Canada says too little, too late as Trump flip-flops on tariffs

I initially read this as if Musk said he’d have them killed, since in EVE Online “to primary” someone means for a fleet commander to call someone out as the primary target and have their fleet start shooting at them.

Yes, he did do that.

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5133777-elon-musk-threatens-republican-senators/

If a threat from an unelected foreign Nazi is all it takes to keep you from doing your job, you're not fit to hold public office.

Bit tired of hearing this NGL, the problem is with your entire country and frankly that includes casting off the American rural poor as "idiotic country bumkins". Stuff like that is exactly what will turn them away from your ideals & into the hands of those pointing at the snobbish urban elites looking down at them.

You Americans being so dismissive of other people is exactly how this happened in the first place.

Remember when people were calling out how gender affirming care policies had gone too far and those people were written off as bigots? Then it turned out that a bunch of ideologues had hijacked the processes in several countries and were issuing puberty blockers and hormones with barely any consultation, then suppressed evidence that unchecked use of puberty blockers and hormones was actively harming people?

Remember when it turned out that droplet theory was bullshit and cloth masks don't actually block COVID but we kept trucking along like they did?

Remember when Democrats told people facing hard times that the economy was doing great, even as the number of homeless was shooting up and inflation was going wild?

These and others are the kinds of lies that make people lose trust in authorities. Doubling down on them only made it worse. And before someone chimes in with a list of Republican / right-wing versions of this: yes I know they do the same thing, but telling people that as if that makes what "your side" did any better is stupid. The idea is to tell them about the lies on both sides so that they realize you're not just another tribal moron. Tell the truth, gain some trust, and maybe you'll see you share more in common than you've been lead to believe.

You'll end up contributing more funding to Trump's government that way. I'd consider just taking a 3-4 year vacation in Canada instead.

Can you ship moose ribs to Europe? Never had them, but seems like something I'd enjoy.

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.

While true, the Canadian government has already announced grants and loans to help Canadian companies restructure their supply chains away from the US. It's a start. While the legal framework exists, Canadian companies haven't yet had a reason to take advantage of new free trade agreements with the EU and the Asia Pacific. Now they do.

Also, in terms of numbers: about 25% of Canadian GDP is based on US trade; a little lower than the number you quoted, still too high, I'd say. Hopefully, the Canadian economies' smaller size will prove agile enough for the transition. I've also seen it suggested that the hit to the Canadian economy from Trump's attacks could be offset by removing internal trade barriers so that Canada can trade more efficiently with itself. This has been a huge shot in the arm for that project.

20% of US exports go to the EU, 18% go to Canada, 17% to Mexico, and less than 10% to China. Similarly, about 70% of US imports come from those same markets. This will be devastating for everyone, the US included. It won't be the 'short period of transition' the bloated diet coke goblin imagines. World trade patterns and supply chains will literally be upended.

Canada’s total exports are about 35% of total GDP. So that puts US exports at somewhere around 24% of GDP. Pretty high but then if we exclude oil and gas and potash exports it’s a much, much smaller number. So small in fact that we would probably replace those exports within 12 months.

I wonder if anyone else other than the US wants some oil, natural gas, or potash? And yes I know we currently lack pipeline capacity but at this point I’d be willing to let the government finance it all to move oil and gas to the east coast.

I really think Americans over played their hand.

I've got both family and friends in the U.S., and have always enjoyed my time there, like most Canadians I think - but we're pissed off now, and we're gonna protect ourselves and the country we love any way we can. Here's hoping this madness ends soon, although right now it's hard to see how :-(. Cheers, and thanks for the support!

Oh DC is a permanent blue, yet Dems are too spineless to add it.

had one of the best, if not the best recovery in the world

And that's really sad. The "best recovery in the world" and we're still inches away from a destitute working class, and ever-increasing wealth for the oligarchs.

Trump's only benefit during COVID was recognizing that getting the vaccine faster was worth paying a higher price for it.

His administration was playing favorites in distributing medical aid and he was part of the decisions to keep closures from happening early in the pandemic.

And a lot of Trump's first term was just being ineffective. He didn't really steer the ship because his administration didn't know how.

the pandemic response was fucked. trump failed catastrophically. biden failed catastrophically. covid is now endemic. it is not past tense.

more than that, the whole field of epidemiology and study of infectious diseases is now polarized; like 30% of the country is actively opposed to the very concept of public health measures now.

we did not recover. trump could have saved us with a fast and severe response, calling for immediate quarantines, saying to compartmentalize your social groups-maybe on the level of your office or your church to limit contagion, talking up the vaccine research he'd authorized, and wearing a mask in public whenever he could so his followers would take lead. he did the opposite of all those things. biden could have saved us by buckling down, keeping drug companies for taking profit from tax funded research, and making some hard decisions on sacrificing to do a big international aid push, quarantining, etc.

neither of them did those things. both of them had a responsibility to. fuck those guys.

I think if anything the swing of Gen Z voters shows clearly that his economic recovery clearly wasn't helping everyone. Those with the least amount of money and no job experience entering the work force found a terrible job market that either was barely hiring or was only hiring people who already had experience. Combine that with high prices and the increased presence of AI in the hiring process and it makes sense Gen Z were upset about the status quo. A lot of people argue that it was the podcasts that made Gen z swing right but if anything I think that just connected Gen z with a message of tearing down the system that they were looking for. But anyways my point is that sure America's recovery was good for people with wealth or companies but for those either entering the workforce for the first time or those without money saved up and good jobs already there really wasn't much of a recovery.

I don't think 'decent' is the correct adjective here.

Vast swaths of our population have never recovered, which is why Trump was able to expand his coalition to an Obama-era degree. People will point to inflation and job numbers, while ignoring the fact that prices have never gone down and most people are working 2-3 jobs and upwards of 100 hours a week to live in a roach-infested studio apartment because that's all their hustle can afford them.

And to make matters worse, Biden had Congress for two years. He could have accomplished anything if he cared about the working class and poor, but his governance strongly suggests he was only taking the phone calls of the billionaire class.

The US electoral system is broken and has always been broken.

Oligarchy was built into the US electoral system, it is not broken but operating as designed. Only rich white males had any rights in the beginning, and every change since then was window dressing that could easily be taken away, as we are seeing now. The masks have dropped, the world is seeing the true USA. Genocidal, imperialistic, slave owning, bigoted and patriarchal. Nothing new to anyone with eyes and a brain.

Not to mention that the this "English is now the official language" decree is, I think, a way to set the foundation for a way to exclude even more people from voting. I predict they'll come out with some kind of English proficiency test to be allowed to vote.

Wait wtf

prevent people with debt from voting

Is this real?

The US electoral system is broken

Which is why it's considered a flawed democracy, which I stated.

Republicans have spent the past 2 decades gerrymandering

Except Trump actually won the popular vote this time. Making this argument void regarding the presidential election 2024.

Republicans and Democrats are material allies

That far I agree, they have arranged it so they share power, except this time, Republicans may choose not to share it anymore.

The working class is not responsible for their own manipulation at the hands of the ruling class. It is not their fault that the system is broken.

Isn't it? Haven't they mostly agreed on this arrangement because for decades many thought they benefited from it too?

Capitalism is the problem

I partially agree, but there is no real alternative to capitalism, and definitely not anything proven, the problem is not capitalism but how it is managed. In a social democracy it can work pretty well.

In fact, all the crap he’s been pulling was in his platform.

Yes, and he was making similar attempts about everything he is doing now already in his first term. So these policies aren't new, and Americans voted for it.

This is like the time the UK voted for Brexit and then became shocked when Brexit happened.

Yes, but this is actually worse. Although Brexit cannot be reversed, and Trump's first term was somewhat reversed. The way USA is acting now, threatening every ally they have, very seriously undermining NATO, Europe, democracy and Ukraine, threatening to destroy economies of Canada and Mexico. This can never be forgotten. USA is not even considered an ally anymore in most places that used to be the strongest allies of USA.

Absolutely, Trump was elected in a democratic election.
USA is a (flawed) democracy supposedly with checks and balances.
It's not like some military general overthrew the democracy out of nowhere.

Obviously there are good Americans that oppose this, and tried to prevent it, but they are unfortunately a minority, and as a whole USA as a country is doing this, and letting it happen.

you know who loves this idea of lumping together the American people as a whole?

I have often written in comments that criticize Americans that there obviously are good Americans, that tried to prevent this. Just because I didn't include that part here doesn't mean I am generalizing wildly, and think they are the same whether they voted for Trump or Harris.

But that doesn't change the fact that the Trump administration is the administration for ALL of USA, because they voted him in. We can't make trade agreements or buy weapons from the people who voted against Trump, because that is simply not how it works. We have to respond to the country, not individuals. So this situation is one that the COUNTRY is in, not just Trump or MAGA. And the country let Trump and MAGA win.

We also can't wait out the 4 years Trump is president like we did last time, because Russia has invaded Europe, and USA is failing completely as an ally, and is actively hostile now. Preventing F-16 planes and Himars from working, that were given to Ukraine by Europe. Failing even in sharing intelligence that doesn't cost any money to share, and negotiating 100% on behalf of Russia. The allied countries need to move on without USA, that's not at all up for debate. Allies can no longer trust American equipment.
It's not Trump alone, it's all of USA that is failing democracy and former allies. Not just Texas, and not just half the population that voted for the fascist despite the warnings.

If you can't see that, you are denying reality.

but it’s not their fault either.

IDK isn't it? Good information is available, and they choose to ignore it. I know victims of scams can be so entangled with it, that they can't see it, even when the police arrest the scammers, and show them the evidence they were being scammed.
But at that point, isn't that too their own fault that they choose to believe the scammer over police and evidence?

I don't think we shall give a pass based on "stupidity", staying stupid is generally their own choice.

Considering it has no effect or impact, I don't think they'll bother. Everyone's just hoping for a heart attack or a bullet at this point, because the way this government is set up, it apparently can't do shit to save the country.

Impeachment is dumb af. It has been of no consequence for more than 50 years. We need a different solution, something effective, something we can execute without relying on help from traitors.

These sorts of preparations speak about the uncertainty mentioned in the article. That kind of uncertainty also hurts both countries. I don’t think there’s any net benefit to anyone.

On top of that, I think Canada could make a trade agreement with UK. After Brexit, UK has been looking for ways to mitigate their economic predicament, so old colonies like Canada seem like a good place to start. UK really needs the deal too, so Canada could be in a good position to set some conditions.

You should absolutely turn them away. They are your enemy. They chose to vote to hurt you and your business.

I like to think of it as Canadish.

That is surprising. I would anticipated the opposite in Alberta.

Same here in America. It’s frustrating to know that half the people you know or are related to want the world to burn under an orange king.

New headline: Bourbon is out, patriotism is in - How Canadians are facing Trump threats head on