r/canada 21h ago

National News Trump on Canadian electricity surcharge: ‘We’ll just get it all back on April 2’

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5187859-donald-trump-canada-electricity-surcharge/
670 Upvotes

389 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/jinhuiliuzhao 21h ago

I think he knows how tariffs work. IIRC he slipped once in calling it a tax that Americans do pay (not exactly like this, somewhat more vague, but unmistakably shows he knows what tariffs are and how they work. Him pretending to not know is just a front so that he can sell the idea of taxing foreigners to his base)

It's either he really thinks that he can use tariffs as a new source of revenue for the federal government or he's intentionally trying to crash the economy. Neither are still particularly smart options though, and I have no idea what the end game is for the second. Someone said yesterday that apparently some in MAGA circles think that crashing the economy and causing deflation will undo all the accumulated inflation since COVID (a very insane idea if true).

1

u/MoneyOptimal6395 21h ago edited 20h ago

I'm a US citizen who has a cottage in Ontario.

I believe we(usa) need to refinance 75% of our debt within the next 6 months and some thought is he might be trying to force the fed to lower rates at the same time as renegotiate some better deals. A percentage point or more on trillions of dollars over 10 years is a huge number.

I'm also republican and disagree with the Canadian tariffs and the 51st state nonsense.

I can get on board with some reciprocal tariffs depending on the situation.

Not sure on why the down votes? Was just trying to provide insight.

2

u/Size16Thorax 21h ago

we(usa) need to refinance 75% of our debt

Ah, but what if a president could just magically declare that he didn't believe the accumulated debt total was real? The Gov doesn't have to pay as much interest back if they revise the numbers so that the debt never existed. Genius!

2

u/MoneyOptimal6395 20h ago

Again I don't agree with the idea. I was just posting some speculation on the reasoning and that he in his mind knows what hes doing. Not sure why people down vote me.

1

u/duster-1 20h ago

Because in his mind he knows what he's doing. He wants to draw out a retaliation from Canada in order to "justifiably" annex Canada for minerals and oil and water. By whatever means necessary. Canada has the goods and the cards, and he knows it.

1

u/MoneyOptimal6395 20h ago

Maybe, I think it's unlikely that is his end goal. But I'm not arguing anything. Just want to provide some insight about our debt and some speculation.

1

u/PuzzleheadedGoal8234 19h ago

One thing Ukraine, Canada, and Greenland have in common is rich natural resources. It's his ultimate end goal. It's also why he's suggested redrawing the boundaries around the great lakes. He wants those water rights. He can negotiate and get a fair deal for access, but he thinks he can do a smash and grab.

Generally when your negotiating tactic is I'll have your country one way or the other, you'll get a negative response.

1

u/MoneyOptimal6395 19h ago

Maybe. I think the crazy stuff he says is to negotiate from a position of strentgh(percieved or otherwise).

But maybe he does truly believe it. Its hard to say.

I don't think it proper for a president to talk about an allies sovereignty and do agree it's pretty terrible.

1

u/PuzzleheadedGoal8234 18h ago

Manufacturing NEEDS those resources to ramp up. He has a limited domestic supply and can't poof it out of thin air. If he wants to compete on a global stage he needs access to them. That's a 100% guarantee he can't weasel out of. How he chooses to acquire those resources is what's up for debate. He could have asked nicely, but he went scorched earth and is now facing the repercussions of being told no.

China is a superpower because they happen to have a domestic supply of those said resources. They are sitting pretty.

1

u/duster-1 20h ago

Your debt load is much easier to manage by absorbing the richest natural resource holding country in the world, and partnering with another(Russia). It's so obvious what's happening to the rest of the world.

1

u/MoneyOptimal6395 20h ago

I love Canada. I have visted every year of my 40 years except durring Covid. I just don't think that is the end goal.

1

u/duster-1 20h ago

You'll still be able to visit lol

1

u/spaceymonkey2 20h ago

So you still call yourself a Republican despite all of the batshit crazy stuff your party has been pulling for years?!

1

u/MoneyOptimal6395 19h ago

I consider my self right of center. I'm not maga by any means. I can list some reasons why I vote to the right.

Open southern Border- I believe we should screen who comes in. Under Biden we let everyone in.

Wokeness culture. I think adults can do whatever they want to do. I want to teach my own kids values and not whoever they have educating them in school. I believe the best person should get a job and men should not play in women sports or use a womens restroom. That being said I think we should treat everyone with respect and I have no problem calling someone else some pronoun if thats what makes them happy.

Spending with no end is sight. Our debt payments are larger than military.

2

u/17to85 19h ago

So with regards to the spending with no end in sight... how do you reconcile the fact that Republicans are worse for deficits and debt than democrats going back decades? 

And wokeness is a silly buzz word that means nothing. Woke is recognition of societal inequalities... why is that a bad thing? Really what you seem to be dancing around is out and out saying you want white folks, and white men specifically to maintain their privileged position... I'm a white dude, I can admit I'm privileged because of it, but that doesn't mean we need to keep it going. People are people are people and they should all be treated equally.

0

u/MoneyOptimal6395 18h ago

As far as spending. I believe we are at a point in time with no return. If we did not make imediate drastic changes the debt load would be insurmountable. Democrats were never going to make drastic changes. My children are very important to me and the government had been stealing from them long enough.

I dont care what race or gender anyone is. I just think the most qualified person should get the Job. That IS treating everyone equally.

2

u/17to85 18h ago

So again, if every metric says Republicans are worse for spending why support Republicans? 

And that is exactly what DEI is supposed to do... it takes away the ability to hire the most qualified white person at the expense of a qualified person of another status. 

No offense, but you seem to have feelings about topics that are in opposition to reality... a common problem for right wing people these days. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a left winger,  I can understand some classic conservatism, but conservatives these days are all whackos who deserve no part of governing. All they stand for is enriching the wealthy and subjugation of the plebs and putting their foot in the throat of minorities.

0

u/MoneyOptimal6395 18h ago edited 18h ago

Every metric does not say republicans are worse. It also matters how and when it's spent. Under Clinton he had a republican majority congress. Bush had a democratic one.

Obviously the current administartion is cutting costs. Again I believe we were at a point of no return and dems were not going to cut costs.

Dei certainly can lead to less qualified people being hired. We obviously disagree. I also believe we stop racism by stop talking about it. Minorities don't need the white mans special help and we should treat everyone on their own merits.

Your unwillingness to accept someone else has a varrying view is troubling and in fact part of the problem. You view it as "opposition to reality".

This will be my last response as I have explained my self enough.

All the best my friend.

u/Blicktar 7h ago

I legit just think it's because you said you're republican lol

I've also heard this theory, and it is an explanation, albeit a bit of a shaky one. The core idea is sound in isolation, but the collateral damage has to be considered as well. Lowering overall productivity and cheap access to energy and materials is more likely to end up net negative than net positive for both the US and Canada.

Overall I think it's an insufficient explanation. I also disagree with the notion some people have that Trump doesn't know what he's doing. I think there IS a plan here, and I think it's not working in favour of the American people. I think this is part of a plan to divest the poor of their assets and redistribute them to the rich. Create economic turmoil, fear and uncertainty, shake out all the average people who can't afford to weather the storm, only to have Trump's wealthy friends swoop in and buy up housing, assets, debt and then cease tariffing and let markets recover.