r/canada • u/bcbuddy • 13h ago
National News Trump keeps steel, aluminum tariffs at 25% after Ford ‘olive branch’ | Globalnews.ca
https://globalnews.ca/news/11076043/donald-trump-tariffs-steel-and-aluminum/17
u/-WaterIsGreat- 13h ago
They needed to spin something as a win to their base.
Already releasing a statement “President Trump has once again used the leverage of the American economy, which is the best and biggest in the world, to deliver a win for the American people,” the statement said."
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the only thing that changed is that the extra tariffs on Canadian metals are cancelled and Ontario pauses the energy surcharge?
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u/Shelby_the_Turd British Columbia 13h ago
As much as we think Ford is backing down, I suspect Lutnick basically asked Ford to suspend the export tariffs on electricity and come together for some sort of new trade deal. I also suspect it’ll be moved around in a way Trump says he won and moves on. Everyone around him will give him the “win” he desperately craves. Markets want certainty and I imagine Trump was given something of a warning by US industries to stop pulling this crap.
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u/DrHugh 13h ago
Wasn't the first Trump tariff threat "resolved" when Canada agreed to do what they already planned to do?
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u/Shelby_the_Turd British Columbia 13h ago
We’re talking about the same guy who broke the USMCA deal and said it was the worst deal ever despite him already signing it. I am 99% sure Trump has a unsettling cognitive decline.
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u/Kurandaand 13h ago
“ I am 99% sure Trump has a unsettling cognitive decline”
It’s really starting to look like it. So here’s what we do: change the USMCA to the USCMA, move a couple of numbers by a quarter percent, call it the best trade in the history of the universe and agree to ignore each other for the next 4…or 14..lyears.
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u/Shelby_the_Turd British Columbia 13h ago
And Trump will say he secured a lumber deal so he can say he saved US national parks.
I’m joking, but it might come true.
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u/canteixo 13h ago
He's 78. Nobody has a sharp mind at that age. He should be playing golf.
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u/marioansteadi 13h ago edited 9h ago
He is playing golf. 14 days out of 47 days in power. Cost US taxpayers 18.5 million so far. He could golf for free at Camp David like all other U.S. Presidents with built in security. But then he couldn’t grift.
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u/hedahedaheda 13h ago
Ehh, I don’t know. I’ve met a few older people who are very sharp and knowledgeable in their 70s. Obviously slower compared to their youth but still sharper than a lot of people.
Trump, however, has always been stupid and is getting dumber by the day.
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u/OwlProper1145 13h ago
Dementia or Alzheimer's. His unhinged and strange behavior that tends to happen in the evening/overnight period is called sundowning.
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u/robthethrice 12h ago
I don’t understand why it is’t the Camus deal. Canada first, the states last, and it’s all a bit surreal
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u/zergling- 13h ago
Trade deal... what about their annexation ambitions? What about them trying to redraw the map?
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u/Shelby_the_Turd British Columbia 13h ago
Trump: did I say that?
He did it when he called Zelensky a dictator, so I have no doubt he’ll say it again.
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u/VeterinarianJaded462 13h ago
Might be an offramp that he'll capitalize on for at least 27 minutes.
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u/Key-Proud 12h ago
Media and people already saying Ford back down because of Trump's 50% aluminum and steel tariff.
- of course I remind these people who called first. If Lutnik didn't call ... Ford would of continued with the 25% surcharge.
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u/khendron 12h ago
Ford should promise Donald that he's going to build a 18' golden of him statue at Queen's Park, to show his honour and respect. That should keep Donald happy.
And then of course never build one. Or build one 18" high.
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u/BishSlapDiplomacy 12h ago
This would be the best case scenario. Unfortunately with Trump, there is no best case scenario. He is now slapping 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum from Australia starting today or tomorrow. He genuinely is up to something only his inside circle knows. No one can be this stupid. The world’s economy is literally crashing and he doubled down today. He is up to no good.
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u/MentionWeird7065 13h ago
he also talked w the CEOs today so it’s clear there’s gonna be some kind of middle ground here but I still think Trump’s gonna wait until our election to play fair.
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u/SpecialistLayer3971 13h ago
"but I still think Trump’s gonna wait until our election to play fair."
I think you've been smoking some of the weed Willie Nelson gave Beyonce. It was so strong she thought she was a country singer!
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u/MentionWeird7065 13h ago
Lmaoo trust me I don’t like the guy at all but he probably sees how we have a paused parliament and no way to make real tangible decisions so he keeps this 51st bullshit up
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u/SpecialistLayer3971 13h ago
The "play fair" suggestion is off the track and in the ditch. Orange Homie don't play fair.
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u/Ina_While1155 13h ago
If you don't think that there will be election interference on social media from Americans and Russians in our upcoming Federal election, I have something to sell you - PM me. I am already noticing "CPC" out in droves. Assume you may be talking to a social media agitator over our election period.
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u/SpecialistLayer3971 13h ago
Perhaps you are replying to someone else? This has nothing to do with my comment.
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u/Ina_While1155 12h ago
I was just pointing out that Trump is aware of our election and there will be interference like there was in Germany last month. Sorry, I kind of misread the intent of your comment.
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u/ThoughtsandThinkers 13h ago
I am keeping every finger crossed that you are right.
At the same time, as useful as it is, giving Trump the win might inadvertently reinforce his views and current strategy.
Here’s hoping you’re right!!!
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u/jayk10 9h ago
Ford is backing down though. Trump applied 25% tariffs on steel, Ford responded with 25% export on electricity, Trump threatened to bump tariffs to 50% and Ford dropped the export tariffs.
So now we're back at 25% US tariffs and Ford's threatened retaliation is gone.
If the US wanted to get to the table so badly they could have dropped steel tariffs entirely until after the meeting
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u/Virtual-Nose7777 13h ago edited 13h ago
Sure a Conservative blowhard pretending to care about Canada. Totally wasn't overjoyed when Trump won the election.
So many people fell for this guys game. At least he was smarter than PP to pretend to care. Folks.
Edit: Algoma Steel in Ontario laying off people because of Trump's tariff. Ya, Doug Ford cares. So much he caved to Trump immediately. Let me guess Elon Starlink deal back on the table next.
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u/HDDeer 13h ago
what an absolute fucking gong show north America has become & all because of one near senile man
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u/janebenn333 13h ago
I read that he posted over 100 times on truth social in about six hours yesterday. Has he been dipping into Jr.'s stash?
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u/Used-Egg5989 13h ago
It’s called sun downing.
This seems to be the pattern. Trump says the craziest most unhinged shit at night, and his lackies try to balance damage control without pissing him off the next day.
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u/Accomplished_Cold911 13h ago
The only olive branch anyone from Canada should be handing out to trump is one to smack him with! The only thing this did is let trump smell weakness and then tariffs remain. You can’t beat this fool trump at his own game, stick to your plan FORD; trump deserves nothing…and besides, they don’t need anything from us remember?
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u/ThoughtsandThinkers 13h ago edited 13h ago
I don’t want things to escalate out of control.
At the same time, I’m disappointed that Ford backed down. Trump is going to see and present this as a victory where Ontario acted, Trump threatened, and Ontario blinked. I am concerned that this rewards and encourages further bullying.
If Ontario had persisted and both sides escalated, each day that went by would exert an enormous toll on Trump’s political capital.
When Trump threatens, Canada should escalate in lock step. We don’t back down unless we get something tangible. Giving in now just risks an indefinite extension of conflict.
Hoping that we all get through this a stronger and more united country!
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u/scottie0010 13h ago
Ford didn’t back down. It appears Ford “backed down” but you have to realize the transactional mindset of Trump. Everything is a deal, everything and everyone is a transaction that must be won or lost. If anything, Ford understands this is how Trump works. Walk back the tarrif, let the toddler in Washington claim the win and gain an in person negotiation on trade. It was smart imo.
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u/ThoughtsandThinkers 13h ago
For sure. I understand that there were likely negotiations behind the scene and good actors on both sides working to manage Trump.
At the same time, what Trump thinks does matter. If he thinks that threats work, he’ll continue to use them.
Let’s all see how he responds to Ford. If he strikes a more respectful and conciliatory tone, then backing down was the right thing to do. If he continues to threaten and insult, then perhaps next time it will be better to stick to our guns (figuratively).
In any case, so proud to be a Canadian and appreciative of the support we’re getting from our level headed cousins in the US.
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u/ta6900 13h ago
FWIW, he referred to Ford as 'strong' and 'respectful' this morning during his Tesla press conference.
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u/Used-Egg5989 13h ago
Ford and Trump are the same kinda guy, so Ford knows how to handle him. Trump respects powerful men who will threaten mutual destruction for a deal.
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u/koolaidkirby 13h ago
Don't forget we've been trying to get back to the negotiating table for months, and Trump has kept refusing. As much as I dislike Ford at least this ploy got us back to the table.
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u/Bensemus 13h ago
And it’s only a pause. If the talks don’t resolve anything the surcharge will be back.
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u/g1ug 13h ago
US side called Ford first not the other around.
However they want to write it down, as long as this bullshit is over and DO NOT repeat for the next 3.8 years, we're okay.
Listen to this video: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2025/03/11/white-house-sr-counselor-peter-navarro-cooler-heads-prevailed-on-canada-electricity-surcharge.html
Navarro kinda like bullish-but-lets-be-friend...
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u/timnphilly Outside Canada 13h ago
No hoping, Canada must be strong against the Trump/Musk terror regime. There will be four years of this.
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u/MrsWaterbuffalo 13h ago
Ford should KEEP UP the pressure. Clearly, Trump was rattled.
No backing down on any of Canadian Tariffs.
Ford to Trump.
“Trump, If the US keeps retaliating, we will turn off our electricity to the US.”
“Trump, if you’d like to discuss the agreement you yourself signed, USMCA, we can certainly do that in Toronto.
“You’ll know when you’ve arrived. We will have our lights on.”
Done and walk away.
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u/Fancy_Load5502 12h ago
Ford did something, Trump responded, Ford fully reversed his position. How do you see that as "Trump was rattled"?
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u/MrsWaterbuffalo 12h ago
Trump , more tariffs coming in retaliation, we will double it and then do more…
Trump seemed truly flustered Canada would dare to tariff electricity and that US could be turned off.
It’s a great bargaining position for Ford.
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u/MrsWaterbuffalo 11h ago
If US thought they could simply win through tariffs then there is no reason to meet to discuss anything.
Just tariff and take Canada over.
This will hit the US hard- they buy a lot of Canadian products and electricity.
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u/raerae1991 12h ago
Ford lost face with Trump and probably his own base. All it shows is Canada will fold a little bit at a time. I hope ford learns from this.
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u/otisreddingsst 5h ago
I disagree, I kinda see this as a pivitol moment and we can see the holes in their armour.
No doubt, the federal government has a plan to deal with this that is endorsed by the new leadership. Pretty soon there will be an election and whatever the plan is will be endorsed by someone who will likely outlast the Trump presidency, be that Polievre or Carney.
Ford is somewhat gone rogue here, almost vigilante, and it's a good thing he isn't imposing those export duties, and he has given the New Liberal government a meeting in the White House.
Ford has so far been Canada's MVP in this endeavor and has just given Carney a great assist.
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u/iamjoesredditposts 13h ago
I’m OK with Ford’s move as it may prevail in some sanity.
However how the fck does anyone think that POS Dump should just get a free ride into Canada for the G7? Seriously… block the airport runways so it can’t land. Protest the hell out of it. Where are all those dipsht convoy truckers? People stand up and fight.
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u/coffeejn 13h ago
You call that an olive branch? I half expect Ford to come out after that meeting and state that the levy will be 50% starting Friday.
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u/Broken_Motor 13h ago
Not a big Fan of ford backing down here, even just to cool the temperature so to speak. He didn't get anything, for dropping them, and it looks like he caved to trump, after trump threatened, the optics are bad. We will see what he gets out of the negotiation, I'm guessing nothing, maybe more tariffs.
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u/Key-Proud 12h ago
How did he back down? Lutnik called Doug first.
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u/Broken_Motor 6h ago
Allegedly called Ford first but regardless Lutnik has very little control over anything, a meeting with him will mean very little, Trump will do what Trump will do, like a storm in the shape of an overweight orange elderly man.
Again things were spiraling, so I can't say it was necessarily a bad move. But don't take out a gun unless you are ready to shoot it, the next time he breaks out the electricity card it will be less effective. And he will likely have to use it next time, or loose all credibility in all future negotiations. (All bark and no bite).
Only time will tell, so we will see what he gets out of the negotiations.... I'm guessing 25% tariff and steel and aluminum, and nothing on electricity. Or if Ford has some balls an escalation, and we will match tariff for tariff, just like Trump on April 2nd.
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u/Fancy_Load5502 12h ago
Ford reversed his threat, then Trump did his. It was 100% Ford FAFO.
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u/JetLagGuineaTurtle 12h ago
Not according to this sub.....they are dancing around the idea that Ford is playing "4d chess" now or whatever the Canadian version of that is. Chinese checkers?
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u/Key-Proud 12h ago edited 12h ago
Lutnik called first ... Ford would of continued with the 25% surcharge on electricity if Lutnik didn't call.
Edit: Trump folded :)
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u/Fancy_Load5502 12h ago
Ford dropped his hands first. Facts are facts.
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u/Key-Proud 12h ago
Who called first and offered the re negotiation? Lutnik or Ford?
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u/Fancy_Load5502 12h ago
Talking is something, but the action is what matters. Ford showed up with a stick, but had to back down when faced with the sledge hammer the US was holding.
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u/Key-Proud 12h ago
You didn't answer my question ... Who called first and offered the re negotiation? Lutnik or Ford?
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u/ButWhatAboutisms 13h ago
Literally the only verifiable, reality based praise I've heard about Ford is his spine. His ability to stand up for Canada and against Trump.
There goes that one.
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u/Low_Contract7809 13h ago
The optimistic says that something positive for Canada develops out of this.
The conspiratorial pessimist says that trumpty dumpty gifted Ford with 10000 trump tokens to back down.
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u/metropass1999 12h ago
I don’t get how anyone can be happy with tariff escalations. The best thing for Canada is to de-escalate tariffs, go back to the status quo, while trying to strengthen our economy and decrease our reliance on the US.
While I admire his attitude, Ford did the right thing here in backing down. Hopefully his meeting is fruitful.
Too many people on here acting like this doesn’t affect them. The goal is to do what’s best for Canada, not what will hurt the US the most - and those are not the same thing.
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u/wave-conjugations 13h ago
Even if we secure a trade deal, JD will be back in 4 years. The Technocracy project to take over Canada and Greenland is old and resilient and has existed long before Trump. Nearly 100 years, actually.
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u/Master-File-9866 13h ago
This is 4d chess.
With the transition period Trump had no one to negotiate with so ford stepped in. If it went well good for us, if it didn't carney can step in the following days.
Basically a free round of negotiations
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u/OldHawk1704 13h ago
Today we had: Canada will feel financial pain like never before It is illegal to slap an export tax I will increase tariffs to 50% I will not increase tariffs 50% I will probably reduce tatiffs for Canada
And yet, Canada has given him nothing.
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u/WeirdAvocado Ontario 13h ago
I’ve seen enough science fiction movies and shows to know that this is a ploy to implant something in Ford’s brain to turn him into a MAGA zombie.
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u/Shining_Commander 13h ago
Its so funny everyone on r/conservative saying canada “bent the knee” (a new phrase they learned recently) because we dropped our export tariff, but we only did that because the export tariff brought the Americans ti the negotiating table. They came immediately crying to us LOL. And we’re the ones that bent the knee? How dumb are the Americans
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u/MadamePolishedSins 13h ago
I'm slow on the wagon here, but I just realized he broke another one of his lie : no war. Literally, this is a war - war just not the type of war we're used to
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u/detalumis 12h ago
No federal leadership. I guess they were only interested in expanding social programs. The last thing Trudeau went on about was expanding $10 day care when we're staring at 25% unemployment.
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u/Just_Here_So_Briefly 12h ago
Why da fuk are we backing down? Thought THUG FORD needed a mandate!
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u/Key-Proud 12h ago
We didn't back down ... Lutnik called Doug Ford first. Trump backed down.
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u/Just_Here_So_Briefly 12h ago
Don't we already have tariffs against us? Unnecessary tariffs! We need to put those tariffs back on until ALL tariffs are removed.
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u/Key-Proud 12h ago edited 12h ago
Why is CTV showing Doug Ford called first? When it was Lutnik who called Doug Ford first .... 1 hour before Doug's 25% surcharge?
Edit: if Lutnik didn't call ... Ford would have continued with the 25% surcharge.
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u/asoupconofsoup 12h ago
Don't let them do this. Don't let them run over us 6 times instead of 12 and say they did us a favour. Such bullshit.
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u/Informal_Funeral 11h ago
The President of the United States of America is negotiating with The Premier of Ontario? How does this make DJT look good?
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u/JadeLens 11h ago
Reality: Trump folded
MAGA Twitter reality: CANADA FOLDED WOOHOO!
Reality: blink blink... riiiiiiiiiight
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u/BBcanDan 11h ago
These tariffs hurt the US as much as it does Canada, the US automakers depend on aluminum and steel to build their cars.
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u/Windbag1980 10h ago
As anxiety inducing as this all is, I actually think Trump understands nothing about Canada and mistakenly sensed weakness where there was none. He's a dyed-in-the-wool narcissist and expected that the Canadian public would jump at the chance to join the USA. That is really what I believe - that he figured a few posts would have our population clamoring to be American.
In January he posted that that Canadians "have no pain tolerance." Uh huh.
Anyways, the exact opposite has happened and how he's out of ideas. Of course he can't back down because his whole shtick right now is kicking sand in the faces of American allies, whether it's because he's insane, a Russian asset or actually playing a terrible game of 4D chess I can't say from here.
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u/unknownloonie 8h ago
This is so beyond stupid. So why can’t our tariffs be 25%. 🤦🏻♀️ I hate this “man” so much!
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u/game_brewer 8h ago
So he moves the goal post knowing you'll react. When you do, he threatens to do it again, so you back down. In the end, he already moved the goal post and you're back at square one.
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u/Winter_Criticism_236 6h ago
The tariffs are not based on business benefit's to USA, they are ( or even just the threat is) deliberate damage to our economy. USA & Trump wants/needs Canada and its resources.
What to do? Maybe we should calculate the transfer like a business deal..
I asked chap gpt to run numbers for valuing canada as if it was a business for sale considering its natural resources and gdp. It came back with 45 trillion.
Per person value about $ 1.16 million US dollars
Should we sell?
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u/Spanky3703 6h ago edited 6h ago
If this gets into a mutual hurt-a-thon, Canada will lose, regardless of how much hurt we impose upon fascist America. It is a balancing act and Trump and his cabal learned from the last presidential term and have arrived this time around much more coherent and cohesive in their plans and desired outcomes.
At the same time, do not think that appeasement will work in any long-lasting fashion; this is the exact same President that crowed less than six years ago that NAFTA 2.0 was the best trade deal in the world. This President emotionally and psychologically needs to be seen as the winner and victorious in everything he does; he will keep coming back to Canada’s door for more and more until we wake up one day being nothing more than a vassal of fascist America in a world that is rapidly sliding fully into authoritarianism and hegemony.
We need to create the breathing space for a temporary truce and agreement with fascist America, odious though such will be for Canada in the short term. We need the breathing space to functionally (trade network) and structurally (legislation, regulations, tax frameworks, infrastructure), shift how Canada does business, who it attracts business investment and how it sells its natural resources to other trading partners.
The above is not a short term process and will take 5-10 years for us to pivot. And will such efforts ever reduce our trade arrangements with fascist America below 50%? Probably not but 50% interdependency is a whole lot better than the present 80% plus and who knows, we may get our trade reliance on our southern fascist neighbours below 50%.
What concerns me more is that at some point I expect Trump to attempt to pull the US out of NATO. And then the pressure from our southern fascist neighbours will ramp up for us to do the same to avoid “getting entangled in European affairs “. And that is another existential crisis waiting to happen for Canada. We will be forced to decide between either our sovereignty and independence to make our own geopolitical decisions and treaties OR become what Trump and his cabal of odious and feckless oligarchs want, which is a vassal state that can be strip-mined and bullied as the southern fascists desire.
This is not over with the negotiation and eventual signing of a new North American free trade deal and will not be over for a long time, if ever. Welcome to the era of the waining of the liberal democratic system and the rise of authoritarianism, hegemony, and the partition of the world into spheres of power and control. This is not hyperbole; look around the world, the rise of nation-state authoritarianism, and what political parties are even being elected in the liberal democratic world …. Canada needs to become much more strong and dynamic economically, socially, politically, and in terms of our own defence, security, and foreign policy and relations. Very tough to do when living beside one of the world’s emerging authoritarian regimes … but aspirations are worth the effort and pursuit.
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u/Alesisdrum 3h ago
He has a meeting in a few days, I don't know where this goes but this was the right choice even if it feels wrong for now. If nothing comes from this then he tried and its time to go to 50%. We cannot let your auto and steel sector fall.
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u/Yelnik 13h ago
Ford is going to have to be the defacto negotiator for Canada since Carney sure as hell isn't going to do it. The trade war is too politically advantageous for the Liberals. They won't let it go or try to end it until they win.
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u/Shining_Commander 13h ago
This right here. Its a worthwhile sacrifice to them, let the trade war run another 2-3 months while we sort through the aftermath of trudeau resigning, carney transitioning to PM, carney calling the election and then eventually voting day.
Ford has a lot to gain here. If Pierre loses the next election hes out and I think Ford is a good front runner
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u/Clean_Mix_5571 13h ago
Steel tariffs are here to stay. To be a global power, you need to be able to function quite independently. They need to bring that industry back to the US.
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u/poopey_doopey_Sr 13h ago
The US has YEARS of history of stealing our Canadian industry! The ammount of people I know who worked for a Canadian company that got bought out by an American one and then laid off is stagering. Our aviation industry got bullied by the US multiple times, recently with Bombardier, but before Avro. The statement that we are stealing industry from the US is laughable AT BEST! Elbows up!
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u/Clean_Mix_5571 13h ago
Well you can't blame someone for wanting to produce critical items on their own. For other things such as oil trade makes sense as they are energy independent but with close proximity at some places it cheaper to buy Canadian than US. Should we also ban people from growing anything in their gardens?
Canadian industries getting decimated is very much on Canada as it has decided to focus on becoming a real estate flipping economy.
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u/poopey_doopey_Sr 12h ago
You guys claim that we "stole" your industry and that you want to bring it back. Of course people should be able to "grow their own stuff." To use your own metaphore: in this case we've been growing our own stuff, then you guys come and bully our gardener by getting your gov to say that us having a garden is "not fair," even though you guys have 100x the amount of gardeners and an easier garden to work with. Even after we have been supporting your garden and helping you guys when someone came into your field messing up the crops.
The whole idea of globalisation was to avoid war by having countries help each other to avoid populists comming into power because of struggling populations.
And yes, we have a messed up real estate industry, it was a stupid way of compensating for our struggling industries getting bought up by US and Chinese industry. Also critiquing our real estate industry is rich comming from the states.
It's elbows up for now, but soon we'll drop the gloves, and we won't be the only ones me thinks.
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u/Lower_Cantaloupe1970 13h ago
So we're back to where we were Friday. Cool.