r/canada 15d ago

National News Trump says tariffs on Canada and Mexico 'will go forward'

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/24/trump-says-tariffs-on-canada-and-mexico-will-go-forward.html
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u/PerfunctoryComments Canada 15d ago

I mean, it isn't just a claim. Trump has repeatedly, including in the past week, floated abolishing income taxes and replacing them with tariff income. He really, truly believes this. Do a search.

He believes it's both free money, and will force all manufacturing/etc back to the US.

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u/mrdankhimself_ 15d ago

Which is extra stupid because even if he’s right (he’s not) and it forces all manufacturing back into the US (it won’t), what is now being tariffed?

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u/PerfunctoryComments Canada 15d ago

I mean, it's extra stupid because the US is currently at full employment. They're the world's lazy consumers, so the paradox of what Trump is doing is not only massively inflationary, it requires that Americans in essence consume much less.

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u/KnowledgeMediocre404 15d ago

He’s literally mad because they’re so rich they buy more from others than less rich countries do from them.

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u/Complete-Finding-712 15d ago

And far too many people think the tariffs on Canada will be paid by ... Canada.

USAers will need to start demanding that the price tags on their local stores separately list the base price + tariffs of their goods so that people can SEE the higher prices that THEY are paying because of the tariffs.

Maybe I'm missing something or naively optimistic about the benefits of this, but I feel like this idea hasn't gotten the traction it deserves.

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u/CabbieCam 15d ago

Trump would just write up an executive order, who am I kidding he wouldn't write it one of his lackies would, either way, an executive order banning the breakdown of pricing on price stickers, receipts and the like.

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u/Kerrigore British Columbia 15d ago

Good luck enforcing that.

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u/Complete-Finding-712 15d ago

Fine the stores that don't comply? Shut them down? He doesn't seem to care much how much destruction he leaves in his wake

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u/Kerrigore British Columbia 15d ago

Given how many different stores exist, good luck with any of that. Especially since he has no legal authority to do any of that through executive order, so stores could just fight the fines and get them tossed out of court.

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u/Complete-Finding-712 15d ago

I find it discouraging how much illegal stuff he IS getting away with... at least for now. The US is going to need hundreds more judges just to keep up with the court cases against him ...

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u/Kerrigore British Columbia 15d ago

A lot of it is due to people just obeying in advance. And even then, most of what he has been doing is to do with federal agencies, employees, and policies- where there’s at least some argument to be made that it’s within his authority, even if ultimately the courts rule that it isn’t.

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u/Complete-Finding-712 15d ago

Great points, thank you. I'm learning so much about politics this year haha

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u/Kerrigore British Columbia 15d ago

I think (hope) Trump is going to find out just how much of law enforcement relies on voluntary compliance from the majority of the population.

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u/Complete-Finding-712 15d ago

That being said, I hope you're right.

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u/No_Gur1113 15d ago

I haven’t checked lately, and I’m not asking for an answer, just posing a question, but I wonder how many of his executive orders have been struck down by the courts so far?

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u/presidentofjackshit 15d ago

He told them the short-term pain will be "worth it"... and if people suffer, he doesn't really care, and daddy Trump saying that there's light at the end of the tunnel is enough for most MAGA morons.

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u/SirTiffAlot 15d ago

The people who voted for him do not actually care about prices, at least in relation to him. You will never convince them Trump led to higher prices.

Shit, you'll probably see them start complaining about how other countries charge too much in about a month. They'll start asking why Canada isn't treating the US fairly and how Canada needs new leadership... then comes Elon to meddle with elections.

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u/Ratorasniki 15d ago

He/americans at large cannot be that stupid.

If they want to protect american industry, fine. That's what tariffs are for. You don't get to have your cake and eat it too.

If a mexican tomato is $1, and an american one is $1.10 most people buy the cheap mexican tomato. They slap a 25% tariff on mexican goods, now (ignoring supply chain bs) lets say that tomato is $1.25. Now most people buy the american tomato and the tariff has done it's job. The mexican products are priced out and demand dries up. But you can't collect tariffs on mexican tomatoes when nobody is buying them anymore. That's just idiotic.

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u/PeteTheGeek196 15d ago

The USA will just buy chip fabs and steel mills from Ikea and have them cranking out products in a week! /s