Unfortunately education and politics don’t really seem to mix these days.
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Yes it is a no-brainer usually.
One of Trump’s many character defects is that he does not believe in win-win situations. He only wants himself to win and the other party to lose. The result is that it usually ends up as a lose-lose situation.
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I think there’s a saying about that involving nose cutting and face spiting.
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Stellantis continues its withdrawal from Canada. Car manufacturing here is on its way to oblivion because of US tariffs. Military production may replace it.
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Example of how Trump’s tariff attacks on Canada hurt both countries but benefit China.
How U.S. tariffs are driving Canadian brewers toward Chinese aluminum cans
NATHAN VANDERKLIPPEINTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT
PUBLISHED 6 HOURS AGO
The aluminum can is an undersung hero of modern life. It is lightweight, leak-proof and recyclable, the ideal container for life’s necessities and many of its pleasures, too. The staccato crack of a beer can opening has served as the opening beat to countless festivities.
Over the past year, though, it has been the sound of misery for Canadian breweries – and the sound of opportunity for Chinese manufacturers. North American can prices have risen roughly 50 per cent since early last year, after U.S. tariffs dramatically hiked the cost of aluminum on both sides of the border.
Tariffs have made the thin-walled can a heavy weight on the budgets of alcohol producers, for whom it is often the single most expensive item on the list of goods that go into a serving of beer. For as long as anyone can remember, Canada has bought cans from U.S. companies, which have been making containers since the late 1800s.
Now, “China has a tremendous edge,” Mr. Bajgoric said. Factories outside Shanghai are selling cans at a one-third discount to those in the U.S.
U.S. tariffs have increased prices across the continent, in part because of long-established trading patterns. While Canada is a major aluminum producer, the U.S. is the principal maker of aluminum coil, which is then used to fashion cans.
Can contracts on both sides of the border are typically based on U.S. Midwest aluminum pricing – an industry standard, which has been lifted high by tariffs. The U.S. has imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian aluminum. (Canada has countered with similar tariffs, although it has made exemptions for goods used in food and beverage packaging.)
It has all given a major advantage to Chinese aluminum.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why no one in Canada can make a business out of making drink cans. It sounds like there are several hundred companies doing this.in the US.
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The aluminum can production should shift to Canada if the US tariffs persist. It just takes time. There was more aluminum can production in Canada before “free trade” with the US.
Hopefully soon… seems like the constraint is someone to make the coils of aluminum. You’d think one of the aluminum smelters might do that with a subsidiary to make up for lost US business.
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Canadian exports continue to pivot away from the US: