Perhaps this is the greatest, and perhaps only, benefit of having the orange menace as president: forcing independence of the US. As an American I want Canada to punish our sorry excuse for a new government. While you are at it, ban Tesla across the board. I would suggest that you import BYD cars instead, but I would much rather see you expand bike lanes. Don't send your trees to the US, we just use them for toilet paper and paper towels. Use a bidet, let the trees grow bigger, then follow your advice and build with timber, selectively cut, and preserve the biodiversity that is Canada. We Americans have to deal with our orange marmalade mistake on our own. I am afraid it won't look pretty, but I for one, won't mind if you laugh.
Why not just invite BYD to build their EV's in Canada **now** before Trudeau eventually makes good on his "I'm resigning, but will stay on until my replacement can be elected" promise to leave? Why wait?
Actually I never liked Tesla or Musk that much. I prefer electric bikes, which is what I commute on. I never bought stock in Tesla. Cars are the problem, not just ICE vehicles. I sleep just fine, thank you, probably because of the electric bike commute (we have a lot of hills where I live). As far as group think goes, I learned a lot of lessons about life in East Africa and Mozambique. For one thing, most of the time local people are far smarter about their environment than we are. They taught me more than I ever gave them, and never talked down about it in the process. It turns out that diversity is a key to agricultural sustainability, equity is a key to good land distribution, and inclusion makes the most sense when you are dealing with people. The only ones who object to that are those worried about the lofty heights of their own position. I hope you are not lonely up there?
My house in Maine is all electric. But most people in Maine heat with oil. All the heating oil used here comes from New Brunswick. Same with gasoline. Advice to my Canadian friends. Please don't elect a fascist idiot to lead your country nor your provinces. Fascist is bad enough. Stupid is bad enough. But combined? We're screwed.
Pray tell, can you elaborate on what the major doctrine is for Fascism? "Facist" is thrown around with so much alacrity these past couple of decades (or more), I've discovered that most people have no idea what its history is.
So I was right - Stephen has NO idea of what a true fascist is nor what Fascism stands for. Merely a talking transformation for "I HATE you" and need a handy label that goes along with the crowd.
Here's a couple notes of Fascism. First is from a Cambridge Union debate:
"Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump. Il Duce, der Führer, The Donald. The Roman salute, the Sieg Heil, the YMCA dance. The comparison is so absurd it practically debunks itself.
Anyone who genuinely thinks that Trump’s America – whatever else you might think of the man or his policies – can be mentioned in the same breath as fascist Italy or Nazi Germany needs to get a grip.
Because let’s be clear about what we are talking about here. Fascism, and especially its Nazi incarnation, was an evil the like of which the world had never seen before. Or, thankfully, since.
Totalitarian control. Messianic dictatorship. A cult of racial superiority. Paramilitaries crushing the left at home. A Darwinian military struggle for supremacy abroad. The worship of war and violence. The mechanised attempt to murder all of Europe’s Jews.
If this sounds anything like America in 2025 to you, then I suggest you leave here right now and go and have a nice, long lie down.
Trump is many things. He’s a right-wing populist. He’s a trenchant opponent of illegal and mass migration. He’s a culture warrior. He can also be a thin-skinned, occasionally conspiratorial, blowhard.
But try as I might, I am struggling to find the extermination camps or the goose-stepping gunmen killing with impunity. Perhaps my colleagues on the other side can enlighten me."
--------------------
And Ruth Marcus (rather far along on the left side of the political spectrum) wrote at the Washington Post: “Trump’s second term is all about curtailing government’s power and reach.”
NO Fascist would ever do such things. Not EVAH! Their goal is to coalesce such Powers to as high a level of possible and making Government the only entity that has meaning or worth. We just end up as cogs (mostly very small ones) in its machine. What you do or say is controlled by Govt. Full stop.
Here and back at TH, I was often called a fascist by those that didn't even bother to read history and do their homework to properly understand what its definition really is - but think they are smart in hurling such an epithet at someone they no little about. Here's Nick Nolte's rather simplistic description of what a fascist is (using Marcus's subtitle):
"Hey, guess what the opposite of fascism is? Well, a pretty good definition is “curtailing government’s power and reach".
Did Hitler decrease or increase the power and reach of government? Did Stalin decrease or increase the power and reach of government? What about other infamous fascists like Castro, Mussolini, Hugo Chavez, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden? They all expanded the power and size of government because that’s what a fascist does.
Trump’s doing the opposite. In "Constitutional speak", he has started the process of paring down the Federal govt back to what is allowed by the Constitution. The crowding out of States Rights and powers that have been going on since the late 1890s has started. The Fed was never imagined to do so many things at such a high cost, not just in $$, but in Freedoms and Liberties at the individual level.
True Fascists hate that. They are of the Hobbesian mindset that Government controls those. Which, to put it another way, individuals have no Rights or Freedoms except at the whim of Government. Which is to say, individual have nothing at all.
I don't know what to do here, now you are calling Biden and Obama fascist. I don't care about names but this is getting beyond the pale. Meanwhile he is destroying my country's economy with his threats, that's what bothers me. Please stop the fascist namecalling or I will shut this down, we have bigger problems.
First, he has destroyed NOTHING in your economy as of this instant. And I already left a comment on your steel tariff post and I'm betting that will end up the same as this first set - his target is not the object that everyone else, like you is concentrating on right now (although I have an idea of what the actual target is).
Second, I dryly note that Stephen Sheehy first used "fascist" so you really should take this up with him and anyone else who is "throwing the first verbal/written punch. And he did so that fit no definition that could be applied to Trump.
I simply called him out on it - and having no real answer, ghosted this post.
Then, given its mal-usage against seemingly anyone on the Right that disagrees with the Left, I decided to supply some very simplistic definitions of a fascist/Fascism (it could be books long) and ONE of them is the growth of Government (and that, btw, was in the quote from Nick Nolte). Even Marcus, a long, LONG term columnist for WaPo, agreed that he's no fascist as NO fascist would EVER take steps to make Government smaller and less intrusive.
However, a second one is the control of news and speech for/by a populace is also the mark of totalitarians of any kind; repercussions if the Governmental line is not followed and we saw that in both of our countries during the Pandemic (Social media throttling demanded by the Biden Administration and the Truckers Strike punishments by the Trudeau (like seizing bank accounts) as two examples).
Given the current revelations coming out of the financials of USAID by the DOGE Bros, as well as previous information from the Twitter Files and Zuckerberg himself (think Facebook) backing them up, there were proscribed "Government speech" issuances and censorship of other lines of thought by non-Governmental folks over a long time periods.
Heck, FB throttled me, pre-Elon Twitter as well, so I know it existed. Thus such censorship happened under Biden - that is incontrovertible.
All that said, am I calling Biden a fascist? Nope - again, not my words.
However, the actions of his Administration (much of it staffed at the higher levels by Obama retreads) now fits two of the criteria. So, am I blaming Biden?
Nope, as I don't believe, because of his finally-acknowledged-dementia didn't have the horsepower to pull it off (Hur agreed). Heck, when I interviewed him back in 2008 during the Presidential Primary, he couldn't have pulled it off then either.
So I'm not calling anyone a fascist as I know the definitions. However, having been called one here and at TH, should I not have the ability to correct it when thrown my way?
This is tiresome. Now he is destroying our aluminum industry and the car industry. The entire country feels threatened. Companies are already laying people off because their American orders have dried up. We are in an economic war. "moving the overton window" my ass, he is breakign everything. And V is calling Trudeau a fascist- not on my website.
>>"I don't care about names but this is getting beyond the pale."
That's wildly surprising to me and some others here that you feel that way, Lloyd, because you had **NO PROBLEM** with Wayne Teel using the term "orange menace" to describe our duly-elected—both by electoral college AND popular vote—president, or his reference to Trump as "our orange marmalade mistake."
You know, I don't care that you're on the political left and hate Trump, but please, spare the reasoned reading public your blatant double standards, hypocrisy, and anti-free speech threats.
Great piece Lloyd. Excellent advice. I also agree Canada should put a 100% tariff on Tesla. The tech bro is a driver of the orange plague in the US. There are many other EV choices.
Well, this American is pretty ashamed of how our new government is treating our long-time friends North and South of our borders. Do what you have to do, Canadians, and remember many of us (in fact, most of us) down here in the US didn't vote for this, and don't support it. Some of us are doing what we can to resist actively. Please do what you can to support us... we need you!
Oh, I was just wondering about something. I thought the fella in the White House is the world's greatest dealmaker? I thought NAFTA 2.0 was his most beautiful deal ever? Why the tears now? Oh, I forgot to whom I was referring?
Ok, this read made me go from ”free” to ”paid subscriber”. This is the way to be thinking. And as an American (now also a Swedish passport holder since the first time Trump was elected) I agree that Canada should be more Scandinavian than American! And yes, travel to other countries, not the USA, if you really need some sunshine!
What a wonderful piece, I can see why you were eager to get it posted, and what a great collection of posters! Kelly's veg shopping looks just like mine this week.
"This will raise prices in the USA, hurting American citizens, and it will destroy demand for Canadian products, hurting Canadian citizens. It is likely that the Canadian Loonie will sink and unemployment will rise, causing economic hardship across the country."
You know, Lloyd, upon reflecting on this, let me totally agree with the dismay you must have felt in writing that. However, and in fact by hearkening back to a lot of what you have been writing about lately (as well as a number of CC commenters), I thought that you would have been overjoyed!
No, I'm not trying to make sport of your words - merely recalling them. While it is true that you despise Trump, I think you ought to be thanking him. Why?
IF his original 25% tariffs are enforced (which I highly doubt) and the second set on steel and aluminum (on lots of countries and not just Canada), it may bring your country into line with your stated desire. What is that?
Degrowth.
Less industry, a smaller economy, less manufacturing, less trade, less emissions, fewer people; everything that you say should be a global good if Degrowth does indeed becomes a reality.
Sure, Germany is doing it to itself right now. However, Trump may not ever enforce those tariffs (although today he said he may be implementing reciprocal tariffs -matching other countries' tariffs on our goods on theirs). But if he does, I still don't think it would ruin Canada but it might experience some level of Degrowth.
If it does, it will start Canada down the road that you have advocated for a while - and leading by example to boot. Taking the moral high ground, as it were.
I think the main reason I have not blocked you a thousand times is that you are often provocative and interesting, and you have a point here about degrowth. But this is all different. This is turning in to war. Everyone in the states says he is just talking, but people here don’t see that. They are getting ready to fight. https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2025/02/13/Do-Not-Test-Us-Trump/
To your last point, Yamamoto, who studied in the US before WWII, was said to have warned the Emperor/High Command that America, if Japan invaded, would be confronted by rifles behind every blade of grass (due to our 2nd Amendment). Asymmetric warfare often gives a smaller population an added boost. Afghanistan is a great example (although its religious zeal. Ever watch the fictional Red Dawn movie?
To your first point. I DO thank you for your kind words: provocative and interesting - I consider them high praise. I always try hard to be prepared and present information and questions in a way that make (or FORCE) people think deeper than they normally would (hopefully before their heads explode in shock or anger). Getting them startled doesn't hurt, either.
Back to your last point: no, it will not result in war and tell your friends it won't.
"but people here don’t see that" - that's because most "normal" people don't follow politics closely enough - if at all. And even most Americans haven't studied Trump closely enough (especially those on the Left that are losing their danged minds). While he isn't my main concern, I watched him closely in his first term. No, I am no expert on him and can get surprised by him but having studied politics for almost 20 years, I can tell you that he's not going to start a military war with Canada. Tell your friends to simmer down and LEARN how he operates.
Back to Degrowth. Since you said that I had a point, please elaborate on your point of view on my supposition, if you would.
So I read the article you linked to. I earlier pointed out how unprepared the Canadian military is with its meager 1.37% GDP spent on it. While I have no doubt there are some really good military folks in it, there are points here that I have in this snippet, given my Yamamoto reference above:
"That means loyalists from the Canadian Armed Forces could mobilize civilian recruits into decentralized fighting units that could strike, retreat into the wilderness and blend back into the local communities that support them.
The Canada-U.S. border is also easy to cross, which would give insurgents access to American critical infrastructure. It costs tens of billions of dollars to build an energy pipeline, and only a few thousand to blow one up."
And if strike forces were to come down from Canada, would they realize how many US combat veterans, even if now civilians, would also retaliate in return.
And American civilians, owning over 400 million guns and over 12 Trillion rounds as well as many other assorted military gear (for instance, one friend actually owns a tank - its cannon can fire). My eldest son, for another instance, is prior US Marine living 10 minutes from the border - he'd not be pleased nor would his other vet friends and hunting buddies....millions of them.
So tit for tat. And remember when Biden threatened his own citizenry with F-15s? Lots of folks just chuckled.
But no, no war. What should be asked by your friends is "what is his actual end goal?" It may be hiding in plain sight and has nothing to do with camo.
This line of thinking was the first place my thoughts took me to as well. An opportunity to rejig things to our benefit. It does need to be said that this is going to suck for people who are already struggling. However, maybe it will put a damper on our out of control consumerism. And maybe it will elevate awareness about local economies, locally made products and services, interprovincial trade barriers etc etc etc.
That's really funny, I belong to a Scotch club that met yesterday and I bought a bottle of Lot 40 so that we could have some Canadian content and it was great! I am switching to it.
Lloyd, just a question as many - myself included are advocating for removing barriers in Canada to interprovincial trade. One area we can have influence/impact is changing (getting rid of) the Provincial professional associations' dictate for licensing professionals (Architects, Engineers, Doctors, Nurses, lawyers etc) in each province they wish to do work/projects. A license to practice in Canada should be sufficient. I was working at this change some 20 years ago for engineers and it's still NOT resolved. Separate licensing is an unnecessary added cost to professionals, projects and lengthy nightmare for procuring services. The construction industry has the Red Seal program which allows/encourages across country mobility with ONE certificate/licence. We have to strongly advocate for this change and quickly.
Needs to happen here in the US between the States. Most such boards are just political rent-seekers in that they construct the standards and resulting barriers to keep competition out of their industries.
The new and old way of exercising control is through economic means, the United States has finally woken up to this, but at the same time they are still asleep on other tremendously important factors specially when it comes to foreign policy!
I regrettably read the link; you make a false equivalence between LEGAL migration and ILLEGAL immigration. They are NOT the same thing, and most certainly, not so in the 21st century.
Your null is void; ergo, your conclusions are also voided.
My null as you call it, is that both are driven by the same recycle dreams of the past. No one has new dreams so they chase the same old ones.
Legal & illegal migration are both migrations that are derived by dreams, the same dreams that drove people in the past to migrate, are the same dreams that are forcing people to migrate now.
MAGA, they see themselves as new, while asking for the same things of the past. They are also driven by recycle dreams.
If my hypothesis is void, I’d like to know what you propose is the driving force behind these groups?
So like you, just before Christmas we started buying Ontario Organic Apple Cider & other things from the US have started to drop out of our shopping list. Be cautious with what you replace US things with. Canada Dry hasn't been Canadian in decades, PC products, as with most private labels are from the lowest cost providers- often from the US, Old Dutch is a US company, etc. etc.
Funny story. I just got back from the grocery store with some driveway salt & as one enters there's a giant display of a skid of oranges with California in big colourful letters. So poor timing on their part!
Good advice, JS. I love my Kenora Dinner Jacket, but it came to me in Canada from L.L. Bean in Maine, so its replacement would presumably be subject to Canada's proposed countervailing 25% tariff. But wait a minute—the label also says 'Made in Sri Lanka'. Perhaps it will be tariff-free? How much value did L.L. Bean add? If our addition is on only the increased value added by the importer, that could be—er—tArrific.
I am really at a loss here as to why the U.S. would want to place a 25% tariff on goods and materials moving across the border between the United States and Canada and between the U.S. and Mexico. I keep hearing from different sources about how Canada, Mexico and the United States are allies. I have never known the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to cause such consternation as these tariffs appear to be causing.
Personally, as an American, I don’t want to pay more as a consumer for imported products and materials coming across the United States’ northern and southern borders. But isn’t that what’s effectively going to happen with these tariffs in place?
Unless there’s something I’m missing here, the only possible good that I can see coming as a result of these tariffs being imposed, is a lowering in emissions mucking up the common air that Canadians, Mexicans and Americans all share.
Summary: not enough people, as seen by Lloyd's writing and the commenters here, understand that tariffs are not just about taxes against other countries' products and services. It's a tool that can be used in negotiations - and Trump used it to get what he thought was best for the US. Not everything, but enough.
It was a nudge and neither Trudeau and Sheinbaum didn't "get it"...until they did. It was never about shutting out Canada and Mexico from the American marketplaces. It was always to get something else.
And for the record, both Trudea and Sheinbaum understood that neither of their countries had any economic leverage against the US during the negotiations so threatening retaliatory tariffs were meaningless. However, Trump believed that it was necessary for both to act in their own self-interest that also served the US's.
And no one here, I'm thinking, still understands. But then, again, most of you don't play in the political realm at all. COJ1 got it, however.
You don’t beat your best partner over the head with a club and kick their entire economy into turmoil a a “negotiating” tool. We have spent 40 years since Reagan integrating our economies and now nobody trusts anyone. As Premier Doug Ford, a trump supporter said, “you stabbed me in the heart.” I was not going to engage in comments but I have been in real estate development too and I know negotiations. I wouldn’t deal with people like this, I would rather leave money on the table. I was not going to engage here but you guys take this all so lightly. “Just stop the drugs” but there are almost none and they are all carried by Americans. It is much bigger than that and the goalposts change every day.
Lord Palmerston, a 19th-century British Prime Minister - "We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow."
You're first problem is that you think that countries are always friends; reread that quote.
A nation should ALWAYS put their interests FIRST above other nations. Cooperate when there is a common interest but there are times when a "common interest" needs to be forged (or has dissolved). Trump saw that a US self-interest / common interest need had to be forged - he got it. I'm also sure that both Trudeau and Sheinbaum got things "behind the scenes" as well to fulfill THEIR country's self-interest as well.
"I wouldn’t deal with people like this, I would rather leave money on the table.". I remember you once answered me that if a client wanted something THEIR way that you thought was wrong, you'd quit. That's not a lot of negotiating.
Trust me, I don't EVAH take politics lightly because I know how important it is (and most people don't) and this post is ALL about politics. So are the negotiations that Trump starts and usually from starting points that most people, especially those used to only "just politics as normal", have no idea how to respond or think about someone who comes at it from an entirely different orientation.
You, and the others, responded exactly as I thought you would. MY first reaction to the tariffs against Canada and Mexico, however, was "I do wonder exactly what he wants but it isn't about financially punishing either country - it is something else (and I was partially right)". He just wanted to put in a bit of chaos, get attention knowing that both countries would be too blinkered to see his other possibilities, and then get what he wanted because the price of not negotiating was so high for them.
Trust me, when some locales (like mine) and small industries would bear some burden, the outsized different between the US economy and others, it would not be hurtful to ours as we have far more alternatives to switch to. When US Senator Schumer tried to shame me by shaking a Canadian beer and a Mexican avocado, I laughed as I don't drink alcohol and I don't eat guacamole.
The real target, btw, was China was the 10% and removal of "de minimus" exception if you're not tracking.
So, I'll ask - do you know what Trump wanted when he said that the US should take over Gaza? Another country has already bought into the idea of "the Riviera of the Red Sea". It won't be the last country in on this deal nor the last time and he'll still get what he wants...do you know what that is, Lloyd?
It's like Mexico and Canada now paying to guard our borders (just like he got Mexico to pay for "the wall" in his first term - just not in the manner that most that had too much tunnel vision to focus on.
"Smugglers are brazenly using TikTok to advertise illegal crossings at the Canada-US border, complicating Canada’s trade and security talks with the U.S.,, according to a new report from the New York Post.
For nearly a year, Canadian traffickers, primarily targeting Indian nationals, have charged up to $5,000 for a seamless journey into the U.S., quickly replacing banned accounts with new ones. Their posts, often featuring a U.S. flag over a wooded border with Indian music, invite migrants to message for details.
“$4,000 cheapest in market,” says one post. “Payment after reach,” another says."
I believe that the word "BRAZEN" pretty much covers the antics of the TikTok smugglers. But all they are doing is taking advantage of the situation presented to them, calculating the risk of Canadian authorities catching them vs their own self-interest.
this is the second or third time you have sent me to the zero-hedge website, with this post getting its info from the Post and yes, tik-tok, written by Tyler Durden. Why should I believe any of this is true? I don't see this on the Canadian sites I follow, and they are not just the CBC.
I can provide you with other sites reporting on the same news if you prefer to change things up a bit for you. While I have tabbed them, it may take me a bit to find them again as I read about 75-100 sites a day (I'm rather eclectic for topics and always trying to verify one site against another to ensure that I don't fall into the "Well, it HAS to be true as I read it on the Internet" trap. Once I do, I'll post them here.
Like I've said before, I do my homework before posting or commenting.
I know that very well, I was working for a real estate developer in the 90s and built a condo in Jaffa, going every month to get rocks thrown at me by the Haredim (Orthodox Jews) who said I was building on an ancient cemetery. This will not end well.
I know also that in a world full of enemies, you don't start by fucking over your friends, which is what Trump is doing to Canada. Bad plan.
So what was the financial harm done to Canada, as you claim Trump has done by the threat of a tariff? Is it a financial harm to have the trade imbalance, to the tune of $65 to $100 billion, favoring Canada?
And Canada is only spending 1.37% GDP as a NATO "partner" - it isn't even doing the old standard of 2% much less the 5% that is the newer standard. But it assumes that the US of A will protect it against a surging China as well as Russia over the Arctic?
Certainly, Trump was correct as Mexico has been allowing illegal aliens to traverse its nation to enter the US in not following our laws. Add to it, allowing its cartels (that have almost turned Mexico into a failed [narco]state to bring in illegal drugs. With that, isn't that the case that Mexico was screwing over "its friend"?
In the end, no tariffs were enforced - I'd say there was no harm.
>> This will not end well.
So if you are not in favor of Trump's opening gambit for Gaza, what is your solution? And how does that ever compare in context and proportionality in the religious politics (which Gaza/Israel is ALL about) to the Haredim?
What do you mean "This will not end well"? How can it be any worse than what's currently been going on in Gaza for decades?
I see it like this: Palestinians commute to, and work, alongside the Zionists EVEN THOUGH THEY LOATHE THEM WITH EVERY FIBRE OF THEIR BODIES ... or more accurately, in spite of it. Why? Because it's the better alternative to the shitty conditions they have from overcrowding, poor infrastructure, and a terrorist political organization that steals their aid for weapons to be used against the Zionists (and in the process, use their citizenry to hide behind as human shields.) If Gaza were to be redeveloped and modernized, and the Palestinians had better education and economic opportunities working in the redevelopment areas, how would that be worse than relying on UNRWA for **95% OF THEIR G.D.P.**, especially when a good chunk of that is stolen by Hamas to enrich their own leaders who then engage in gaslighting operations to perpetuate anti-Jewish sentiment?
Saudi Arabia To Host Arab Summit To Discuss Trump's Gaza 'Takeover' Plan
"Saudi Arabia has revealed it plans to host leaders of four Arab countries at a summit on February 20 to consider President Donald Trump's US 'takeover' plan for the Gaza Strip, officials told AFP Friday.
Proposals to be considered at the summit could involve a Gulf-led reconstruction fund, as well as a political deal for Hamas' exit from power, according to several officials."
Certainly, Trump has accomplished his first goal which was to snare attention and then start the yakking. He's also, once again, put himself on the 80% of the 80/20 rule by forcing the other EMA nations to take sides.
He KNOWS why they (Jordon, Egypt, UAE, Saudis, et al) don't want the "Palestinians" in their countries - they are troublemakers of the worst kind as they are the bastard cousins of the Muslim Brotherhood that want nothing more than to implement an EMA Caliphate.
These heads of states now realize that Trump have given themselves a YUGE gift that they couldn't have given to themselves despite all their wealth.
"Canada's last-minute decision to cooperate with President Trump on border security and efforts to curb fentanyl trafficking was a key factor behind the president's 25% tariff threat. While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pledged to strengthen border security, a former US official who led an anti-fentanyl task force under President Trump's first term has argued that laws in Canada hinder a proper crackdown on the flow of drugs in the US.
"Well, several months ago, you had the biggest lab in the history of the world taken over by (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) in Vancouver... It made Breaking Bad look like minor league," former State Department official David Asher told Canada's state-funded CBC News' chief political correspondent, Rosemary Barton, in an interview last weekend.
Asher claimed that the fentanyl super lab was "definitely" connected to Chinese organized crime and also pointed to possible connections with Iran and even rogue biker gangs."
>>"It is much bigger than that and the goalposts change every day."
Well, yeah, that's one of the tactics Trump uses. He *did* write "The Art of the Deal" and is a successful businessman and billionaire as a result. You don't get to continue working with the same people over and over if they think they're getting screwed over. So long as the give-and-take is a true bi-directional give-and-take, instead of only a one-way-flows-the-benefits situation, it won't matter in the end and this is all a ruse for other goals he has in mind.
And yesterday he announced "reciprocal tariffs" which hasn't gone over well at all with almost all other countries in the world. Why?
They charge higher, sometimes MUCH higher tariffs, on our incoming goods to their country. All Trump wants is to have equal treatment in a bi-directional fashion.
But of course, now that we will charge the same XXX% tariff on their inbound cars to us, Trump is the bully. But other countries' leaders get a pass?
This one, this tariff, I think is going to either get implemented or other countries are going to lower theirs to a "reasonable" level.
I am not sure where you are getting your news from, but the reason is illegal immigrants and drugs. And a little bit of a trade imbalance. But the former is the most important. Notice not one thing was said about the illegals and drugs. Now you know where their priorities are.
Perhaps this is the greatest, and perhaps only, benefit of having the orange menace as president: forcing independence of the US. As an American I want Canada to punish our sorry excuse for a new government. While you are at it, ban Tesla across the board. I would suggest that you import BYD cars instead, but I would much rather see you expand bike lanes. Don't send your trees to the US, we just use them for toilet paper and paper towels. Use a bidet, let the trees grow bigger, then follow your advice and build with timber, selectively cut, and preserve the biodiversity that is Canada. We Americans have to deal with our orange marmalade mistake on our own. I am afraid it won't look pretty, but I for one, won't mind if you laugh.
I agree; when the American car manufacturers move back south we should invite BYD to fill their factories with affordable electric cars.
Why not just invite BYD to build their EV's in Canada **now** before Trudeau eventually makes good on his "I'm resigning, but will stay on until my replacement can be elected" promise to leave? Why wait?
Canadians are too polite to laugh...
Not some of the ones I know! Besides, if you can't laugh, you might have to cry all the time.
no attacking other commenters!
Actually I never liked Tesla or Musk that much. I prefer electric bikes, which is what I commute on. I never bought stock in Tesla. Cars are the problem, not just ICE vehicles. I sleep just fine, thank you, probably because of the electric bike commute (we have a lot of hills where I live). As far as group think goes, I learned a lot of lessons about life in East Africa and Mozambique. For one thing, most of the time local people are far smarter about their environment than we are. They taught me more than I ever gave them, and never talked down about it in the process. It turns out that diversity is a key to agricultural sustainability, equity is a key to good land distribution, and inclusion makes the most sense when you are dealing with people. The only ones who object to that are those worried about the lofty heights of their own position. I hope you are not lonely up there?
My house in Maine is all electric. But most people in Maine heat with oil. All the heating oil used here comes from New Brunswick. Same with gasoline. Advice to my Canadian friends. Please don't elect a fascist idiot to lead your country nor your provinces. Fascist is bad enough. Stupid is bad enough. But combined? We're screwed.
Pray tell, can you elaborate on what the major doctrine is for Fascism? "Facist" is thrown around with so much alacrity these past couple of decades (or more), I've discovered that most people have no idea what its history is.
So I was right - Stephen has NO idea of what a true fascist is nor what Fascism stands for. Merely a talking transformation for "I HATE you" and need a handy label that goes along with the crowd.
Here's a couple notes of Fascism. First is from a Cambridge Union debate:
"Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump. Il Duce, der Führer, The Donald. The Roman salute, the Sieg Heil, the YMCA dance. The comparison is so absurd it practically debunks itself.
Anyone who genuinely thinks that Trump’s America – whatever else you might think of the man or his policies – can be mentioned in the same breath as fascist Italy or Nazi Germany needs to get a grip.
Because let’s be clear about what we are talking about here. Fascism, and especially its Nazi incarnation, was an evil the like of which the world had never seen before. Or, thankfully, since.
Totalitarian control. Messianic dictatorship. A cult of racial superiority. Paramilitaries crushing the left at home. A Darwinian military struggle for supremacy abroad. The worship of war and violence. The mechanised attempt to murder all of Europe’s Jews.
If this sounds anything like America in 2025 to you, then I suggest you leave here right now and go and have a nice, long lie down.
Trump is many things. He’s a right-wing populist. He’s a trenchant opponent of illegal and mass migration. He’s a culture warrior. He can also be a thin-skinned, occasionally conspiratorial, blowhard.
But try as I might, I am struggling to find the extermination camps or the goose-stepping gunmen killing with impunity. Perhaps my colleagues on the other side can enlighten me."
--------------------
And Ruth Marcus (rather far along on the left side of the political spectrum) wrote at the Washington Post: “Trump’s second term is all about curtailing government’s power and reach.”
NO Fascist would ever do such things. Not EVAH! Their goal is to coalesce such Powers to as high a level of possible and making Government the only entity that has meaning or worth. We just end up as cogs (mostly very small ones) in its machine. What you do or say is controlled by Govt. Full stop.
Here and back at TH, I was often called a fascist by those that didn't even bother to read history and do their homework to properly understand what its definition really is - but think they are smart in hurling such an epithet at someone they no little about. Here's Nick Nolte's rather simplistic description of what a fascist is (using Marcus's subtitle):
"Hey, guess what the opposite of fascism is? Well, a pretty good definition is “curtailing government’s power and reach".
Did Hitler decrease or increase the power and reach of government? Did Stalin decrease or increase the power and reach of government? What about other infamous fascists like Castro, Mussolini, Hugo Chavez, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden? They all expanded the power and size of government because that’s what a fascist does.
Trump’s doing the opposite. In "Constitutional speak", he has started the process of paring down the Federal govt back to what is allowed by the Constitution. The crowding out of States Rights and powers that have been going on since the late 1890s has started. The Fed was never imagined to do so many things at such a high cost, not just in $$, but in Freedoms and Liberties at the individual level.
True Fascists hate that. They are of the Hobbesian mindset that Government controls those. Which, to put it another way, individuals have no Rights or Freedoms except at the whim of Government. Which is to say, individual have nothing at all.
I don't know what to do here, now you are calling Biden and Obama fascist. I don't care about names but this is getting beyond the pale. Meanwhile he is destroying my country's economy with his threats, that's what bothers me. Please stop the fascist namecalling or I will shut this down, we have bigger problems.
First, he has destroyed NOTHING in your economy as of this instant. And I already left a comment on your steel tariff post and I'm betting that will end up the same as this first set - his target is not the object that everyone else, like you is concentrating on right now (although I have an idea of what the actual target is).
Second, I dryly note that Stephen Sheehy first used "fascist" so you really should take this up with him and anyone else who is "throwing the first verbal/written punch. And he did so that fit no definition that could be applied to Trump.
I simply called him out on it - and having no real answer, ghosted this post.
Then, given its mal-usage against seemingly anyone on the Right that disagrees with the Left, I decided to supply some very simplistic definitions of a fascist/Fascism (it could be books long) and ONE of them is the growth of Government (and that, btw, was in the quote from Nick Nolte). Even Marcus, a long, LONG term columnist for WaPo, agreed that he's no fascist as NO fascist would EVER take steps to make Government smaller and less intrusive.
However, a second one is the control of news and speech for/by a populace is also the mark of totalitarians of any kind; repercussions if the Governmental line is not followed and we saw that in both of our countries during the Pandemic (Social media throttling demanded by the Biden Administration and the Truckers Strike punishments by the Trudeau (like seizing bank accounts) as two examples).
Given the current revelations coming out of the financials of USAID by the DOGE Bros, as well as previous information from the Twitter Files and Zuckerberg himself (think Facebook) backing them up, there were proscribed "Government speech" issuances and censorship of other lines of thought by non-Governmental folks over a long time periods.
Heck, FB throttled me, pre-Elon Twitter as well, so I know it existed. Thus such censorship happened under Biden - that is incontrovertible.
All that said, am I calling Biden a fascist? Nope - again, not my words.
However, the actions of his Administration (much of it staffed at the higher levels by Obama retreads) now fits two of the criteria. So, am I blaming Biden?
Nope, as I don't believe, because of his finally-acknowledged-dementia didn't have the horsepower to pull it off (Hur agreed). Heck, when I interviewed him back in 2008 during the Presidential Primary, he couldn't have pulled it off then either.
So I'm not calling anyone a fascist as I know the definitions. However, having been called one here and at TH, should I not have the ability to correct it when thrown my way?
This is tiresome. Now he is destroying our aluminum industry and the car industry. The entire country feels threatened. Companies are already laying people off because their American orders have dried up. We are in an economic war. "moving the overton window" my ass, he is breakign everything. And V is calling Trudeau a fascist- not on my website.
>>"I don't care about names but this is getting beyond the pale."
That's wildly surprising to me and some others here that you feel that way, Lloyd, because you had **NO PROBLEM** with Wayne Teel using the term "orange menace" to describe our duly-elected—both by electoral college AND popular vote—president, or his reference to Trump as "our orange marmalade mistake."
You know, I don't care that you're on the political left and hate Trump, but please, spare the reasoned reading public your blatant double standards, hypocrisy, and anti-free speech threats.
Fascism and stupidity are much the same thing
Great piece Lloyd. Excellent advice. I also agree Canada should put a 100% tariff on Tesla. The tech bro is a driver of the orange plague in the US. There are many other EV choices.
Well, this American is pretty ashamed of how our new government is treating our long-time friends North and South of our borders. Do what you have to do, Canadians, and remember many of us (in fact, most of us) down here in the US didn't vote for this, and don't support it. Some of us are doing what we can to resist actively. Please do what you can to support us... we need you!
>>"and remember many of us (in fact, most of us) down here in the US didn't vote for this"
Popular vote count:
Trump ... 77,301,997 votes
Kamala ... 75,017,626 votes
Electoral College count:
Trump ... 312
Kamala ... 226
You must have a different definition of "most" than I or every dictionary uses.
Oh, I was just wondering about something. I thought the fella in the White House is the world's greatest dealmaker? I thought NAFTA 2.0 was his most beautiful deal ever? Why the tears now? Oh, I forgot to whom I was referring?
Ok, this read made me go from ”free” to ”paid subscriber”. This is the way to be thinking. And as an American (now also a Swedish passport holder since the first time Trump was elected) I agree that Canada should be more Scandinavian than American! And yes, travel to other countries, not the USA, if you really need some sunshine!
Thank you!
What do you mean by "Scandinavian"? Canada has been historically British and French, not Scandinavian.
I meant politically (universal healthcare, etc) not who colonized the land.
What a wonderful piece, I can see why you were eager to get it posted, and what a great collection of posters! Kelly's veg shopping looks just like mine this week.
Those posters are priceless!
"This will raise prices in the USA, hurting American citizens, and it will destroy demand for Canadian products, hurting Canadian citizens. It is likely that the Canadian Loonie will sink and unemployment will rise, causing economic hardship across the country."
You know, Lloyd, upon reflecting on this, let me totally agree with the dismay you must have felt in writing that. However, and in fact by hearkening back to a lot of what you have been writing about lately (as well as a number of CC commenters), I thought that you would have been overjoyed!
No, I'm not trying to make sport of your words - merely recalling them. While it is true that you despise Trump, I think you ought to be thanking him. Why?
IF his original 25% tariffs are enforced (which I highly doubt) and the second set on steel and aluminum (on lots of countries and not just Canada), it may bring your country into line with your stated desire. What is that?
Degrowth.
Less industry, a smaller economy, less manufacturing, less trade, less emissions, fewer people; everything that you say should be a global good if Degrowth does indeed becomes a reality.
Sure, Germany is doing it to itself right now. However, Trump may not ever enforce those tariffs (although today he said he may be implementing reciprocal tariffs -matching other countries' tariffs on our goods on theirs). But if he does, I still don't think it would ruin Canada but it might experience some level of Degrowth.
If it does, it will start Canada down the road that you have advocated for a while - and leading by example to boot. Taking the moral high ground, as it were.
I think the main reason I have not blocked you a thousand times is that you are often provocative and interesting, and you have a point here about degrowth. But this is all different. This is turning in to war. Everyone in the states says he is just talking, but people here don’t see that. They are getting ready to fight. https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2025/02/13/Do-Not-Test-Us-Trump/
To your last point, Yamamoto, who studied in the US before WWII, was said to have warned the Emperor/High Command that America, if Japan invaded, would be confronted by rifles behind every blade of grass (due to our 2nd Amendment). Asymmetric warfare often gives a smaller population an added boost. Afghanistan is a great example (although its religious zeal. Ever watch the fictional Red Dawn movie?
To your first point. I DO thank you for your kind words: provocative and interesting - I consider them high praise. I always try hard to be prepared and present information and questions in a way that make (or FORCE) people think deeper than they normally would (hopefully before their heads explode in shock or anger). Getting them startled doesn't hurt, either.
Back to your last point: no, it will not result in war and tell your friends it won't.
"but people here don’t see that" - that's because most "normal" people don't follow politics closely enough - if at all. And even most Americans haven't studied Trump closely enough (especially those on the Left that are losing their danged minds). While he isn't my main concern, I watched him closely in his first term. No, I am no expert on him and can get surprised by him but having studied politics for almost 20 years, I can tell you that he's not going to start a military war with Canada. Tell your friends to simmer down and LEARN how he operates.
Back to Degrowth. Since you said that I had a point, please elaborate on your point of view on my supposition, if you would.
So I read the article you linked to. I earlier pointed out how unprepared the Canadian military is with its meager 1.37% GDP spent on it. While I have no doubt there are some really good military folks in it, there are points here that I have in this snippet, given my Yamamoto reference above:
"That means loyalists from the Canadian Armed Forces could mobilize civilian recruits into decentralized fighting units that could strike, retreat into the wilderness and blend back into the local communities that support them.
The Canada-U.S. border is also easy to cross, which would give insurgents access to American critical infrastructure. It costs tens of billions of dollars to build an energy pipeline, and only a few thousand to blow one up."
And if strike forces were to come down from Canada, would they realize how many US combat veterans, even if now civilians, would also retaliate in return.
And American civilians, owning over 400 million guns and over 12 Trillion rounds as well as many other assorted military gear (for instance, one friend actually owns a tank - its cannon can fire). My eldest son, for another instance, is prior US Marine living 10 minutes from the border - he'd not be pleased nor would his other vet friends and hunting buddies....millions of them.
So tit for tat. And remember when Biden threatened his own citizenry with F-15s? Lots of folks just chuckled.
But no, no war. What should be asked by your friends is "what is his actual end goal?" It may be hiding in plain sight and has nothing to do with camo.
Read the article too, the author thinks they are all Rambo's.
This line of thinking was the first place my thoughts took me to as well. An opportunity to rejig things to our benefit. It does need to be said that this is going to suck for people who are already struggling. However, maybe it will put a damper on our out of control consumerism. And maybe it will elevate awareness about local economies, locally made products and services, interprovincial trade barriers etc etc etc.
Also, I want to put in a plug for an absolutely delicious, 100% rye whiskey made right here in Toronto. Lot 40 has been my go-to for years. Try it!
That's really funny, I belong to a Scotch club that met yesterday and I bought a bottle of Lot 40 so that we could have some Canadian content and it was great! I am switching to it.
It's delish!
Lloyd, just a question as many - myself included are advocating for removing barriers in Canada to interprovincial trade. One area we can have influence/impact is changing (getting rid of) the Provincial professional associations' dictate for licensing professionals (Architects, Engineers, Doctors, Nurses, lawyers etc) in each province they wish to do work/projects. A license to practice in Canada should be sufficient. I was working at this change some 20 years ago for engineers and it's still NOT resolved. Separate licensing is an unnecessary added cost to professionals, projects and lengthy nightmare for procuring services. The construction industry has the Red Seal program which allows/encourages across country mobility with ONE certificate/licence. We have to strongly advocate for this change and quickly.
totally agree.
Needs to happen here in the US between the States. Most such boards are just political rent-seekers in that they construct the standards and resulting barriers to keep competition out of their industries.
“What Trump’s Tariffs Did Last Time (2018-2019): No Impact on Inflation, Doubled Receipts from Customs Duties, and Hit Stocks”?
https://wolfstreet.com/2025/02/03/what-trumps-tariffs-did-last-time-2018-2019-had-no-impact-on-inflation-doubled-receipts-from-customs-duties-and-hit-stocks/
But now the illegals and drugs will soon be curtailed. Or did you miss the news?
The new and old way of exercising control is through economic means, the United States has finally woken up to this, but at the same time they are still asleep on other tremendously important factors specially when it comes to foreign policy!
https://open.substack.com/pub/ragalla/p/dreaming-the-problem-with-migrants?r=55jm5x&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I regrettably read the link; you make a false equivalence between LEGAL migration and ILLEGAL immigration. They are NOT the same thing, and most certainly, not so in the 21st century.
Your null is void; ergo, your conclusions are also voided.
The questions I ask are,
What’s the driving force behind migration?
What’s the driving force of MAGA?
My null as you call it, is that both are driven by the same recycle dreams of the past. No one has new dreams so they chase the same old ones.
Legal & illegal migration are both migrations that are derived by dreams, the same dreams that drove people in the past to migrate, are the same dreams that are forcing people to migrate now.
MAGA, they see themselves as new, while asking for the same things of the past. They are also driven by recycle dreams.
If my hypothesis is void, I’d like to know what you propose is the driving force behind these groups?
So like you, just before Christmas we started buying Ontario Organic Apple Cider & other things from the US have started to drop out of our shopping list. Be cautious with what you replace US things with. Canada Dry hasn't been Canadian in decades, PC products, as with most private labels are from the lowest cost providers- often from the US, Old Dutch is a US company, etc. etc.
It's hard to know! but some stores are putting labels on their shelves and new lists are coming out.
Funny story. I just got back from the grocery store with some driveway salt & as one enters there's a giant display of a skid of oranges with California in big colourful letters. So poor timing on their part!
Good advice, JS. I love my Kenora Dinner Jacket, but it came to me in Canada from L.L. Bean in Maine, so its replacement would presumably be subject to Canada's proposed countervailing 25% tariff. But wait a minute—the label also says 'Made in Sri Lanka'. Perhaps it will be tariff-free? How much value did L.L. Bean add? If our addition is on only the increased value added by the importer, that could be—er—tArrific.
Well done Lloyd. Rally the troops at the checkout
I am really at a loss here as to why the U.S. would want to place a 25% tariff on goods and materials moving across the border between the United States and Canada and between the U.S. and Mexico. I keep hearing from different sources about how Canada, Mexico and the United States are allies. I have never known the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to cause such consternation as these tariffs appear to be causing.
Personally, as an American, I don’t want to pay more as a consumer for imported products and materials coming across the United States’ northern and southern borders. But isn’t that what’s effectively going to happen with these tariffs in place?
Unless there’s something I’m missing here, the only possible good that I can see coming as a result of these tariffs being imposed, is a lowering in emissions mucking up the common air that Canadians, Mexicans and Americans all share.
Summary: not enough people, as seen by Lloyd's writing and the commenters here, understand that tariffs are not just about taxes against other countries' products and services. It's a tool that can be used in negotiations - and Trump used it to get what he thought was best for the US. Not everything, but enough.
It was a nudge and neither Trudeau and Sheinbaum didn't "get it"...until they did. It was never about shutting out Canada and Mexico from the American marketplaces. It was always to get something else.
And for the record, both Trudea and Sheinbaum understood that neither of their countries had any economic leverage against the US during the negotiations so threatening retaliatory tariffs were meaningless. However, Trump believed that it was necessary for both to act in their own self-interest that also served the US's.
And no one here, I'm thinking, still understands. But then, again, most of you don't play in the political realm at all. COJ1 got it, however.
You don’t beat your best partner over the head with a club and kick their entire economy into turmoil a a “negotiating” tool. We have spent 40 years since Reagan integrating our economies and now nobody trusts anyone. As Premier Doug Ford, a trump supporter said, “you stabbed me in the heart.” I was not going to engage in comments but I have been in real estate development too and I know negotiations. I wouldn’t deal with people like this, I would rather leave money on the table. I was not going to engage here but you guys take this all so lightly. “Just stop the drugs” but there are almost none and they are all carried by Americans. It is much bigger than that and the goalposts change every day.
Lord Palmerston, a 19th-century British Prime Minister - "We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow."
You're first problem is that you think that countries are always friends; reread that quote.
A nation should ALWAYS put their interests FIRST above other nations. Cooperate when there is a common interest but there are times when a "common interest" needs to be forged (or has dissolved). Trump saw that a US self-interest / common interest need had to be forged - he got it. I'm also sure that both Trudeau and Sheinbaum got things "behind the scenes" as well to fulfill THEIR country's self-interest as well.
"I wouldn’t deal with people like this, I would rather leave money on the table.". I remember you once answered me that if a client wanted something THEIR way that you thought was wrong, you'd quit. That's not a lot of negotiating.
Trust me, I don't EVAH take politics lightly because I know how important it is (and most people don't) and this post is ALL about politics. So are the negotiations that Trump starts and usually from starting points that most people, especially those used to only "just politics as normal", have no idea how to respond or think about someone who comes at it from an entirely different orientation.
You, and the others, responded exactly as I thought you would. MY first reaction to the tariffs against Canada and Mexico, however, was "I do wonder exactly what he wants but it isn't about financially punishing either country - it is something else (and I was partially right)". He just wanted to put in a bit of chaos, get attention knowing that both countries would be too blinkered to see his other possibilities, and then get what he wanted because the price of not negotiating was so high for them.
Trust me, when some locales (like mine) and small industries would bear some burden, the outsized different between the US economy and others, it would not be hurtful to ours as we have far more alternatives to switch to. When US Senator Schumer tried to shame me by shaking a Canadian beer and a Mexican avocado, I laughed as I don't drink alcohol and I don't eat guacamole.
The real target, btw, was China was the 10% and removal of "de minimus" exception if you're not tracking.
So, I'll ask - do you know what Trump wanted when he said that the US should take over Gaza? Another country has already bought into the idea of "the Riviera of the Red Sea". It won't be the last country in on this deal nor the last time and he'll still get what he wants...do you know what that is, Lloyd?
It's like Mexico and Canada now paying to guard our borders (just like he got Mexico to pay for "the wall" in his first term - just not in the manner that most that had too much tunnel vision to focus on.
Back to our Northern/Canada's Southern border: an "insecurity" event:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/northern-border-undefended-and-easy-target-canadian-coyotes-smuggle-migrants-montreal-new
"Smugglers are brazenly using TikTok to advertise illegal crossings at the Canada-US border, complicating Canada’s trade and security talks with the U.S.,, according to a new report from the New York Post.
For nearly a year, Canadian traffickers, primarily targeting Indian nationals, have charged up to $5,000 for a seamless journey into the U.S., quickly replacing banned accounts with new ones. Their posts, often featuring a U.S. flag over a wooded border with Indian music, invite migrants to message for details.
“$4,000 cheapest in market,” says one post. “Payment after reach,” another says."
I believe that the word "BRAZEN" pretty much covers the antics of the TikTok smugglers. But all they are doing is taking advantage of the situation presented to them, calculating the risk of Canadian authorities catching them vs their own self-interest.
this is the second or third time you have sent me to the zero-hedge website, with this post getting its info from the Post and yes, tik-tok, written by Tyler Durden. Why should I believe any of this is true? I don't see this on the Canadian sites I follow, and they are not just the CBC.
I can provide you with other sites reporting on the same news if you prefer to change things up a bit for you. While I have tabbed them, it may take me a bit to find them again as I read about 75-100 sites a day (I'm rather eclectic for topics and always trying to verify one site against another to ensure that I don't fall into the "Well, it HAS to be true as I read it on the Internet" trap. Once I do, I'll post them here.
Like I've said before, I do my homework before posting or commenting.
Oh, this too - do you understand what the end result of the "Riviera of the Red Sea" would be?
I know that very well, I was working for a real estate developer in the 90s and built a condo in Jaffa, going every month to get rocks thrown at me by the Haredim (Orthodox Jews) who said I was building on an ancient cemetery. This will not end well.
I know also that in a world full of enemies, you don't start by fucking over your friends, which is what Trump is doing to Canada. Bad plan.
"you don't start by fucking over your friends"
So what was the financial harm done to Canada, as you claim Trump has done by the threat of a tariff? Is it a financial harm to have the trade imbalance, to the tune of $65 to $100 billion, favoring Canada?
And Canada is only spending 1.37% GDP as a NATO "partner" - it isn't even doing the old standard of 2% much less the 5% that is the newer standard. But it assumes that the US of A will protect it against a surging China as well as Russia over the Arctic?
Certainly, Trump was correct as Mexico has been allowing illegal aliens to traverse its nation to enter the US in not following our laws. Add to it, allowing its cartels (that have almost turned Mexico into a failed [narco]state to bring in illegal drugs. With that, isn't that the case that Mexico was screwing over "its friend"?
In the end, no tariffs were enforced - I'd say there was no harm.
>> This will not end well.
So if you are not in favor of Trump's opening gambit for Gaza, what is your solution? And how does that ever compare in context and proportionality in the religious politics (which Gaza/Israel is ALL about) to the Haredim?
What do you mean "This will not end well"? How can it be any worse than what's currently been going on in Gaza for decades?
I see it like this: Palestinians commute to, and work, alongside the Zionists EVEN THOUGH THEY LOATHE THEM WITH EVERY FIBRE OF THEIR BODIES ... or more accurately, in spite of it. Why? Because it's the better alternative to the shitty conditions they have from overcrowding, poor infrastructure, and a terrorist political organization that steals their aid for weapons to be used against the Zionists (and in the process, use their citizenry to hide behind as human shields.) If Gaza were to be redeveloped and modernized, and the Palestinians had better education and economic opportunities working in the redevelopment areas, how would that be worse than relying on UNRWA for **95% OF THEIR G.D.P.**, especially when a good chunk of that is stolen by Hamas to enrich their own leaders who then engage in gaslighting operations to perpetuate anti-Jewish sentiment?
And might you have a guess as to what this would do at the geo-political level? https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2025/02/07/zelensky-to-trump-keep-ukraine-free-get-a-great-deal-on-strategic-resources-n3799595
"This will not end well"
All is as I foresaw: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/saudi-arabia-host-arab-summit-discuss-trumps-gaza-takeover-plan
Saudi Arabia To Host Arab Summit To Discuss Trump's Gaza 'Takeover' Plan
"Saudi Arabia has revealed it plans to host leaders of four Arab countries at a summit on February 20 to consider President Donald Trump's US 'takeover' plan for the Gaza Strip, officials told AFP Friday.
Proposals to be considered at the summit could involve a Gulf-led reconstruction fund, as well as a political deal for Hamas' exit from power, according to several officials."
Certainly, Trump has accomplished his first goal which was to snare attention and then start the yakking. He's also, once again, put himself on the 80% of the 80/20 rule by forcing the other EMA nations to take sides.
He KNOWS why they (Jordon, Egypt, UAE, Saudis, et al) don't want the "Palestinians" in their countries - they are troublemakers of the worst kind as they are the bastard cousins of the Muslim Brotherhood that want nothing more than to implement an EMA Caliphate.
These heads of states now realize that Trump have given themselves a YUGE gift that they couldn't have given to themselves despite all their wealth.
Can you guess what the end goal now is?
"...but there are almost none"
Well, this would be news then:
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/busted-fentanyl-super-lab-canada-makes-breaking-bad-look-minor-league-former-trump-official
A snippet:
"Canada's last-minute decision to cooperate with President Trump on border security and efforts to curb fentanyl trafficking was a key factor behind the president's 25% tariff threat. While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pledged to strengthen border security, a former US official who led an anti-fentanyl task force under President Trump's first term has argued that laws in Canada hinder a proper crackdown on the flow of drugs in the US.
"Well, several months ago, you had the biggest lab in the history of the world taken over by (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) in Vancouver... It made Breaking Bad look like minor league," former State Department official David Asher told Canada's state-funded CBC News' chief political correspondent, Rosemary Barton, in an interview last weekend.
Asher claimed that the fentanyl super lab was "definitely" connected to Chinese organized crime and also pointed to possible connections with Iran and even rogue biker gangs."
Drugs, China
The 43 pounds of fentanyl stopped at the border, as pointed out in that story, was enough to kill 9,700,000 Americans.
I think that is reason enough.
>>"It is much bigger than that and the goalposts change every day."
Well, yeah, that's one of the tactics Trump uses. He *did* write "The Art of the Deal" and is a successful businessman and billionaire as a result. You don't get to continue working with the same people over and over if they think they're getting screwed over. So long as the give-and-take is a true bi-directional give-and-take, instead of only a one-way-flows-the-benefits situation, it won't matter in the end and this is all a ruse for other goals he has in mind.
And yesterday he announced "reciprocal tariffs" which hasn't gone over well at all with almost all other countries in the world. Why?
They charge higher, sometimes MUCH higher tariffs, on our incoming goods to their country. All Trump wants is to have equal treatment in a bi-directional fashion.
But of course, now that we will charge the same XXX% tariff on their inbound cars to us, Trump is the bully. But other countries' leaders get a pass?
This one, this tariff, I think is going to either get implemented or other countries are going to lower theirs to a "reasonable" level.
I am not sure where you are getting your news from, but the reason is illegal immigrants and drugs. And a little bit of a trade imbalance. But the former is the most important. Notice not one thing was said about the illegals and drugs. Now you know where their priorities are.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-156204095
More perspective. It’s definitely worth reading.
More perspective, Canada and Mexico are beefing up border security. The tariffs worked for those two countries. Now we will see about China.