CAN-USA 2025 Tariff Strife (split from various pol threads)

[dimsum]

Angle of view, eh ?



I would argue this is forgotten Canadians now standing up with a voice.







And if she does, I can't blame her.

Given that most likely the CPC, which seems to represent the west more, will win the next election, which has to happen before end-October, AB striking out on its own is an…interesting choice.

If there was a shadow of a doubt that the CPC would win, maybe there is some reason for those opposed to the Federal Government to do that. It’s not a great justification, but it is one.

However, the party that purports to have the support of the AB “forgotten Canadians” is going strong. So why she didn’t just hold back until the CPC had their unified message is beyond me. Is she trying to angle AB as 51 and Canada as 52?

 

[dimsum]

I think Smith is putting her people and their prosperousness first. And I can appreciate and respect that.

She can't sit around and wait for the Federal election to come and go. She's full on AB first and I can appreciate and respect that too.

Sure, except that the “provinces vs federal govt” split is more US-style, where a state has more power than a province does in our political construct.

So she can say whatever, but if she’s actually putting AB ahead of the rest of Canada, then it’s just a different way of saying “AB wants to secede”.

 

[Quirky]

You guys are questioning why someone from Alberta goes to Florida in the middle of winter? Common now.

Does DS golf?

 

[Brad Sallows]

"Energy export restrictions ‘on the table’ to respond to U.S. tariff threats, Joly says"

As I wrote:

"Regions of Canada that have been marginalized from time to time by parts of the Canadian establishment should consider acting to improve their own positions domestically and internationally irrespective of what the old guard wants, since the Canadian establishment will go right back to marginalizing those regions after pretending we're all "working together" while carefully making sure the establishment yields as little as possible in the meantime."

"Let's you and him fight" is not a position a LPC government should promote towards the major energy exporting provinces on one side and the US on the other. "We're all in this together", but the costs fall on the same old places. Canadians ought to take notice of what this amounts to and stuff the LPC into political oblivion. How about a small gesture like unequivocally and expeditiously eradicating the supply management irritant first? Until they accept political damage without requiring some domestic political quid pro quo, the LPC is not to be trusted and none of their positions that require sacrifices from regions not key to their (LPC) parliamentary majorities should be accepted.

 

[IKnowNothing]

People really need to stop losing sight of who pays tariffs on imports. All this chest puffery and belligerent threats coming from politicians and lifelong anti-American opinion/propaganda mongers is counter-productive even if they don't follow through. Instead of reaching for the harshest options first, let's stick to information operations - explain loudly and clearly and relentlessly what parts of American retail prices are tariffs, who pays them (Americans), and where the money is going (US government) - and seek to weather the storm by improving economic performance elsewhere.

I'm very curious to see how elastic American demand is in the shortterm, and how sticky the impacted integrated supply chains are.

 

[Kirkhill]

The class bully is about to take Americans' lunch money. Also, he's not about to "punch" (use military force) anyone. Find other analogies.

People really need to stop losing sight of who pays tariffs on imports. All this chest puffery and belligerent threats coming from politicians and lifelong anti-American opinion/propaganda mongers is counter-productive even if they don't follow through. Instead of reaching for the harshest options first, let's stick to information operations - explain loudly and clearly and relentlessly what parts of American retail prices are tariffs, who pays them (Americans), and where the money is going (US government) - and seek to weather the storm by improving economic performance elsewhere.

We already know we impose economic inefficiencies on ourselves. Trump is threatening to add economic inefficiency to Canada-US trade. Let's remove some of those self-inflicted economic inefficiencies and buy some time to weather the aforementioned storm until American consumers press their own government into abandoning policies which drive up their costs of living.

The federal government has known for a couple of months what Trump proposes and that he is going to be in a position to give it effect, and so far it has managed to go sit in a corner while the LPC take their time puzzling out how to minimize damage to their future electoral prospects. Meanwhile they make threats at the expense of (mostly) others. F*ck them, the horses they rode in on, and all that look like them.

Tariffs do two things.

They make it more attractive to invest locally, behind the tariff wall.

They create jobs that employ people so thst they have the money to be able to buy stuff even if the prices are elevated.

Cheap goods are no good to consumers if they don't have the money to buy them.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Tariffs do two things.

They make it more attractive to invest locally, behind the tariff wall.

If you think the tariff is going to endure. Americans just voted in part to express dissatisfaction with their costs of living. How sensitive will they be to price increases in fundamental commodities? I can guess that the prudent business advice is: wait it out.

They create jobs that employ people so thst they have the money to be able to buy stuff even if the prices are elevated.

That's just part of investing locally. So, one thing. And we've left out the part about how long it takes for major resource extraction projects to get going, and how big the capability gaps are, and similar number-crunching exercises for everything else down to rubber ducks.

Too many people, including many who have educations and credentials which suggest they ought to know better, are doing the headless chicken dance based on qualitative thinking rather than quantitative thinking, with good measures of visceral anti-Americanism or anti-Trumpism thrown in. I don't care about other peoples' neurotic fixations; I just want them to wallow in their fears quietly in the comfort of their panic rooms. The ones who are trying to inflate a crisis into opportunities, I could just wish were forcibly restrained and ball-gagged.

 

[Remius]

Mercantilism in the 21st century.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1879208154518475049

 

[dimsum]

Mercantilism in the 21st century.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1879208154518475049

I don’t have X so I can’t see past it, but here’s the full Truth Social post as shared on Reddit.



…except that little tidbit that the US Dept of Commerce already does that job. So which one will DOGE cut as “waste”?

But hey, he’s not calling the “pathetically weak trade agreements” as subsidies anymore. Maybe he can learn…

 

[Remius]

I don’t have X so I can’t see past it, but here’s the full Truth Social post as shared on Reddit.

View attachment 90471

…except that little tidbit that the US Dept of Commerce already does that job. So which one will DOGE cut as “waste”?

Pathetically weak trade deals…like the one he negotiated and said was the bestest ever?

 

[dimsum]

Pathetically weak trade deals…like the one he negotiated and said was the bestest ever?

Much like how they want to cut Obamacare but leave ACA!

 

[Eaglelord17]

I would say Ont and Que have had the country over a barrel for too long and the political field needs to be leveled.

And Que told to leave with their tiny strip of land along the St Lawrence if required.

And this is coming from a proud Ontarian now sadly living in outer regions of Canada.

Quebec isn’t going anywhere. Even if they wanted to succeed native land needs to be taken into consideration so their goal of getting all of Quebec out isn’t happening. They likely would just be a small strip along the St. Lawrence after that is finished.

There is also an immense imbalance between Canada and the US. Would we have an equal vote and seat? Would we create a new currency with equal say on its policy? Would Americans accept a picture of Sir John A on the back of their dollar? All doubtful.

We already have a great integrated supply system and free trade agreement. The only improvement I would see is free movement. So create a North American passport? Sure. I’d rather like to see an anglosphere version of that.

A completely open border wouldn’t be to our benefit. America wouldn’t have much to lose as generally our society is much more controlled, but our gun crime would go up even more thanks to much easier access for criminals to traffic their arms.

I literally don’t see much potential gains for Canada with that situation and I live on the border and used to cross weekly for the benefits it provides.

 

[Remius]

Quebec isn’t going anywhere. Even if they wanted to succeed native land needs to be taken into consideration so their goal of getting all of Quebec out isn’t happening. They likely would just be a small strip along the St. Lawrence after that is finished.

A completely open border wouldn’t be to our benefit. America wouldn’t have much to lose as generally our society is much more controlled, but our gun crime would go up even more thanks to much easier access for criminals to traffic their arms.

I literally don’t see much potential gains for Canada with that situation and I live on the border and used to cross weekly for the benefits it provides.

I didn’t say completely open border. I said free movement. That comes with a variety of options, etc.

 

[daftandbarmy]

I'll just assume that a Trump family member will be assigned to administer this ERS agency

Trump says he will create an 'External Revenue Service' agency to collect tariff income​

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced plans to create a new agency called the External Revenue Service to collect tariffs and other revenues from foreign nations.

"We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying," Trump said Tuesday on his social media site, Truth Social. He compared his planned creation to the Internal Revenue Service, which is the nation's domestic tax collector.

The creation of a new agency requires an act of Congress, and Republicans hold the majority of both the House and the Senate.

Trump, who has vowed to shrink the size of government, would be creating a new agency to perform functions already handled by existing agencies, including the Commerce Department and the Customs and Border Patrol, which collect duties and revenues from other nations.

Trump says he will create an 'External Revenue Service' agency to collect tariff income

The president-elect, who has vowed to shrink the size of government, would be creating a new agency to perform functions already handled by existing agencies

www.voanews.com

 

[dimsum]

I'll just assume that a Trump family member will be assigned to administer this ERS agency

Trump says he will create an 'External Revenue Service' agency to collect tariff income​

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced plans to create a new agency called the External Revenue Service to collect tariffs and other revenues from foreign nations.

"We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying," Trump said Tuesday on his social media site, Truth Social. He compared his planned creation to the Internal Revenue Service, which is the nation's domestic tax collector.

The creation of a new agency requires an act of Congress, and Republicans hold the majority of both the House and the Senate.

Trump, who has vowed to shrink the size of government, would be creating a new agency to perform functions already handled by existing agencies, including the Commerce Department and the Customs and Border Patrol, which collect duties and revenues from other nations.

Trump says he will create an 'External Revenue Service' agency to collect tariff income

The president-elect, who has vowed to shrink the size of government, would be creating a new agency to perform functions already handled by existing agencies

www.voanews.com

And DOGE will eliminate the unnecessary duplication of responsibilities, right?

Right?

 

[brihard]

I'll just assume that a Trump family member will be assigned to administer this ERS agency

Trump says he will create an 'External Revenue Service' agency to collect tariff income​

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced plans to create a new agency called the External Revenue Service to collect tariffs and other revenues from foreign nations.

"We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying," Trump said Tuesday on his social media site, Truth Social. He compared his planned creation to the Internal Revenue Service, which is the nation's domestic tax collector.

The creation of a new agency requires an act of Congress, and Republicans hold the majority of both the House and the Senate.

Trump, who has vowed to shrink the size of government, would be creating a new agency to perform functions already handled by existing agencies, including the Commerce Department and the Customs and Border Patrol, which collect duties and revenues from other nations.

Trump says he will create an 'External Revenue Service' agency to collect tariff income

The president-elect, who has vowed to shrink the size of government, would be creating a new agency to perform functions already handled by existing agencies

www.voanews.com

Ahh, tackling the problems of the 21st century with the economic theories of the 17th.

 

[MrWhyt]

collect tariffs and other revenues from foreign nations.

all this time and still no one has taught him how tariffs work

 

[kratz]

Today's dose of shame...err CBC reports 500,000 job losses in Ontario if Trump goes ahead with his 25% tariffs. That translates into 15.8% of the province unemployed as a result of his policy. There were about 7,944,400 workers in the province in 2024.

 

[McG]

Danielle Smith has been pandering to Canadian MAGA and playing footsie with separatists her whole tenure. Overtures to Trump and sabre rattling at Ottawa are about pleasing her base more than the provincial interests (though, she may well see these as being the same thing).

 

[The Bread Guy]

Today's dose of shame...err CBC reports 500,000 job losses in Ontario if Trump goes ahead with his 25% tariffs. That translates into 15.8% of the province unemployed as a result of his policy. There were about 7,944,400 workers in the province in 2024.

Story's being shared CBC, but written by The Canadian Press, and I don't see any 15.8% figure there. Other outlets sharing the same story as of this post don't mention the 15.8%, either. Could you have seen an earlier version since corrected?

Still, 6% or so job loss is nothing to sneeze at. That's still predicated on worst case both on what's thrown at us and how the system will respond, so fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, old JB's leaving an interesting one on the table for POTUS47 ....

Biden moves to lift state sponsor of terrorism designation for Cuba, part of deal to free prisoners

President Joe Biden notified Congress of his intent to lift the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, the White House announced, as part of a deal facilitated by the Catholic Church to free political prisoners on the island. Senior U.S. administration officials, who...

www.yahoo.com

IIRC, it's been on/off the list with the Obama-Trump switch, so I suspect Trump'll just add it to the list again.