By the way where are all those checks and balances I used to hear so much about in the US political system?
With the integration of the auto industry and other sevtors, I’m hoping this is a bit of a suicide pact. Auto plants shutting down all over the mid-west because of Trumps tariffs are a great way to go to the elections.
They’re drowning in the Kool-Aid served by the personality cult the GOP and its SCOTUS justices have joined.
I suspect Carney is going to aim for inflicting maximum targeted pain on the US for the mid-term elections.
The only way out of this no-win scenario with Trump is by accelerating the GOPs electoral losses in the house and senate.
The trade war will hurt Canada more than the US but Canadians are willing to put up with the short term pain more than Americans would and there is no federal election looming in Canada.
It is just a shame that other countries (except China) did not push back hard on US tariffs. It is hard for a small economy like ours to fight the giant US economy on its own.
Canada would probably be better off long term with dirt cheap Chinese EVs anyway. Higher benefit than some auto manufacturing jobs to the average Canadian.
Along these lines, an American, I think we probably deserve to get shit on by the world for a bit as we’ve allowed this to happen. I do have questions about whether a midterm reversal towards something resembling reasonableness would be enough for the world to react in kind. My guess is probably not while Trump’s still president. I genuinely think that absent a midterm swing so large that actual impeachment/removal becomes plausible, we’ll be universally hated for a significant amount of time, as he’ll just lash out more and do more stupid shit. Possible he gets too tied up in claiming the elections were rigged to do anything externally for a bit though I guess.
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Those only work when Democrats are in the Whitehouse.
So…silly populist messaging actually works in Canada just like it does in the US?
Canada was asked at the last minute to agree to not enter into trade deals with other countries without US permission. No wonder Carney walked.
"Last-minute changes
Carney was asked to specify what the U.S. sought to change in the final hours of negotiations.
Last night, he said “last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms” led him to end talks.
Among those changes, he said the Americans had proposed a treatment of auto trade that was unacceptable to the Canadian team.
He also said the U.S. had taken “efforts to restrict our ability to have other trade deals,” and that “we believe in free trade.”
Carney was asked later if Canada had any of its own last-minute requests.
“‘No’ is the short answer,” he responded."
Carney is speaking the truth. Not silly populist messaging when the US has actually been waging an economic war on Canada for 18 months. Would you view an Iranian leader’s comment that the US has been waging a war on Iran as “silly populism”.
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You seem to not understand how far down the rabbit hole the US has gone down.
They have completely destroyed their relationship with their closest trading partner in less than 2 years.
There are no excuses left for America’s behavior.
So no, this is not populism. Its reality.
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I agree that this is a lot more legit due to Trump’s nonsense than a lot of the nonsense that Trump spews, but its all aimed at the same sort of us vs. them emotions that make US politics a bit shitty.
Canada certainly needs to diversify its trade away from the US, but I think there is still a lot of long term benefit from being a significant trading partner with the US. Certain words could make that harder…and maybe I am just taking it slightly personally as I think 60% of the US would more or less agree with Carney and feel he should be most specifically trying to isolate Trump.
Sometimes I think you are a bot that has no memory of anyone’s prior posts. Like, I am living in the US and fully aware of how stupid this nonsense is, and comment on it fairly regularly.
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In any case, this is what a large % of the US will read, and not really question, because they trust Fox. And even if they claim they don’t watch Fox News, it will have been communicated to them through social media or any other number of outlets that they do go to regularly.
There is very little in the article itself that tells you anything about what happened.
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I always make the mistake of looking at the Fox readers’ comments on these articles: I am a masochist? The misinformation is breathtaking.
One Fox reader said that Canada levies tariffs on ALL imports from the US. The truth is that Canada has the lowest tariffs of any country on US goods and it is lower than US tariffs on Canadian goods, even before the current round of Trump tariffs. The MAGA myth of Canada’s unfair trade practices persists.
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It’s incredibly frustrating to see as an American. There are a few good comments in all of that, and the typical response is something like “shut up communist idiot”. I need to remind myself that this is a vocal group of internet warriors that has found its way to the comments section of Fox News and even most actual Trump supporters IRL are often reasonable in person.
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What has always worried me about the US is that some Americans have historically falsely demonized certain groups or countries to turn US public opinion against them. This then justifies taking strong actions against them. The Jakarta Method is not fantasy.
Canada has been demonized by the Trump Administration despite it being a long time ally snd trading partner. As a result, Trump supporters believe that Canada is a nasty country. So far that has helped Trump justify his economic warfare. Those same supporters would believe even more inflammatory remarks about Canada from Trump, like plots against America. That is when it gets scary.
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The stupidity of US tariffs on aluminum. Canadian exports to the US have not decreased since the 50% tariffs on it were introduced last year
U.S. customers ‘paying the full brunt’
President and Chief Executive Officer of the Aluminium Association of Canada Jean Simard said in the U.S., “customers are paying the full brunt of the tariffs,” paying $1500 to $2000 more per ton than what Europe pays for the same amount.
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