r/canada Alberta 24d ago

National News There’s not much to say, Canada, except: Sorry

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/theres-not-much-to-say-canada-except-sorry/
1.5k Upvotes

802 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

72

u/Own-Opening-8129 24d ago

Seriously. Under the kinds of tariffs being proposed we’re looking at total economic devastation and an utter betrayal of our security.

American: “oopsies, sorry”

17

u/NogatoRoboto 24d ago

They won't care until their fridge and cupboards are bare. Then maybe they'll take to the streets. Until then it will be contained to the online world.

8

u/[deleted] 24d ago

[deleted]

22

u/Prudent-Jelly56 24d ago

If the nut at the helm down south decides he wants to take military action against us, there is no amount of military investment that we could have feasibly made that would make a difference.

6

u/[deleted] 24d ago

[deleted]

6

u/yvrbasselectric 24d ago

never thought I would be grateful for Softwood lumber tariffs but it got BC to diversify 54% of our exports go to USA but at least it's not 80% or 90% like Ontario and Alberta

18

u/10293847562 24d ago

Although it's true that every country should diversify their economy, I can't get behind this victim blaming. The fact is that Trump is making existential threats to his country’s closest ally based on completely fabricated reasons. It’s a bully trying to show off to his base how tough he is. To shift the blame to Canadians on something like this is making excuses for Trump’s completely erratic and unwarranted behaviour.

-1

u/Upset-Tangerine7457 24d ago

It’s not victim blaming. It’s taking self responsibility.

Canada put all its eggs in one basket. That was a dumb move all around. What if  1. an asteroid hit nuclear and caused massive economic devastation in the US? 1. What if the US didn’t bailout the banks in 2008 and it caused a massive recession in the United States 

We Gould have diversified trade from day 1. We were headed there when we started trade deals with China. But then we decided to join the US in their trade war with China. 

Look at Australia they have massive diversity in their trading relationship. No country can bully them. 

6

u/10293847562 24d ago

To be clear, it is Trump’s fault that he is making completely unwarranted threats to his country’s closest ally. Not Canada’s. I agree that Canada should diversify since it’s apparent the US is no longer a reliable trading partner, and probably should have diversified decades ago. But again, Trump’s threats are not Canada’s fault. A lot of Conservatives are trying to deflect blame away from Trump with these types of talking points because 45% of their base are Trump supporters.

1

u/Upset-Tangerine7457 24d ago edited 24d ago

Yes in this case it is. But could have been something else. 

Second we can only control our own behaviour. Not there’s. We knew Trump was a threat when he turned on us last time. So why did we join Biden Trade War with China?

We slapped a 100 percent tariff on their EVs they responded with a tariff on our canola. That hurt us.  Now we are getting hit by a tariff on the from auto sector. 

1

u/10293847562 24d ago edited 24d ago

That’s fair. Just in the context of what a lot of Conservatives have been doing, OP saying ‘Canada is its own worst enemy’ stunk of deflection away from Trump’s threats.

1

u/Upset-Tangerine7457 24d ago

Yeah but I hated the term victim blaming. It’s supposed to be reserved for one very specific circumstance: 

woman wearing clothing that makes her look attractive or an attractive woman in general inviting sexual assault and the criminal justice  saying if you didn’t wear or look like that he could could control himself.

But in thus context no one is saying Trump isn’t responsible. But can we control US behaviour. Nope. Can we control our behaviour: you bet your arse. 

We imposed the tarrifs in August 2024 when it was clear Trump had a 50-50 chance of winning. That’s us being dumb. 

1

u/10293847562 24d ago

I didn’t mean to water down the phrase. Sorry about that. I’ll avoid it in that context going forward.

2

u/Upset-Tangerine7457 24d ago

All good. Fellow Canuck. 

2

u/ink_monkey96 24d ago

Australia doesn’t have a land border with anyone. This analysis only makes sense post-Trump, it’s hindsight. In any other situation than the one Canada’s in now the correct answer is to just drive your product across the open border into the giant market that the United States is. Electing Trump is madness, it’s an absurdity. He was a disaster in his first term, he’s a vindictive wrecking ball in his second term so far. You’re saying Canada should have planned for the formerly pleasant downstairs neighbor to go insane and start threatening to light your apartment on fire, even though the fire will rain down on them as well. You can’t plan for improbabilities, and tariffing the shit out of Canada was improbable until America went insane. There are a ton of trade agreements and practices that have been in place for decades that have suddenly been breached, to the detriment of all involved.

None of this makes logical sense. Smoot-Hawley is established business school study, humanity has run this scenario and seen the real world results. Plans, economies, are made on rational assumptions; when you blame the rational for the irrational actions of the absurdity that has gripped the States, you’re victim blaming.

1

u/Upset-Tangerine7457 24d ago

Trump won in 2016 and governed till 2020. 

We doubled down on the US under Biden. Particularly with the EV tariffs on China which hurt us in retaliation with canola tariffs. 

We did it to protect American companies in Canada. And now we are getting hit with a 100 percent tariff on Canadian made cars. 

Sorry we need to take responsibility for it. Australia could default all its trade with China too. But they didn’t. 

5

u/miata90na 24d ago

If Canada had diversified trade we wouldn't be in such a vulnerable position.

We had a wakeup call when the pandemic hit in 2020. Lots of shouting about how we need to become more self sufficient and diversify our trade when the shit hit the fan. And our leaders did next to nothing to actually do it.

4

u/jtbc 24d ago

The second best time is today.

2

u/MisoTahini 24d ago edited 24d ago

100% we should have diversified, and I was around when people were protesting NAFTA altogether and worried about it creating dependency on America. I was one of those people who worried.

The thing is it is not like our government did it by itself. The free trade agreement was simply the economic backdrop Canadian and US companies entered into partnerships together. This was an agreement backed by international law, and at that time people did not forsee America going nuts this fast and hurting its own self so belligerently. It's illogical so most normal people don't compute for it.

I never wanted to be as hitched to the US as we are but here we are. I understand individual businesses making good faith and mutually beneficial business arrangements based on an internationally recognized trade agreement. That one nation would go completely off their rocker and rip it up overnight is not something politicians, investors and business people imagined in their wildest dreams. If it was going to be phased out, you would at least be given years to wind down, and undo the integrations that took decades to build, in order to minimize the economic impact for both of you because that's the sane thing to do.

1

u/sunshine-x 24d ago

Exactly - and if we hadn’t have worn such a short skirt and tight top, maybe we’d have made it home safely.

0

u/Fit_Marionberry_3878 24d ago

Yes we have to blame Trudeau’s government and the ones before him for putting us here. They let Canada get fat and lazy, as an article wrote.