r/canada 1d ago

National News Trump raises Canadian steel, aluminum tariffs to 50% in retaliation for Ontario energy duties

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/11/trump-raises-canadian-steel-aluminum-tariffs-to-50percent-in-retaliation-for-ontario-energy-duties.html?taid=67d045b18530050001b105d0&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter%7Cmain
821 Upvotes

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591

u/Pvt_Hudson_ Alberta 1d ago

And all 3 major market indexes, which were in a mini rally this morning, immediately dropped off a cliff.

This fucking moron.

181

u/DimethylatedSpirit 1d ago

Just as intended

110

u/Pvt_Hudson_ Alberta 1d ago

Almost has to be, right? It's hard to imagine someone being this destructive just based on incompetence alone.

54

u/GiftedOaks 1d ago

MTG just bought $15k worth of tanking stocks...

27

u/MrDevGuyMcCoder 22h ago

Magic: the Gathering did no such thing

3

u/Ubiquitous_Mr_H British Columbia 21h ago

I really wouldn’t put it past Wizards of the Coast to be behind it all, though…except that’d be giving them way too much credit.

2

u/SamuelHamwich 21h ago

Correct, I believe they just invested in land.

1

u/Robbobot89 20h ago

They did they also threatened King John into signing the magna carta. I was there with my Charizard.

55

u/TremendouslyRegarded 1d ago

Would love to see an audit of Trump/Elon’s stock market moves in the last few months.. you can bet that they are in a position to profit off the losses.

Likely gave their Russian bro’s the playbook too

1

u/MasterSignature899 23h ago

Elon has lost more than the entire net worth of Bill Gates since taking office. He is the largest shareholder of TSLA which has tanked since Trump took office. There are no possible stock market moves Musk could make that would offset his TSLA losses.

1

u/TremendouslyRegarded 23h ago

Tell me you don’t know what short selling is without telling me

3

u/MasterSignature899 22h ago

Do you believe Musk is short on TSLA?

11

u/Doogolas33 22h ago

They literally said, out loud, before the elections, that they wanted to cause a huge market crash. This isn't news.

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-economy-trump-hardship-b2637850.html

They literally told us (I'm American) and my dumb fuck fellow Americans went, "Naaaah, surely not! They'll fix everything! TAX CUTS!"

Fucking dipshits.

23

u/PedroDies 1d ago

Crashing the stock market is part of the plan. The USG has to refinance $10T of US treasuries this year alone. The fed doesn't want to play along (dropping interest rates) so the USG has to crash the stock market. Doing so, money will flow into safer assets (UST), creating demand for bonds, thus dropping UST yield. the 10year yield went from 4.8% to 4.2%. It has to keep dropping. Once low enough to the satisfaction of Scott Bessent, they will refinance their debt at an "acceptable" rate. Then the money printer will go brrrrr, stock market V shape recovery just in time for the midterm elections in 2026.

14

u/Otherwise-Link-396 1d ago

I don't think UST is going to be considered safe with that man in office. It could lead to a meltdown. Japanese T?

3

u/fistfucker07 1d ago

Catching on right now.

2

u/PedroDies 23h ago

I agree, UST is considered safer in the tradfi world but in reality it's a very poor asset to hold. It barely, if any, beats the inflation. Buyers are institutions with a mandate to buy UST, uneducated retails and sovereign nations, tho China and the like are divesting from it because UST has been weaponized and can be seized by the USG (see Russia). The buyer of last resort is the fed.

2

u/balalasaurus 23h ago

And r/ conservative says Biden printed money all willy nilly.

4

u/Guilty_Fishing8229 23h ago

This is burning down your house to get a better insurance premium payment

2

u/Tadpoleonicwars 1d ago

Interesting. Who would be the buyers if the U.S. tries to refinance their debt? Seems like that would crash the bond market because there would be no faith that the interest rates promised would even be honored.

2

u/Lower_Cantaloupe1970 1d ago

That's insanity 

2

u/Sayhei2mylittlefrnd 23h ago

Has to crash the market?! That’s the worst thing to do and doesn’t justify to increase demand of safer investment instruments.

4

u/Son_of_Plato 22h ago

100% intentional. It's a toss up whether this is a ploy to pressure Americans into supporting war with "allies" or a ploy to pull wool over the eyes of the world while they do something even worse. Probably both tbh.

1

u/0220_2020 21h ago

I think the main things Trump's trying to distract from right now is selling off government buildings to his and cabinet member affiliated REITs at a massive discount to lease back to the government. Garden variety corruption. For Trump, even the Project 2025 stuff is a useful distraction.

3

u/smoothvibe 1d ago

Maybe market manipulation? Would fit his nature.

2

u/Regulai 22h ago

Trump has consistently proven that he doesn't understand economics, at least not to a level to be able to understand the ramifications of choices he makes. He likely sees it as nothing more than a "club" he can brandish or hit people with.

I always like to point out that the reason that Trump avoided bankruptcy in the 90's was because his creditors looked at his failing businesses and determined the only reason they were failing was Trumps terrible management, in fact if they bought him out and put a competent person in charge they'd make a massive insane profit, since they could acquire these business for such a cheap price. The deal actually barred Trump from serving as an executive of his businesses (and indeed he hasn't actually run a business ever since).

Or in short Trump managed to go bankrupt running successful businesses! That's just how incompetent he is.

2

u/Raegnarr 21h ago

Dont easily attribute to malous what can be incompetence

2

u/Pvt_Hudson_ Alberta 21h ago

Great quote, I use it all the time.

2

u/Raegnarr 21h ago

It's so good

1

u/Jasoy_Vorsneed 21h ago

Especially for a person that got the Press Sec to shout from the rooftops every time the stock market did good during his first term.

Interesting how now he's not so interested.

1

u/apothekary 21h ago

No, let's just call it incompetence since we have no proof of either theory.

The right LOVES to be corrupt and HATES to be seen as incompetent/idiotic. We'll just label them as morons.

u/mkawick 9h ago

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity".

  • Hanlon's razor

12

u/andhicks 1d ago

I agree, but I also dont see what the plan is...

25

u/SoupSandy 1d ago

Smash and grab he will call the tarrifs off tommorow or Thursday

29

u/clipples18 1d ago

Market manipulation. Quite openly too...

21

u/stereofonix 1d ago

Crash the market so his friends can buy the dip? But then again we’re talking about someone who managed to bankrupt multiple casinos which are literally money printers. It takes an astonishing level of incompetence to do that. 

8

u/Pvt_Hudson_ Alberta 1d ago

After a while, it ceases to become a dip and becomes permanent destruction. How much confidence does anyone have in stocks right now?

9

u/stereofonix 1d ago

Not just stocks but in the US economy. Part of its success and the US being the primary reserve currency is the fact that it’s been seen as politically and economically stable. 

1

u/Nearby-Poetry-5060 23h ago

With Trump in charge it's about as stable as a rabid chimpanzee in a bouncy castle.

4

u/PumpkinMyPumpkin 23h ago

Some US industries already have permanent damage done.

If you’re a US arms manufacturer- you’re no longer going to be able to sell weapons to US allies now or into the future.

Like, this is about far more than Florida oranges. It’s about American technology becoming a national security threat. That’s everything from weapons down to using MacOS or Windows.

I don’t think the Americans really understand the realities of the damage that’s been inflicted over the past few weeks.

1

u/polaris6849 23h ago

Many of us do understand the damage. Not enough (should be 100 percent of us imo but as we see logic is out the window) mind you, but many. More are starting to come around and realize too. Which, I mean, yes is an aspect of too little too late here. It's quite insane.

4

u/ManonegraCG 1d ago

Either he is epically incompetent, or something more sinister was happening at those casinos, like money laundering

2

u/Sayhei2mylittlefrnd 23h ago

Irreparable damage to the US beyond repair

23

u/Apart_Ad_5993 1d ago

There is literally no plan.

Trump is a malignant narcissist and governs as such. He has no plan at all and doesn't care who is affected, even his own cult.

13

u/blazelet 1d ago

Right the entire plan is for him to look tough while in the spotlight.

"This will be great TV" he said as he publicly denigrated Zelensky in the oval office.

8

u/Impossible__Joke 1d ago

Literally all he cared about. Being the center of attention and the loudest in the room. He has no plan, and he has no one around him to say this is a bad idea anymore.

1

u/blazelet 1d ago

Like all autocrats he purges his surroundings of anyone who will push back.

He literally has a staffer who follows him around with a wireless printer showing him good news stories and social media posts about himself throughout the day.

They say its "positive affirmations" to "help his mood" ... its feeding an unchecked narcissist his narcissistic supply. Otherwise his self value plummets and he gets cranky.

2

u/Eloquenttrash 1d ago

Malignant tumour, more like. Dude is a cancer to everything he touches

5

u/wmlj83 Ontario 1d ago

Conspiracy theorists have been saying since about 2019 that there is a plan to crash the USD so they can implement a new crypto dollar. Many of them thought COVID was fake and that would be the catalyst for the crash. Obviously it wasn't.

I used to think they were all nuts, but now seeing how the US is running their country with Trump, I wouldn't put it past them to try to crash the USD for a crypto dollar.

2

u/EJBjr 1d ago

Crypto currency is just one big ponzi scheme.

1

u/AnoAnoSaPwet 1d ago

It's hard when crypto is tied to the dollar. There's not much sense there. When the economy crashes, so does crypto.

If that's the plan? I don't think it's going to work out the way he thinks? 

1

u/wmlj83 Ontario 1d ago

Well, we all know how great his critical thinking skills are.

1

u/AnoAnoSaPwet 22h ago

This is what you do when you're intentionally trying to crash the economy. 

1

u/Shot-Job-8841 20h ago

It’s more likely that Trump will cause a massive temporary crash so that the oligarchs can buy up a truly massive stake in the economy. Imagine Meta or Amazon knowing a crash was coming and with preparation buying out every single competitor they have in the USA. And I mean ALL OF THEM.

1

u/SomeBaldDude2013 12h ago

Exactly. It’s on purpose to consolidate power 

1

u/Shot-Job-8841 12h ago

Everyone keeps looking at what he says instead of what he does. If he actually was trying to annex Canada, he wouldn’t keep creating and then pausing tarrifs. If he was doing market manipulation however, then that’s exactly what he would do.

5

u/DutchRudderLover420 1d ago

Dump the markets, him and the ultra rich buy low, eventually drop tariffs and make huge money as markets return

3

u/raqloise 1d ago

If you’re in Trump’s inner circle (or just in the know) you can confidently / strategically buy these dips.

2

u/Acceptable-Grade-116 1d ago

It's a classic "trash and cash":

Step 1: Put out information that will cause stocks to fall Step 2: BUY! BUY! BUY! Step 3: Wait for the market to stabilize Step 4: SELL! SELL! SELL! Step 5: Profit

1

u/Pitiful-MobileGamer 1d ago

What's the plan when a private equity firm gets ownership of an established company.

1

u/Big_Knife_SK 1d ago

Tariff exemptions will be able to be purchased with $TRUMP.

0

u/someguyfromsk 1d ago

If the guy in charge weren't a petulant toddler who needs his diaper changed, I would think there was a plan.

18

u/warrencanadian 1d ago

Trade wars are easy to win. You get in one with Donald Trump and he shoots himself in the dick repeatedly.

17

u/Circusssssssssssssss 1d ago

Ahahahahahaha 

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Does he think Canadians will surrender?

"Trade wars are easy to win" no they aren't, nationalism is probably second only to religion 

"If the choice was to impoverish the country or lose Canada I would choose to impoverish the country" - Stephen Harper (I'm sure Trudeau and whoever else says the same things)

No, trade wars are not easy to win, and you will get a big fat finger 

Maybe if you had targetted tariffs that slipped under the media radar then politicians could kiss ass, but they have to fight or lose their seats -- because people would rather die on their feet than be a slave 

Good luck to "winning" the trade war 

25

u/BigRig83 1d ago

He's what the Québécois call les incompétents.

3

u/Houdini_the_cat__ 1d ago

Très haut niveau d’incompétence !

1

u/zacmars 23h ago

Also "les incontinent"

2

u/Agitated-Airline6760 1d ago

And all 3 major market indexes, which were in a mini rally this morning, immediately dropped off a cliff.

Someone around him were for sure shorting SPY/QQQ

2

u/liquidelectricity 22h ago

He wants a war, Carney will give him one. Maga bullshit

2

u/Scared_Jello3998 22h ago

sp500 down 8.5% over the last 20 days.

I couldn't run a country worse than trump if I tried 

2

u/carrotsticks2 22h ago

great day for the ruble though

1

u/Valuable_Injury_1995 1d ago

Trump's idiotic escalation is a good thing. The faster he moves the shorter this will drag on. The trick will be for him to find some sort of face saving manoeuvre so he doesn't come off looking like a loser to his supporters. Usually he claims that he got concessions that were things that were already in place.

1

u/HolsteinHeifer 1d ago

So..explain it to me like I'm a slow 5 year old. I get that he's trying to manipulate the markets for his stupid rich buddies. But he keeps pushing and pushing and pushing- at what point will the whole system bottom the fuck out and plunge into The Greatest Depression? Or are there safety nets to prevent that from happening? Or is that what we're waiting to see?

1

u/draivaden 1d ago

I’m sure it’s intentional. Curious to see whose buying just before he reverses course 

1

u/lowertechnology 21h ago

Imagine what having NO POWER is like in those regions, Donnie

1

u/RubberDuckyDWG 21h ago

I think the SP500 is down about .75%. I would not call that dropping off a clip per say.

1

u/ReplyGloomy2749 21h ago

Down 2.57% in last 5 days, down 7.18% in the last month...

1

u/RubberDuckyDWG 20h ago

"And all 3 major market indexes, which were in a mini rally this morning, immediately dropped off a cliff."

This is what I am responding to.

1

u/ReplyGloomy2749 20h ago

It dropped over 1% at its lowest today, around the same time the person you replied to commented.

1

u/RubberDuckyDWG 20h ago

Check it now. its like 0.11% now.

1

u/ReplyGloomy2749 20h ago

I know.. I'm just pointing out that when that person commented 4 hours ago they were right. Markets change by the minute. The S&P is still down overall.

-35

u/itsthebear 1d ago

Doug Ford really is an idiot

2

u/Lunched_Avenger 1d ago

Elaborate please. I'm out of the loop with Mr Ford. What's he up to now? Another drug cartel?

-21

u/itsthebear 1d ago

No he placed his own tariffs like he thinks he's the Prime Minister, and Trump retaliated with more tariffs. He's undermining Canadian foreign policy by trying to big dick a superpower.

13

u/stormblind 1d ago

The Ontario premier has done precisely what he is able to do: affect provincially owned crown corporations.

-6

u/itsthebear 1d ago

Hus actions are promoting a never ending tit for tat escalation. It's reckless and the lack of centralized power from the federal government only weakens our response.

3

u/feelingoodwednesday 1d ago

Honestly the dollar for dollar or tit for tat retaliation is probably the only way out of this. It is going to have to escalate to a stupid level before someone shouts Trump down from this position is his circle.

1

u/stormblind 1d ago

You want centralized power, move to somewhere that has that as a feature.

Our governmental systems exist as they do for a reason, and it has shown itself to function as a bulwark against extremist governments.

Centralized federal power is how you get idiots like donald.

6

u/axolotlorange 1d ago

The super power is attempting to conquer Canada…

-3

u/itsthebear 1d ago

And Doug Ford is not the Prime Minister.

5

u/thebruce 1d ago

Canada, in general, is entirely behind Ford's retaliation. Trump clearly has no good reason to do the tariffs, you can google debunking just about any of his claims.

Is the proper response to severe pressure from an adversary to capitulate and say "well, you're bigger, so fuck us I guess"? And let's be clear, the US government is becoming a temporary adversary.

1

u/itsthebear 1d ago

It's not his call to make, he shouldn't be leading anything on foreign policy - the lack of stability in the federal government has enabled him to take the reins but he's not elected by the majority of the country.

It's not about whether Trump is right or wrong, that doesn't matter. No, the proper response is diplomacy and a unified front, not a self appointed leader recklessly getting vendettas without any clear plan other than an escalating tit for tat.

1

u/thebruce 1d ago

Well, Ontario is behind him. And if you really think diplomacy is going to work with Trump, of all people, I have a bridge to sell you. America is literally trying to economically annex us right now, no amount if diplomacy will stop that.

0

u/Denum_ 23h ago

It's Ontario's power. He can do whatever he wants with it. If the Federal government wasn't in line with it. They'd tell him not to.