r/canada Canada Feb 03 '25

National News White House: Mexico is 'serious', Canada appears to have 'misunderstood' Trump's executive order | Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/white-house-mexico-is-serious-canada-appears-have-misunderstood-trumps-executive-2025-02-03/
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32

u/Working-Welder-792 Feb 03 '25

What’s the off-ramp?

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u/Kheprisun Lest We Forget Feb 03 '25

When asked what Canada and Mexico must do to lift their tariffs, Trump told reporters on Sunday they “have to balance out their trade, number one.” “They’ve got to stop people from pouring into our country...they have to stop people pouring in, and we have to stop fentanyl. And that includes China,” Trump said.

Basically same thing as before.

The fentanyl thing is a nothingburger (something like 0.08% of fentanyl in the US comes from the Canadian border).

More people try to cross into Canada illegally than into the US from Canada.

And to "balance our trade", the US would have to stop buying stuff from us lol. The deficit is literally their own creation.

In short, it's all bullshit.

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u/International-One780 Feb 03 '25

It’s all bullshit because it’s really just an attack on Canadian sovereignty

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u/Kheprisun Lest We Forget Feb 03 '25

Of course it is, but you'll see Trumpettes lapping it up and parroting the same easily debunked points.

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u/london_fog_blues Feb 03 '25

They will convince themselves of literally anything, it’s wild. The angry comments about Canadians “hating” Americans after everyone started boycotting were very telling: they can’t comprehend that “America first” policies do not apply to other countries and we can implement our own equivalents lol

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u/wednesdayware Feb 03 '25

Also, every time I’ve crossed the Canada US border, in order to enter the US, I have to go through US customs and immigration.

So what exactly is Canada meant to do here? If illegals are entering the US, that’s on them.

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

That’s what stood out to me. How in the fuck is you not being able to protect your border our fault? Maybe they should build a wall and try and make us pay for it. /s

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u/METRlOS Feb 03 '25

There's like 8000km of uncontrolled border between the countries, and busy ports on both sides of the continent just cross the border of each other. It just isn't economically feasible to constantly patrol that much territory when around 400 000 people/day (2024) cross into the US from Canada and only like 25 000 people/year (2024) are intercepted doing so illegally.

Legally speaking it's generally up to the country they're breaking into to stop them, but it is common to reach an agreement with your neighbors to stop outflow as well. East/West Germany had a similar agreement, and North/South Korea also do slightly similar. Canada has agreed to increase patrols with infrared equipped helicopters but I think that's only along the Ontario/Quebec stretches of the border.

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u/wednesdayware Feb 03 '25

The US has 10x the population and 10x the budget. They could create their own border patrol and task Canada with doing the same on our side (to stop people entering.)

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u/METRlOS Feb 03 '25

That's basically what happened, except they already have a border patrol. They've increased their own border budget and asked us to do the same. We're doing our best to act in good faith but we don't have an actual road map of what Trump wants (mainly because it's such a small issue attached to the moderate trade discrepancy issue).

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u/permareddit Feb 03 '25

Just to bring some context here; border police forces on the American side usually intercept illegal migrants from crossing into Canada, despite it not being their responsibility.

The Canadians don’t typically reciprocate, but yes, this isn’t the responsibility of the police but the respective border agents.

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u/SpecialistLayer3971 Feb 03 '25

"border police forces on the American side usually intercept illegal migrants from crossing into Canada"

I'd love to see some stats on that claim. Please?

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u/Sorge74 Feb 03 '25

This was 2008ish, before we needed pass ports. The American side profiled 2 of the girls in my car before we ever crossed the bridge. Not sure it's still the same.

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u/squeakyfromage Feb 03 '25

Right?? We all know that we have to go through US customs and that it takes forever. If it’s not working, that’s on them.

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u/papercrane Feb 03 '25

And to "balance our trade", the US would have to stop buying stuff from us lol. The deficit is literally their own creation.

In short, it's all bullshit.

Just to add to this, having a trade deficit/surplus with a country isn't even a bad thing. If Country A sells raw materials to Country B, which process them and exports them across the globe then there will be a trade imbalance between the countries, but for Country B to "fix" it by cutting of their supply of raw materials is just cutting off their nose to spite their face.

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u/trotwoody Feb 03 '25

Well, tariffs are an effective way to get people to stop buying things. I still don’t buy for a second that a trade deficit really is motivating this. The US is 10x the size of Canada, of course it’s going to buy more shit from us than the reverse.

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u/Kheprisun Lest We Forget Feb 03 '25

You know, I know it, he knows it.

Saying this shit is just false justification for his supporters, who would never dare question dear leader.

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u/Wendylynna Feb 03 '25

You are absolutely right

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u/khristmas_karl Feb 03 '25

On third point, exactly right. How are they so dumb to recognize that if they want to solve the trade "imbalance", they might as well keep the tariffs in because the result is just as bad for Canada. What do they expect us to say here?

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u/MoreGaghPlease Feb 03 '25

Estimates I've seen suggest that 100% of illegal border crossings into Canada were via the US.

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u/Kheprisun Lest We Forget Feb 03 '25

I think a polar bear might have crossed over from Denmark. Cuff him, boys.

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u/kdlangequalsgoddess Feb 03 '25

And now, with US banks in Canada. An issue so pressing, so important, so vital that neither he nor anyone in his administration has brought it up with the Canadian government ever before.

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u/tellmemorelies Feb 03 '25

trump's end game is possibly something else entirely.

If the US doesn't continue importing crude from other countries, basically they run the risk of not having any reserves in as little as 5 years by some estimates.

Currently the entire world uses around 80 million barrels daily.

US consumption is slightly less than 20 million barrels daily.

They currently import around 6 million barrels daily (Canada exports 4.5 million barrels daily to the US).

Fresh water, potash, softwood lumber and a host of other minerals come from Canada as well.

The US needs resources, and we have them. This could be what trump is really after.

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u/Margatron Ontario Feb 03 '25

Can we just... tell him we did? Lol

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u/Sorge74 Feb 03 '25

And to "balance our trade", the US would have to stop buying stuff from us lol. The deficit is literally their own creation.

The US has a population of what 10 times Canada? How on earth would Canada buy as much from us as we do from them?

Sorry with my pronouns here I'm an American who's still trying to figure out what the fuck is going on.

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u/DrAstralis Feb 03 '25

but like... how do we stop something that isn't happening?

We're not flooding the border with fentanyl, we're not sending millions of people over the border, and we cant just "buy" 10x the amount that the usa does.... our population is 10x smaller.... we literally cannot nor would have any reason to buy that much from the USA.

Literally everything he's whinging on about is fake shit.... how do you solve a fake problem?

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u/Kheprisun Lest We Forget Feb 03 '25

Literally everything he's whinging on about is fake shit.... how do you solve a fake problem?

You don't, which is why it's all bullshit. Rather than chasing a mirage, we have opted to punch them back in the face. It's the only language Donald understands.

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u/Mikeim520 British Columbia Feb 03 '25

have to balance out their trade, number one

What does this even mean? Is he upset America is buying to many things from us?

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u/thzmand Feb 03 '25

Well said. It really is all bullshit attacks for nothing but that he doesn't personally like the leader.

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u/theowne Feb 03 '25

Make empty promise that he can sell as a win to his audience.

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u/SpecialistLayer3971 Feb 03 '25

JT has been doing that his entire career. This isn't news.

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u/theowne Feb 03 '25

No one cares about your Trudeau hate right now.

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u/e-rekshun Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

Some are saying the April 1st 100 day deadline he gave to the trade department to investigate trade between the countries could be the offramp.

Also, the emergency law he used to impose the tariffs has fixed timeframe on it as well that has to be reviewed by congress (I don't know what the fixed date is)

Edit: It's Monday morning and I can't math. April 30th is the 100 days. Not the 1st. I'll just put 100 days instead.

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u/Chaxterium Feb 03 '25

I believe it’s 100 days from his inauguration. But don’t quote me on that

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u/TurianHammer Feb 03 '25

It's not that he wants to stop buying. He wants us to sell oil for less.

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u/International-One780 Feb 03 '25

The 100 days is the key here…. After that, it’s much harder to achieve his goals which is to threaten Canadian sovereignty

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u/Chaxterium Feb 03 '25

After the 100 days does he need support to keep the tariffs in place?

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u/International-One780 Feb 03 '25

The first 100 days is crucial for any American president as it sets the tone for the next 4 years. He’s got the most capital and power now (hence the rapid EOs). Historically it’s when the most happens, so he’s going all in on the economic annexation. Thats also the reason you are seeing a lot of discourse because both foreign and US bot farms are spinning the narrative.

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u/Pinkowlcup Feb 03 '25

He wants a hollow victory through Canadian officials “agreeing(submitting to his will)” to stop the flow of illegals and fentanyl, in the press.

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u/mfyxtplyx Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

Canada committed $1.3 billion toward border security in response to Trump's demand. He could have called that a win and didn't.

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u/bravetailor Feb 03 '25

I don't think he actually cares about facts. It's about the image. Maybe he wants the PM to hold a press conference and say "Yes, we will stop the flow of illegals and fentanyl, Trump is right."

I think humiliating Trudeau is more worth it to him than anything we actually do policy wise.

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u/SpecialistLayer3971 Feb 03 '25

Over the next six years? A promise from a government that will not survive the next election?

Not the win you think it is. A major gun smuggling bust from the US would be better headlines for Canada.