Bottom line is Canada can’t rely on an unreliable country that literally threatens them.
It’s time for the world to move away from working with the U.S. We’ve shown we aren’t trustworthy. Canada needs to increase trade to other countries to compensate.
sounds nice in theory but i don’t think people realize just how integrated their economy is to the US
entire industries are completely dependent on US trade. they traded large swathes of their economic autonomy away for easy access to the US market. prosperity was deemed more important than sovereignty
it’s a decision that was decades in the making and it will likely take decades to reverse.
and if we’re being honest it shouldn’t have exactly taken Trump to make Canada realize the US acts in its own interests. Look at NAFTA signed by Bill Clinton. We pressured Canada into accepting a deal that forced them to maintain a certain level of oil export to the US even if there were domestic shortages.
It’s not the type of agreement equal parties or allies come to. It’s a relationship of domination. Always has been
It’s exactly that reason why we need to respond forcefully and not get bullied. We are incredibly dependent on reliable, good faith trade. If we let them jerk us around, we get all the disadvantages and incredible uncertainty.
We have to stand up to the bully’s demand for lunch money now or we’ll never be rid of him.
What would you consider a sufficiently forceful response?
So far Canada has taxed something like 10% of American imports into Canada with threats to increase that if Trump does not remove the initial tariffs.
Trump is threatening to tax all Canadian imports into US. And 80% of Canadian exports go to the US.
To summarize: US put a tariff on roughly 80% of all Canadian exports (there’s nuance here, like a few exclusions and certain goods have lower tariffs like oil)
Canada retaliated by putting a tariff on a little less than 1% of all American exports
Canada has a knob they can twist that goes up all the way to 10~12% of American exports. They can’t go any higher than that.
They’ve decided to start very small, even though Trump is threatening virtually everything.
The risk is if you go too high, Trump may increase his tariffs from 25% to a higher number. Amplifying the economic pain and potentially triggering an immediate recession with millions of job losses and the collapse of various industries.
So what’s the correct number? How do you stand up to a bully but also avoid an economic crisis?
It’s a very dangerous game and I do not envy your new banker PM. That’s why Trudaeu was so happy when he was leaving with his chair lol.
Mexico is taking a more muted response. They are in an even worse position.
None of the choices here are good, but clearly bending over and letting Trump fuck everyone is worse than the alternatives. China is also not going to take this lying down and they have a lot of potential for damaging Trump because so much of the USA’s manufacturing is outsourced there and they can more easily compensate with other partners than Canada can. If Canada, China and Mexico stick to their guns, together, long enough for the American people to do something about this idiot, then things can still work out.
Bottom line is Canada can’t rely on an unreliable country that literally threatens them.
It’s time for the world to move away from working with the U.S. We’ve shown we aren’t trustworthy. Canada needs to increase trade to other countries to compensate.
sounds nice in theory but i don’t think people realize just how integrated their economy is to the US
entire industries are completely dependent on US trade. they traded large swathes of their economic autonomy away for easy access to the US market. prosperity was deemed more important than sovereignty
it’s a decision that was decades in the making and it will likely take decades to reverse.
and if we’re being honest it shouldn’t have exactly taken Trump to make Canada realize the US acts in its own interests. Look at NAFTA signed by Bill Clinton. We pressured Canada into accepting a deal that forced them to maintain a certain level of oil export to the US even if there were domestic shortages.
It’s not the type of agreement equal parties or allies come to. It’s a relationship of domination. Always has been
It’s exactly that reason why we need to respond forcefully and not get bullied. We are incredibly dependent on reliable, good faith trade. If we let them jerk us around, we get all the disadvantages and incredible uncertainty.
We have to stand up to the bully’s demand for lunch money now or we’ll never be rid of him.
What would you consider a sufficiently forceful response?
So far Canada has taxed something like 10% of American imports into Canada with threats to increase that if Trump does not remove the initial tariffs.
Trump is threatening to tax all Canadian imports into US. And 80% of Canadian exports go to the US.
To summarize: US put a tariff on roughly 80% of all Canadian exports (there’s nuance here, like a few exclusions and certain goods have lower tariffs like oil)
Canada retaliated by putting a tariff on a little less than 1% of all American exports
Canada has a knob they can twist that goes up all the way to 10~12% of American exports. They can’t go any higher than that.
They’ve decided to start very small, even though Trump is threatening virtually everything.
The risk is if you go too high, Trump may increase his tariffs from 25% to a higher number. Amplifying the economic pain and potentially triggering an immediate recession with millions of job losses and the collapse of various industries.
So what’s the correct number? How do you stand up to a bully but also avoid an economic crisis?
It’s a very dangerous game and I do not envy your new banker PM. That’s why Trudaeu was so happy when he was leaving with his chair lol.
Mexico is taking a more muted response. They are in an even worse position.
None of the choices here are good, but clearly bending over and letting Trump fuck everyone is worse than the alternatives. China is also not going to take this lying down and they have a lot of potential for damaging Trump because so much of the USA’s manufacturing is outsourced there and they can more easily compensate with other partners than Canada can. If Canada, China and Mexico stick to their guns, together, long enough for the American people to do something about this idiot, then things can still work out.