto sector -- should they stick as part of the renegotiations of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement -- would topple the financial assumptions of any labour deal. Mr. Trump has no compunction about creating chaos. Just after finalizing the Ford labour agreement, Mr. Trump intensified his trade war with Canada by threatening 50-per-cent tariffs on various exports beginning Aug. 19. While he won't raise existing Canadian auto tariffs, this action is retaliation for several trade disputes, including those related to motor vehicles. He is apparently irked that Ottawa didn't just roll over after his administration imposed 25-per-cent tariffs on the non-U.S. content of Canadian-made cars. Instead, Canada rightly imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. vehicles. Any other response from Ottawa would have been daft. But intellectual honesty in Washington is as scarce as hen's teeth.