The notion Canada would have taken Trump's 51rst state comment as a threat is comical. The absolute last thing any US Republican desires is another CA. Tens of millions of Left leaning voters, 2 more quasi Socialist Senators and 50 House seats, mostly filled by polite, Progressive Climate Warriors. Canadians are lovely people, but as US voters, no thank you.
Trump is an idiot, but Carney, as well. 1/2 the EU GDP is comprised of Germany, enduring a multi year recession, and France and Italy that cannot manage to grow at 1%.
Carney shouldn't sacrifice the Canadian economy seeking to prove he is Trump's economic equivalent. He should seek Canada's best deal, while Trump seeks a pre election victory. Canada's export business has a single large customer, who wants a better deal. Carney can search for a nonexistent replacement buyer, or take a temporary haircut, and count down Trump's WH days.
Carney is the quintessential globalist (central banker in two countries one of which isn't Canada, EU enthusiast). Globalists regard Trump as an existential threat to their power and Carney is sacrificing Canadian interests to this end. That Canadians are stupid enough to support this reinforces my belief that the only animating principle of Canada is "not America" .
Relax Rich, you won. We've jettisoned the allies you hate, and adopted new ones-Russia, El Salvador, Venezuela, soon Cuba. Ironically, MAGA's America Alone strategery is being stress tested in MAGA's Middle East war as we speak. How would you say it's going so far?
It's going pretty well considering the fact that MAGA is fighting the democrats who now wish to inject the philosophies of your name sake Karl Marx into our politics. Anything is better that Socialism.
Jim, that's one of the more beta excuses I can imagine. Don, the self-proclaimed tough guy, was forced to launch MAGA's Middle East war by weenie Democrats? I love that:). It's ok to admit the truth, Don's war is a disaster.
As for socialism, Don seems to be the one taking government ownership stakes in private enterprise. His accusations are always projection, don't fall for it.
But Ronda, you miss the irony. Remember, Don elected Carney:). He was 20 points down until Don intervened with his erratic and incoherent behavior. As they say in basketball "ball don't lie"...
"Don elected Carney," which is to say that Canada is what it has always been: a political, economic, and cultural stepchild of the United States. Emphasis on "child."
Jim, did any "new" right/MAGA folk ever care about Canada before Don instructed you to? You claim they're irrelevant, so why the obsession, why are you so scared of them? You crack me up:).
If I were MAGA, I'd focus on winning the war that actually matters, Don's war of choice in the Middle East.
Canada, unlike Mexico, is not a real country. Its sole identity is " Not America ". Add in Carney who is more of a globalist than anyone in the EU and you have a toxic mix. Poor Canada, so far from God and so close to the United States.
Hmm, not a "real" country. Says the self-proclaimed arbiter. Seems a lil smug. They're virtually the same age as the US. Besides, why does MAGA suddenly care about Canada, since you also claim they're irrelevant? Then again, you also claim this irrelevant country takes advantage of us...hence our "retaliation". Sigh, Don's instructions become sooo confusing.
Or, perhaps it's a simple diversion from MAGA's Middle East war, rising inflation, record deficits, rampant corruption, plummeting approval ratings, continued humiliation on the world stage, etc?
If I was a desperate politician I'd change the subject too. But I'm not, so I'm not swallowing the whoppers they peddle:)
Of course you're right, Karl. The US shouldn't have to bother with our unctuous upstairs neighbors. Unfortunately, we have to, because the direction they're heading is dangerous for us as well. As Mr. Phillips explains in his very good piece, PM Carney is threatening to bring some unwelcome friends into his loft. China is extractive, and letting Xi set up shop up there introduces peril to our hemispheric hegemony. As Mexico is learning, you can't let China dump products into your country, then attach those products to deals you have with the US. And allowing China to buy up Canadian infrastructure, airports, and other national security interests will not fly with their Southern neighbors. Then there's Mr. Carney attempting to hitch his caboose to the EU ghost train. It's laughable, and just another temporary irritant that will be a mosquito bite to the US and a deep and lasting gash to Canada.
Jeepers John, would any of this be happening but for Don's erratic behavior? He chose to move us from a trusted ally to a dangerous adversary. Would you believe a word Don utters if you were in charge of the safety and security of your nation? Only a fool would, given his lifetime of lies and corruption. Carney has no choice but to hedge his bets, even knowing the difficulty inherent in doing so. He knows better than we do the difficulty of his road ahead.
BTW, make sure to watch Don's UN speech, and read every word of his daily bleats, his incoherence and mental incapacity is terrifying. And read up on his latest capitulation to Xi. Unable to even bring up their assistance to Iran in targeting our troops in MAGA's Middle East war? Tough on China? Really?
It's gobsmacking that knowing what we know, folks still actually believe anything he says. Makes me chuckle:)
Well, thanks for sharing your thoughts. And thanks for reading.
I prefer the boorish, vulgar real estate magnate who gets things done to the effete globalist in a crisp suit who makes people feel good and accomplishes nothing. Thank you very much.
Thanks Jeff, I appreciate your concern. But, I don't have Trump Denial Syndrome. I'm actually willing to admit the truth that JD, Little Marco, and so many other "new" right luminaries in my former party once uttered, before they self-gelded:) I'm hangin tough. Have a great weekend!
No they aren't the same age (about a hundred yeats difference) and Canada did not shed its blood to gain independence. Those things matter. In addition, the king of Britain is still the head of Canadian military forces. How does that compare with the U.S.?
Yes, I'm aware of the hundred-year difference, it's a rounding error vs the sweep of history. We're both mere babes.
Regardless, last I checked we're mired in an unending Middle East war of Don's choosing. Why exactly should we waste time belittling a country y'all claim is irrelevant to begin with? I know MAGA is all about anger and grievance, never a positive vision. But, Canada? Is there another country we'd rather share a 6000 mile border with, the longest international border in the world?
Maybe Don should spend more time refocusing our sad sack SecDef, the drunkard, abusive, former Fox weekend talk show co-host. He's been overly concerned with disbanding our drone unit in the midst of a military revolution, firing our decorated generals, all while obsessing over hormone replacement, facial hair, and body fat percentage...
Let's focus on winning the war that actually matters. Canada is just another Don diversion.
"Canada blew up negotiations" ???? Canada had a deal USMCA and the Donald reneged on it. It was his deal from 2018; can't blame Biden or Obama or the bankers or Taylor Swift. Sad thing is now Canada can't just wait for 2028 and trust us in future that we don't elect another clown like his orangeness. They have to make their best deal; smart move to pivot to Europe.
The USMCA has a sunset clause so no the US did not blow it up. In fact the US has made great progress with Mexico who is the US’s true partner and future.
When USMCA was negotiated, it included the right to renew, enter annual renegotiation or be terminated. The USA under Trump decided to not renew and to start renegotiating. Is that what you mean by "reneged"?
Yes, Trump claimed NAFTA was so terrible, so they ripped up deal and had USMCA in 2018. Suddenly that deal is bad? what's wrong w a little continuity ?
NAFTA often gets blamed for job losses that happened in the aftermath of China into the WTO in December 2001. The evidence that NAFTA wasn’t a negative force is that Perot lost support in 1996 and 2000 as the trade agreement was implemented. In fact if anything Perot’s warnings had a “boy that cried wolf” effect with respect to trade when a very real dragon was lurking in the Pacific.
The core issue that the neither USMCA nor NAFTA addresses is ensuring against Chinese dependencies within a US supply chain.
Although I don't agree with Trump's trolling of Canada, at the heart of the trade conflict is their struggle to control Chinese dependencies. It is unlikely Canada will be able to trade freely with either the EU or China and retain privileged US trading and security.
Wrong. We switched to China because it was cheaper than Mexico and the cartels were starting to go full steam by the late 1990's in Mexico after the funding from Russia's break up stopped supporting all the communist states in central and south America. They were broke along with many others so they as others turned to drug trafficking to subsist. These states became narco states and we couldn't do business down there. We still need to clean this up better if we are to do business with Mexico and keep the cartel's from infecting us as they have been.
Carny and Canadians are showing their female behavior that burns the house down in resentment and rage and blames real men for the resulting sad outcomes.
You write as if this were a purely economic decision. You appear to not understand, or choose to ignore, this is about geopolitics. The risk that the US is slipping into competitive autocracy means Canada being so entwined with the US is far too dangerous. Even if the Dems win the House and Senate in November, few outside US believe they will govern with the wisdom needed to heal US society's cultural fractures. Furthermore much of America's political ills stem from structural flaws in your system of democracy, which can only be fixed by bypartisanship and amendments to your constitution which ain't happening anytime soon. Finally worrying Canada is getting too close to China is a little ironic on the day Xi is in Washington being fawned over and capitulated to by Trump.
This is about fundamental economics, and most people are failing to understand why the western world order is collapsing. The problem is the delusion that you can separate trade from defending the commons. By that I mean everything from keeping arsenic out of our environment and by extension our drinking water, as well as defending our shipping on the other side of the world.
In trying to pretend these issues can be separated from trade we have created a system that rewards corrupt, irresponsible and even adversarial nations like Mexico, Indonesia, Ireland and China. Meanwhile it means punishing our responsible democratic allies like Canada, Germany, Japan and Australia. Fundamentally, free trade is a poverty trap.
You can best see this within the EU. There is no way France can spend 4% on defense and be in a union with Ireland who isn't an ally and only spends 0.25% on defense. The actual result is that Google and Facebook, with their headquarters in Ireland, make money off the French people but avoid the taxes that fund the French navy. Yet when Russia starts using it's shadow fleet to cut the undersea data cables that Google and Facebook rely on, it falls to the French Navy to interdict those shadow fleet vessels.
You further need to understand that this is structural. There is no amount of spending cuts that France can do to make this arrangement work. To match Ireland's lower taxes France would have to make such deep cuts to things like education, healthcare and infrastructure that Ireland would still have a substantial advantage. It will be easier to find and attract talent because Ireland will have better schools, trains that run on time, and better healthcare.
Now add in Austria 1% defense spending and another non-ally as well as Spain who refuses to spend more then 2%. With plenty more non-allies or irresponsible allies just within the EU. Then zoom out and look at how little of the shipping France is helping protect in the Red Sea or off the coast of Somalia is even European built, much less built in France. France can only go bankrupt.
Coming back to the question of Canada. The problem is that Carney and the majority of Canadians don't even realize much less ask for their just rewards for all the blood and treasure they have spent helping us fight terrorists in the middle east or run freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea. So rather then demand an even better trade deal the non-allied Mexico, while also accepting and demanding the limitations needed to make a durable free trade agreement, Carney is trying to couple Canada to a customs union that is even more of a poverty trap then if he just accepted America's new demands while trying to make Canada more self reliant at the same time.
So smug, Karl. Did you read the article? Did you simply jettison the conclusions because it does not line up with your views? I found the information provided a great overview of what many feel but lack the resources and knowledge to congeal into a coherent story. You can hate Trump, many do. But blaming him for everything that is bad in the world and wrong with Canada will lead to bad policy decisions (and suboptimal outcomes) down the road as this article meticulously points out. Garbage in, garbage out. And snarkiness is no substitute for a good argument, btw.
Thanks again for your entertaining lofty rhetoric, Karl. But stripped down it's garden-variety TDS (that's te-di-ous). We here on Earth breathlessly await your return.
It’s hard to blame them. They’re a captive audience to the colluding politicians and Canadian media who feed the public nothing but anti-Trump pablum. And they’re throttling American social media so it’s difficult to find opposing views.
Canada more and more resembles the Soviet Union under the recent leftist goverments. And Carney needs a bogeyman to take the blame for their self-inflicted problems.
Well, not quite, let me correct one sentence just a little:
"They’re a captive audience to the colluding politicians and Canadian media who feed the public nothing but anti-Trump pablum, a captive audience that willfully refuses to engage in any form of critical thinking whatsoever."
The problem with this argument is that it assumes that there can be a "deal" in the sense of a relatively stable and reliable trade arrangement, while no such "deal" can be made with Donald Trump. Trump fundamentally views every "deal" as a sign of weakness of the counterparty which can therefore be subject to further predation. For Trump, any "deal" is at most a waystation on the path of an ongoing shakedown. For Canada, having a stable and reliable trade relationship is just as important (or arguably more important) than the precise terms, in order to provide a secure basis for investment. Canada might decide to wait out two more years of Trump rather than locking in anything in the meantime.
Trump thought that he could get a better "deal" with Iran than the JCPOA How is that working out?
The problem is the idea that we can separate trade from national/mutual defense, along with everything from protecting our environment to rule of law and the need to protect intellectual property. That is what is collapsing the current world order.
It's the way the Germany and by extension Europe responded to Russia annexation of Crimea, not by reducing it's trade and reliance on Russia oil and gas, but by trying to increase that reliance by building even more pipelines. It's how Europe and America responded to China stealing it's neighbors territorial waters by making ourselves even more reliant on China for rare earths, medicines and medical supplies.
In other words, Trump (along with AFD in Germany, Le Pen in France, Reform in the UK) are a response to the current failing order. It's literally how Carney, and by extension Canada, fails to see that all the blood and treasure they spent helping us fight terrorists in the middle east or pirates off the coast of Somalia has been spent protecting the foreign supply chains feeding foreign factories that used to or would have been in Canada instead of Mexico.
Re your first paragraph, that's a whole lot of self hate you're projecting.
Re getting a better deal than that in the JCPOA, well, for the US and everyone else depending on the US military (including Canada by the way), it's working out quite well.
However, for the top three tiers of the psychopathic murderers, rapists, and terrorists who used to rule Iran at the point of a bayonet and send their minions out to practice murder, rape, and terror, well President Trump had then converted into fine pink mists of mud and despair.
Carney is bought and paid for from yours truly - "The City of London" When they say jump, he jumps. I mean the guy ran Canada's central bank and England's central bank!? What? really? what does that tell you.
Canada is a commonwealth of England. These numerous global commonwealths were set up around the world in 1910-time area. The City of London realized they couldn't support their empire any longer. They were dead ass broke. So, they formed their commonwealth. Canada has always been a big part of it and still answers to England or really The City of London. The city has always tried to control their global empire from the start and went commonwealth to continue it. Fortunately, we didn't go the commonwealth way as they wanted us to thank God. We went with the American Hamiltonian system, which was build our manufacturing, using tariffs. Keeping The City of London at bay as best we could (which can be quite difficult with all the banking insurance and financial monies they have to control with).
Big reason Hamilton back then wanted a central bank. Needed to protect us from the City of London and this economic reach. Study Argentina, why they died off when they were so rich. They bought in to the City of London game and did not turn out well for them. Bankers and financial types only care about one thing - money. Nothing else matters to them. That's where you get the globalization! countries nations hey we don't care about your culture or society you want; we just want the money. So...
Carney and climate change omg that's another whole interesting crazy story form this dude.
Canadians as a whole don't like Trump. We don't trust Trump. We don't like people who vote for Trump. We don't like conmen, we don't like pedophiles, we don't like arseholes. We don't like rounding up innocent civilians, we don't like slaughtering innocent kids. We don't like fools and buffoonery.
How would Americans feel if a powerful foreign politician said they were coming to take over their country? Now - and I know empathy is a foreign concept for many Americans - try to think that over. We love our country, our public medicine, our qualified politicians.
Many Canadians have changed their worldviews. America is no longer a friend or ally, just an associate at best. Lots of people aren't buying anything from the States, or traveling to the States, and that's not going to change, even under a new (hopefully less paedy!) president. A trust built over 150 years is broken, and you don't get that back overnight. We're talking lifetimes.
As Trump said, America doesn't need anything from Canada. I assume that would include oil, electricity and potash?
Now that the interest rates are going up on that 40 trillion dollar debt, I'm thinking China and the EU might be safer bets anyway. By putting a disgusting bigot in the Whitehouse America has contributed to its own demise.
Re your first paragraph, you must hate yourselves then.
Re your second paragraph, your 'social society', most especially the Canadian health care system has only hung on as long as it has because well over 100,000 Canadians every year travel to the US for medical care.
Re your third paragraph, Americans don't much care for countries that views the US and Americans as a sugar daddy and a group to be bilked.
Re your final paragraph, you aren't thinking at all.
You can't tell me in good conscience Trump isn't a bufoon. Get real. Look at his resume then look at Carney's. Look at his picture and look at Carney's. And Carney doesn't always talk about banging his own daughter. That's a big plus for us kooky Canadians.
American society only continues on as it does because it rides on debt. That's where all the 'growth' comes from. You guys carry 4 times more debt per capita, and you don't even have state run health care. The money goes to pointless wars and rich men's pockets.
I can't imagine many Canadians think/thought of the States as a 'Sugar Daddy' or try to bilk anyone. A major trading partner. An unreliable ally. If you take out the amount of oil we sell you, we're a net importer of American goods.
The demise bit at the end? Well I guess time will tell. I shit you not: The American brand is sustaining massive, possibly irreparable damage. The US dollar as a gold standard was based on perceived stability. How high will bond yields go? Do you, an apparent 'conservative' (whatever that means now - people that are ok with a hebepile dictator?), see the current debt and deficit situation as sustainable? Obviously taxation is not an option, are tariffs the answer, or perhaps harvesting Venezuela's wealth, or Canada's. Cause I sure can't see this as the path to a happy ending.
The biggest reason for reduced Canadian travel to the U.S. is that Canadians, who are paid almost identically in terms of respective dollars as Americans are, are paid in a "dollar" that's worth 70% of American dollars. The blunt reality is that the Snow Peso, a/k/a the Canadian dollar, doesn't go nearly as far as it once did. Oh, and Canada's unemployment is 1-1/2 times ours. And will be rising soon. Think the EU and China will cure that? Really?
So that's why the loaded boomers up here are all selling their Florida condos and going for European river cruises? Saving a couple bucks? I'll definitely support a few more people on employment insurance if it means I don't worry about being crushed by debt if I crash my motorbike or get cancer. And I don't have to shop for insurance!
Anyway you seem like an interesting person, too bad you're on the dark side but have a nice weekend regardless. Take care.
Trump is correct that the Anglo sphere has gotten a raw deal from trade in the past. But attacking Canada and Mexico even if it makes sense in your strategy is a really tough sell. He just should have put a universal across the board 20 or 30 percent tariff and be done with it in the first few months of the administration ideally with congress. This constant back and forth and fights with everyone is exhausting and republicans will pay dearly for it and so will the west because no other politician is going to have the nerve to do something about it in the future.
The notion Canada would have taken Trump's 51rst state comment as a threat is comical. The absolute last thing any US Republican desires is another CA. Tens of millions of Left leaning voters, 2 more quasi Socialist Senators and 50 House seats, mostly filled by polite, Progressive Climate Warriors. Canadians are lovely people, but as US voters, no thank you.
Trump is an idiot, but Carney, as well. 1/2 the EU GDP is comprised of Germany, enduring a multi year recession, and France and Italy that cannot manage to grow at 1%.
Carney shouldn't sacrifice the Canadian economy seeking to prove he is Trump's economic equivalent. He should seek Canada's best deal, while Trump seeks a pre election victory. Canada's export business has a single large customer, who wants a better deal. Carney can search for a nonexistent replacement buyer, or take a temporary haircut, and count down Trump's WH days.
Carney is the quintessential globalist (central banker in two countries one of which isn't Canada, EU enthusiast). Globalists regard Trump as an existential threat to their power and Carney is sacrificing Canadian interests to this end. That Canadians are stupid enough to support this reinforces my belief that the only animating principle of Canada is "not America" .
Relax Rich, you won. We've jettisoned the allies you hate, and adopted new ones-Russia, El Salvador, Venezuela, soon Cuba. Ironically, MAGA's America Alone strategery is being stress tested in MAGA's Middle East war as we speak. How would you say it's going so far?
It's going pretty well considering the fact that MAGA is fighting the democrats who now wish to inject the philosophies of your name sake Karl Marx into our politics. Anything is better that Socialism.
Jim, that's one of the more beta excuses I can imagine. Don, the self-proclaimed tough guy, was forced to launch MAGA's Middle East war by weenie Democrats? I love that:). It's ok to admit the truth, Don's war is a disaster.
As for socialism, Don seems to be the one taking government ownership stakes in private enterprise. His accusations are always projection, don't fall for it.
Well said, concur 100%.
But Ronda, you miss the irony. Remember, Don elected Carney:). He was 20 points down until Don intervened with his erratic and incoherent behavior. As they say in basketball "ball don't lie"...
"Don elected Carney," which is to say that Canada is what it has always been: a political, economic, and cultural stepchild of the United States. Emphasis on "child."
Jim, did any "new" right/MAGA folk ever care about Canada before Don instructed you to? You claim they're irrelevant, so why the obsession, why are you so scared of them? You crack me up:).
If I were MAGA, I'd focus on winning the war that actually matters, Don's war of choice in the Middle East.
Canada, unlike Mexico, is not a real country. Its sole identity is " Not America ". Add in Carney who is more of a globalist than anyone in the EU and you have a toxic mix. Poor Canada, so far from God and so close to the United States.
Hmm, not a "real" country. Says the self-proclaimed arbiter. Seems a lil smug. They're virtually the same age as the US. Besides, why does MAGA suddenly care about Canada, since you also claim they're irrelevant? Then again, you also claim this irrelevant country takes advantage of us...hence our "retaliation". Sigh, Don's instructions become sooo confusing.
Or, perhaps it's a simple diversion from MAGA's Middle East war, rising inflation, record deficits, rampant corruption, plummeting approval ratings, continued humiliation on the world stage, etc?
If I was a desperate politician I'd change the subject too. But I'm not, so I'm not swallowing the whoppers they peddle:)
Of course you're right, Karl. The US shouldn't have to bother with our unctuous upstairs neighbors. Unfortunately, we have to, because the direction they're heading is dangerous for us as well. As Mr. Phillips explains in his very good piece, PM Carney is threatening to bring some unwelcome friends into his loft. China is extractive, and letting Xi set up shop up there introduces peril to our hemispheric hegemony. As Mexico is learning, you can't let China dump products into your country, then attach those products to deals you have with the US. And allowing China to buy up Canadian infrastructure, airports, and other national security interests will not fly with their Southern neighbors. Then there's Mr. Carney attempting to hitch his caboose to the EU ghost train. It's laughable, and just another temporary irritant that will be a mosquito bite to the US and a deep and lasting gash to Canada.
Jeepers John, would any of this be happening but for Don's erratic behavior? He chose to move us from a trusted ally to a dangerous adversary. Would you believe a word Don utters if you were in charge of the safety and security of your nation? Only a fool would, given his lifetime of lies and corruption. Carney has no choice but to hedge his bets, even knowing the difficulty inherent in doing so. He knows better than we do the difficulty of his road ahead.
BTW, make sure to watch Don's UN speech, and read every word of his daily bleats, his incoherence and mental incapacity is terrifying. And read up on his latest capitulation to Xi. Unable to even bring up their assistance to Iran in targeting our troops in MAGA's Middle East war? Tough on China? Really?
It's gobsmacking that knowing what we know, folks still actually believe anything he says. Makes me chuckle:)
Well, thanks for sharing your thoughts. And thanks for reading.
I prefer the boorish, vulgar real estate magnate who gets things done to the effete globalist in a crisp suit who makes people feel good and accomplishes nothing. Thank you very much.
Karl behave now. Your blood pressure rises when your TDS kicks in. Go easy on yourself brother.
Thanks Jeff, I appreciate your concern. But, I don't have Trump Denial Syndrome. I'm actually willing to admit the truth that JD, Little Marco, and so many other "new" right luminaries in my former party once uttered, before they self-gelded:) I'm hangin tough. Have a great weekend!
You have a strange need to pay close attention to U.S. political figures. Fine, but remember this: You are just another foreigner who doesn't count.
No they aren't the same age (about a hundred yeats difference) and Canada did not shed its blood to gain independence. Those things matter. In addition, the king of Britain is still the head of Canadian military forces. How does that compare with the U.S.?
Yes, I'm aware of the hundred-year difference, it's a rounding error vs the sweep of history. We're both mere babes.
Regardless, last I checked we're mired in an unending Middle East war of Don's choosing. Why exactly should we waste time belittling a country y'all claim is irrelevant to begin with? I know MAGA is all about anger and grievance, never a positive vision. But, Canada? Is there another country we'd rather share a 6000 mile border with, the longest international border in the world?
Maybe Don should spend more time refocusing our sad sack SecDef, the drunkard, abusive, former Fox weekend talk show co-host. He's been overly concerned with disbanding our drone unit in the midst of a military revolution, firing our decorated generals, all while obsessing over hormone replacement, facial hair, and body fat percentage...
Let's focus on winning the war that actually matters. Canada is just another Don diversion.
"We're mired in an unending war."
Sorry, but Canada's not a party to it, so you can ditch that "we" part.
An ignorant American. Imagine!
It’s still one of the King’s colonies.
Funny how Carney is screwing over the UK for the EU.
"Canada blew up negotiations" ???? Canada had a deal USMCA and the Donald reneged on it. It was his deal from 2018; can't blame Biden or Obama or the bankers or Taylor Swift. Sad thing is now Canada can't just wait for 2028 and trust us in future that we don't elect another clown like his orangeness. They have to make their best deal; smart move to pivot to Europe.
The USMCA has a sunset clause so no the US did not blow it up. In fact the US has made great progress with Mexico who is the US’s true partner and future.
When USMCA was negotiated, it included the right to renew, enter annual renegotiation or be terminated. The USA under Trump decided to not renew and to start renegotiating. Is that what you mean by "reneged"?
Yes, Trump claimed NAFTA was so terrible, so they ripped up deal and had USMCA in 2018. Suddenly that deal is bad? what's wrong w a little continuity ?
NAFTA often gets blamed for job losses that happened in the aftermath of China into the WTO in December 2001. The evidence that NAFTA wasn’t a negative force is that Perot lost support in 1996 and 2000 as the trade agreement was implemented. In fact if anything Perot’s warnings had a “boy that cried wolf” effect with respect to trade when a very real dragon was lurking in the Pacific.
The core issue that the neither USMCA nor NAFTA addresses is ensuring against Chinese dependencies within a US supply chain.
Although I don't agree with Trump's trolling of Canada, at the heart of the trade conflict is their struggle to control Chinese dependencies. It is unlikely Canada will be able to trade freely with either the EU or China and retain privileged US trading and security.
Wrong. We switched to China because it was cheaper than Mexico and the cartels were starting to go full steam by the late 1990's in Mexico after the funding from Russia's break up stopped supporting all the communist states in central and south America. They were broke along with many others so they as others turned to drug trafficking to subsist. These states became narco states and we couldn't do business down there. We still need to clean this up better if we are to do business with Mexico and keep the cartel's from infecting us as they have been.
Perot was spot on. Perot don't play.
Think about this for a minute.
Carney was on the board of the WEF for 15 years. From 2010 to 2025. The WEF. The World Economic Forum. What does that tell you about Carney ?
Tells you that he is intelligent and understands economics, not the vain idiot we have. He's playing chess; diaper Don is playing checkers....
Carny and Canadians are showing their female behavior that burns the house down in resentment and rage and blames real men for the resulting sad outcomes.
Such a fixation on gender. Interesting.
wow we agree on something Karl! Awesome.
You write as if this were a purely economic decision. You appear to not understand, or choose to ignore, this is about geopolitics. The risk that the US is slipping into competitive autocracy means Canada being so entwined with the US is far too dangerous. Even if the Dems win the House and Senate in November, few outside US believe they will govern with the wisdom needed to heal US society's cultural fractures. Furthermore much of America's political ills stem from structural flaws in your system of democracy, which can only be fixed by bypartisanship and amendments to your constitution which ain't happening anytime soon. Finally worrying Canada is getting too close to China is a little ironic on the day Xi is in Washington being fawned over and capitulated to by Trump.
It's about Canada's emotions, and its inability to control them.
This is about fundamental economics, and most people are failing to understand why the western world order is collapsing. The problem is the delusion that you can separate trade from defending the commons. By that I mean everything from keeping arsenic out of our environment and by extension our drinking water, as well as defending our shipping on the other side of the world.
In trying to pretend these issues can be separated from trade we have created a system that rewards corrupt, irresponsible and even adversarial nations like Mexico, Indonesia, Ireland and China. Meanwhile it means punishing our responsible democratic allies like Canada, Germany, Japan and Australia. Fundamentally, free trade is a poverty trap.
You can best see this within the EU. There is no way France can spend 4% on defense and be in a union with Ireland who isn't an ally and only spends 0.25% on defense. The actual result is that Google and Facebook, with their headquarters in Ireland, make money off the French people but avoid the taxes that fund the French navy. Yet when Russia starts using it's shadow fleet to cut the undersea data cables that Google and Facebook rely on, it falls to the French Navy to interdict those shadow fleet vessels.
You further need to understand that this is structural. There is no amount of spending cuts that France can do to make this arrangement work. To match Ireland's lower taxes France would have to make such deep cuts to things like education, healthcare and infrastructure that Ireland would still have a substantial advantage. It will be easier to find and attract talent because Ireland will have better schools, trains that run on time, and better healthcare.
Now add in Austria 1% defense spending and another non-ally as well as Spain who refuses to spend more then 2%. With plenty more non-allies or irresponsible allies just within the EU. Then zoom out and look at how little of the shipping France is helping protect in the Red Sea or off the coast of Somalia is even European built, much less built in France. France can only go bankrupt.
Coming back to the question of Canada. The problem is that Carney and the majority of Canadians don't even realize much less ask for their just rewards for all the blood and treasure they have spent helping us fight terrorists in the middle east or run freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea. So rather then demand an even better trade deal the non-allied Mexico, while also accepting and demanding the limitations needed to make a durable free trade agreement, Carney is trying to couple Canada to a customs union that is even more of a poverty trap then if he just accepted America's new demands while trying to make Canada more self reliant at the same time.
So smug, Karl. Did you read the article? Did you simply jettison the conclusions because it does not line up with your views? I found the information provided a great overview of what many feel but lack the resources and knowledge to congeal into a coherent story. You can hate Trump, many do. But blaming him for everything that is bad in the world and wrong with Canada will lead to bad policy decisions (and suboptimal outcomes) down the road as this article meticulously points out. Garbage in, garbage out. And snarkiness is no substitute for a good argument, btw.
Thanks again for your entertaining lofty rhetoric, Karl. But stripped down it's garden-variety TDS (that's te-di-ous). We here on Earth breathlessly await your return.
Ummm ... no, that 60% of Canadians that hate President Trump, well they all have Trump Derangement Syndrome.
It’s hard to blame them. They’re a captive audience to the colluding politicians and Canadian media who feed the public nothing but anti-Trump pablum. And they’re throttling American social media so it’s difficult to find opposing views.
Canada more and more resembles the Soviet Union under the recent leftist goverments. And Carney needs a bogeyman to take the blame for their self-inflicted problems.
Well, not quite, let me correct one sentence just a little:
"They’re a captive audience to the colluding politicians and Canadian media who feed the public nothing but anti-Trump pablum, a captive audience that willfully refuses to engage in any form of critical thinking whatsoever."
And that's why I have zero sympathy for them.
The problem with this argument is that it assumes that there can be a "deal" in the sense of a relatively stable and reliable trade arrangement, while no such "deal" can be made with Donald Trump. Trump fundamentally views every "deal" as a sign of weakness of the counterparty which can therefore be subject to further predation. For Trump, any "deal" is at most a waystation on the path of an ongoing shakedown. For Canada, having a stable and reliable trade relationship is just as important (or arguably more important) than the precise terms, in order to provide a secure basis for investment. Canada might decide to wait out two more years of Trump rather than locking in anything in the meantime.
Trump thought that he could get a better "deal" with Iran than the JCPOA How is that working out?
The problem is the idea that we can separate trade from national/mutual defense, along with everything from protecting our environment to rule of law and the need to protect intellectual property. That is what is collapsing the current world order.
It's the way the Germany and by extension Europe responded to Russia annexation of Crimea, not by reducing it's trade and reliance on Russia oil and gas, but by trying to increase that reliance by building even more pipelines. It's how Europe and America responded to China stealing it's neighbors territorial waters by making ourselves even more reliant on China for rare earths, medicines and medical supplies.
In other words, Trump (along with AFD in Germany, Le Pen in France, Reform in the UK) are a response to the current failing order. It's literally how Carney, and by extension Canada, fails to see that all the blood and treasure they spent helping us fight terrorists in the middle east or pirates off the coast of Somalia has been spent protecting the foreign supply chains feeding foreign factories that used to or would have been in Canada instead of Mexico.
Re your first paragraph, that's a whole lot of self hate you're projecting.
Re getting a better deal than that in the JCPOA, well, for the US and everyone else depending on the US military (including Canada by the way), it's working out quite well.
However, for the top three tiers of the psychopathic murderers, rapists, and terrorists who used to rule Iran at the point of a bayonet and send their minions out to practice murder, rape, and terror, well President Trump had then converted into fine pink mists of mud and despair.
I only see the hate you're projecting.
Carney is bought and paid for from yours truly - "The City of London" When they say jump, he jumps. I mean the guy ran Canada's central bank and England's central bank!? What? really? what does that tell you.
Canada is a commonwealth of England. These numerous global commonwealths were set up around the world in 1910-time area. The City of London realized they couldn't support their empire any longer. They were dead ass broke. So, they formed their commonwealth. Canada has always been a big part of it and still answers to England or really The City of London. The city has always tried to control their global empire from the start and went commonwealth to continue it. Fortunately, we didn't go the commonwealth way as they wanted us to thank God. We went with the American Hamiltonian system, which was build our manufacturing, using tariffs. Keeping The City of London at bay as best we could (which can be quite difficult with all the banking insurance and financial monies they have to control with).
Big reason Hamilton back then wanted a central bank. Needed to protect us from the City of London and this economic reach. Study Argentina, why they died off when they were so rich. They bought in to the City of London game and did not turn out well for them. Bankers and financial types only care about one thing - money. Nothing else matters to them. That's where you get the globalization! countries nations hey we don't care about your culture or society you want; we just want the money. So...
Carney and climate change omg that's another whole interesting crazy story form this dude.
Canadians as a whole don't like Trump. We don't trust Trump. We don't like people who vote for Trump. We don't like conmen, we don't like pedophiles, we don't like arseholes. We don't like rounding up innocent civilians, we don't like slaughtering innocent kids. We don't like fools and buffoonery.
How would Americans feel if a powerful foreign politician said they were coming to take over their country? Now - and I know empathy is a foreign concept for many Americans - try to think that over. We love our country, our public medicine, our qualified politicians.
Many Canadians have changed their worldviews. America is no longer a friend or ally, just an associate at best. Lots of people aren't buying anything from the States, or traveling to the States, and that's not going to change, even under a new (hopefully less paedy!) president. A trust built over 150 years is broken, and you don't get that back overnight. We're talking lifetimes.
As Trump said, America doesn't need anything from Canada. I assume that would include oil, electricity and potash?
Now that the interest rates are going up on that 40 trillion dollar debt, I'm thinking China and the EU might be safer bets anyway. By putting a disgusting bigot in the Whitehouse America has contributed to its own demise.
Re your first paragraph, you must hate yourselves then.
Re your second paragraph, your 'social society', most especially the Canadian health care system has only hung on as long as it has because well over 100,000 Canadians every year travel to the US for medical care.
Re your third paragraph, Americans don't much care for countries that views the US and Americans as a sugar daddy and a group to be bilked.
Re your final paragraph, you aren't thinking at all.
You can't tell me in good conscience Trump isn't a bufoon. Get real. Look at his resume then look at Carney's. Look at his picture and look at Carney's. And Carney doesn't always talk about banging his own daughter. That's a big plus for us kooky Canadians.
American society only continues on as it does because it rides on debt. That's where all the 'growth' comes from. You guys carry 4 times more debt per capita, and you don't even have state run health care. The money goes to pointless wars and rich men's pockets.
I can't imagine many Canadians think/thought of the States as a 'Sugar Daddy' or try to bilk anyone. A major trading partner. An unreliable ally. If you take out the amount of oil we sell you, we're a net importer of American goods.
The demise bit at the end? Well I guess time will tell. I shit you not: The American brand is sustaining massive, possibly irreparable damage. The US dollar as a gold standard was based on perceived stability. How high will bond yields go? Do you, an apparent 'conservative' (whatever that means now - people that are ok with a hebepile dictator?), see the current debt and deficit situation as sustainable? Obviously taxation is not an option, are tariffs the answer, or perhaps harvesting Venezuela's wealth, or Canada's. Cause I sure can't see this as the path to a happy ending.
The biggest reason for reduced Canadian travel to the U.S. is that Canadians, who are paid almost identically in terms of respective dollars as Americans are, are paid in a "dollar" that's worth 70% of American dollars. The blunt reality is that the Snow Peso, a/k/a the Canadian dollar, doesn't go nearly as far as it once did. Oh, and Canada's unemployment is 1-1/2 times ours. And will be rising soon. Think the EU and China will cure that? Really?
So that's why the loaded boomers up here are all selling their Florida condos and going for European river cruises? Saving a couple bucks? I'll definitely support a few more people on employment insurance if it means I don't worry about being crushed by debt if I crash my motorbike or get cancer. And I don't have to shop for insurance!
Anyway you seem like an interesting person, too bad you're on the dark side but have a nice weekend regardless. Take care.
We care so much. LOL
China will not enter that system unless we have feckless government. The Monroe Doctrine will kick in.
All good comments with the exclusion that our president’s condescending,
Insensitive and bellicose rhetoric has shifted opinion that we’re friends to be trusted to relatives you don’t want to invite for Thanksgiving…
https://kevinboucher32.substack.com/p/canada-isnt-turning-to-china-its
Trump is correct that the Anglo sphere has gotten a raw deal from trade in the past. But attacking Canada and Mexico even if it makes sense in your strategy is a really tough sell. He just should have put a universal across the board 20 or 30 percent tariff and be done with it in the first few months of the administration ideally with congress. This constant back and forth and fights with everyone is exhausting and republicans will pay dearly for it and so will the west because no other politician is going to have the nerve to do something about it in the future.
Thanks for the censorship, Commonplace. Your site, your rules. Goodbye.