I hadn’t thought about it till you said it. A lot of people are not aware about how gargantuan the task Trump is proposing to even understand that even if he was given 8 years he still won’t do the rebuild he wants to do. If IRS can’t change software how does he think he can do a complete overhaul across many facets of govt?
Elon will get volunteers to solve the technical problems.
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I’ve been wondering about the realistic impact of the tariffs on insurance costs, specifically P&C physical damage repair/replacement as it comes to raw materials like lumber and autos/auto parts.
It’s hard to begin quantifying until actually implemented because Trump might slap a 100% tariff on China, or China might fast-track some more trademarks for Ivanka and they never get a tariff. Extrapolate to other countries - lumber and steel from Canada, etc.
I’m considering leaning more toward the upper range of rate indications when proposing future rate changes. Maybe picking physical damage loss trends on the upper reasonable range, as well.
The US has been slapping tariffs on Canadian lumber imports for decades to protect the US billionaires who own forest plantations and sawmills in the US. The tariffs may eventually get overturned under the trade dispute process but that can take a decade. Lumber is overpriced in the US as a result.
Google “Canada softwood lumber exports” or something similar if you want a good example of existing US protectionism despite a free trade agreement.
For sure. I don’t know how much worse it may get than the current status quo.
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I think the threat of additional US tariffs against Canada will be used as a negotiating tactic by the Trump administration when they renegotiate the CUSMA deal.
I have always been realistic about trade with the US: at the end of the day the US will import what it needs and throw up barriers to protect its own industry. Fortunately for Canada, we have a lot of stuff that the US needs but it is primarily raw materials rather than high value finished goods.
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I think any relationship with the USA should be fundamentally selfish. The successive govts don’t guarantee anything so maximize in the short term.
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Looks like there is now a massive rush to increase inventories inside the US for EU products like cheese and wine before Trump gets into power and enacts tariffs.
Not sure how Canada would handle that on their end inventory wise (probably same way?) for some of their exports that will likely be targeted.
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These tariff things will end up looking like Brexit if overused.
Costco has some very good value French and Italian wine. I might buy a few extra (four years worth?) bottles.
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We don’t export much in the way of finished consumer products to the USA. Not sure there is much we can do about the bulk of the stuff (oil and gas, minerals, wheat, etc.) that we sell to the US. I can’t think of anything we would stockpile from the US either. We have alternative sources for those.
Trump has nominated Scott Bessent for Treasury. Bessent is opposed to the Trump tariff plan, so this seems to be good news, at least on the tariff front.
I was right on the money regarding this one.
China 35%?
Mexico 25%
Canada 25%
Thats the first wave of tariffs.
You guys better stock up on your imported goods while you can. This looks nasty.
Is Canada really sending a large amount of fentanyl and immigrants across the border into the US? I would have thought the illegal drug trade would go more the other way, but have no knowledge of that.
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Buried in the story:
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A lot of fentanyl comes into Canada from other countries but I didn’t think we were a major exporter. If we are, I don’t see how it is easily fixed even though Trump thinks we can. If fixing border security was so easy, I would think the US would have done it already?
So much for international trade agreements. This action is illegal under CUSMA, which was negotiated by Trump team in his first term.
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Hahhha
Oh my lord, this guy is either lying his ass off to get the job (always a possibility), or he has drank the kool-aid a bit too much and now believes it himself.
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So if we quit paying people and simply enslave them we can eliminate that nasty inflation. Brilliant!
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So when gas prices went up and they bitched and bitched, it was really fine because other prices went down by construction. Cool, cool.
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