this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2025
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Even the Wall Street Journal said this was the dumbest trade war in history.

[–] MapleEngineer@lemmy.world 79 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Here are some numbers to consider.

The US sold $441 billion worth of goods and services to Canada in 2024.

Canada sold $482 billion worth of goods and services to the US in 2024.

The US has a populating of 334.9 million people.

Canada has a population of 40.1 million people.

Per capita, every American man, woman, and child spent $1,316.81 on Canadian goods and services.

Candians spent $12,019. 95 on American good and services.

Who isn't pulling their weight in this trading relationship?

This isn't about illegal immigration and it isn't about the 20 lbs of fentanyl that tried to cross the border from Canada.

This is about the billionaire class raising taxes on the poor and raising prices for Americans.

This is hurting the wealthy also since it jacks up costs on businesses. I wonder what the conversations he must be having with his donors must be. Maybe he is picking favored businesses.

[–] MrMcGasion@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

On the topic of fentanyl, if I may be so bold as to ask, do that many Americans genuinely give a shit about any fentanyl coming across any of our borders? I suppose those who do drugs that are likely to be cut with fentanyl, but as an American whose drug use consists of at most alcohol and legal weed, fentanyl isn't something I'm particularly worried about. I'm not saying it's not destructive or dangerous, but it's not something I ever feel worried about. Maybe I'm just too poor to be exposed to people who do the kind of drugs that get laced with fentanyl, or maybe I'm lacking more empathy than I realize, but while I've seen sad examples of people whose lives have been destroyed by opiates and fentanyl in news programs and documentaries, I also have a hard time not seeing the fear of Fentanyl as anything more than wealthy parents like Trump, who know their kids are doing cocaine or other drugs, worried that their kids (like Don Jr) will accidentally OD on some laced drugs, which again, maybe it's an empathy problem on my part, but maybe if you aren't smart enough to test your drugs maybe you shouldn't be doing them. I don't know, it just seems like dhe dumbest issue to tank the whole economy over (unless that was the goal all along, and you just want a boogeyman-scapegoat for an excuse). It's not that I even really care about "the economy" that much either, but I do care about ordinary people being able to afford housing and food.

[–] btaf45@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Never believe Trump's stated reasons for doing something, because Trump is notorious for being a pathological liar. Fentanyl doesn't have the slightest thing at all to do with Traitorapist Trump's new tariffs. The amount of fentanyl coming from Canada is almost zero. In his first term, Trump told a documented 20-25 lies per day 7 days per week. The fentanyl thing is just part of his quota of 25 lies for that day. The best way to understand Trump is that he literally thinks dishonesty is a virtue and honesty is a vice.

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If there wasn't such a huge demand for drugs in the US they wouldn't smuggle them in. They will continue to be smuggled in regardless of any trade war. I guess he plans on keeping them going forever.

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[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 56 points 2 days ago

LeT's StArT a TrAdE wAr WiTh OuR AlLiEs -my fucking countrymen, apparently

I hate this fucking timeline

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 6 points 1 day ago (3 children)
[–] el_eh_chase@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It seems to me like these proposed tariffs were just a way to get Canada and Mexico to come grovel and kiss Trump's ring. Both countries naturally want to avoid such a destructive policy being put in place, so they'll do what Trump asks for now. I expect these sorts of actions by Trump to continue throughout his term though. This begs the question, when will America's historic allies finally have enough? I was thinking these tariffs would be the ripping off the band-aid moment that spurs Canada and potentially the rest of the west to start re-structuring its economy away from such an unreliable partner. I guess this tentative status quo will continue for now.

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Oh the damage is done, there is no way Canada (not going to talk for other nations) will ever have as nice a trade relationship with the US. This was a wake up call for us and if we don't diversify our trading partners then we deserve the pain the orange man will bring.

Keep in mind we have spent 50 plus years getting the raw end of the deal with the US (softwood lumber, coal, power, oil sands, water etc.) all well telling ourselves that this is building a strong bond with our neighbours, only to now have it all turn to ash.

[–] el_eh_chase@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Totally agree. If we can't at least expect certainty out of the current arrangement, then we should stop with any sweetheart deals. It's ironic that the gist of Trump's views on international relations center on other countries pulling more of their weight, and it seems he will ultimately accomplish that, albeit by burning all the bridges established with said countries.

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 2 points 1 day ago

His obsession with trade deficits is really weird coming from the US that outsourced everything they could and became the largest consumer market. Its like he thinks other countries did that to the US and not you know what happened/is happening.

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[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 101 points 2 days ago (9 children)

Trump is so horrible he got Americans to side with the country putting retaliatory tariffs on them.

Also it should be pointed out that Trump essentially declared war on an ally because he wanted to seize Canadian land.

Any talk about drug trafficking is silly since the first thing Trump did was pardon one of the biggest drug traffickers in the world, Ross Ulbricht

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[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 42 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Congrats Trump and his buddies, you managed to not only save Trudeau but made the nation rally behind him out of national pride and defense.

[–] Clbull@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

I dunno about saving Trudeau, but I do think they've saved the Liberal Party from a total electoral wipeout.

[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago

Congrats Putin

ftfy

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 80 points 2 days ago (20 children)

We are actually seeing the us get destroyed by a mad king. Never let conservatives forget that they ushered in a man who intentionally tried to destroy their country.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 35 points 2 days ago

Yes, yes, but "Daddy's home, you guys! And he has his belt off! Yah-fucking-hoooooo! 'merica gunna be so gud noaw! Egg prices? What egg prices? Everything else is even more expensive, too, but we were for low prices before we were AGAINST them!"

This gives stupid people a real chubby, so we should all have to suffer for their stupid feels.

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[–] But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 39 points 2 days ago (1 children)

As a Canadian, I’ve already seen my nearest grocery store put up labels on shelves like “made in Canada” and aside from pricing it is gonna make it easier to avoid American products

[–] VitoRobles@lemmy.today 40 points 2 days ago (2 children)
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[–] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 68 points 2 days ago (3 children)

They should have made it 26%. Trump wouldn't be able to resist upping it to 27%, and they could just spend a day reaching the logical, yet stupid, conclusion to this mess.

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[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 394 points 3 days ago (44 children)

As an American, I'm rooting for Canada.

But this all feels very by design of Putin to fracture US alliances.

[–] Dreamless4561@sh.itjust.works 217 points 3 days ago (29 children)

I’m so upset at my Canadian family members who supported Trump.

I got an uncle who was constantly saying he supports trump cause he’ll “run the country the country like a business” - i don’t think either trump or him actually understand business all that well.

I hope Canadian-European relations get stronger, and hopefully Canadian-American relations will be rebuilt once this fucker is gone

[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 145 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Does your uncle realize trump was able to bankrupt a casino? Where they can can almost literally print money. And not just one, but three of them. This man is literally one of the most inept businessmen I have ever seen.

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[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 75 points 2 days ago (17 children)

American here.

Don't counter with tarrifs. Counter with embargoes. Trump loaded you a gun and handed it to you. Pull the fucking trigger already.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 87 points 2 days ago (8 children)

Counter by decriminalizing everything to do with violations of US intellectual property. Ignore all US patents. Let Canadian drug companies make pharmaceuticals without having to pay for a US license. Let repair shops disable the DRM systems that prevent HP printers from accepting any old generic ink. Let Canadian broadcasters show US movies and TV shows without kicking back money to Hollywood. Let Canadian farmers repair their tractors without first kicking back money to John Deere. Allow anybody who wants to to jailbreak iPhones, and sell kits that allow other people to do that. Free Canadians from having to kick 30% of every purchase back to Apple in California.

[–] EchoCranium@lemmy.zip 32 points 2 days ago (11 children)

That was Cory Doctorow's recent take on it too. Trump just threw out the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico he was so proud to say was his accomplishment, after renegotiating NAFTA. They really should say fine, stew in your own mess. Ignore patents, crank out cheap pharmaceuticals, forget about DRM. Nationalize US factories on their soil. Will hurt for a while until new trade is established, but there is the whole rest of the planet to trade with.

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[–] HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 40 points 2 days ago (7 children)

We're doing both. Both BC and Ontario are cutting off American Booze. That's gonna hurt American company's hard.

My hope if Trump keeps it up we cut off the power, and better yet the gas. Although that might make him try to invade or something.

Up next will be him calling Canadians Nazis and trying to annex Quebec.

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[–] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Keep checking the Orange Clown into the boards! When will the Nordiques return to Quebec?

[–] btaf45@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Get ready, middle class, for our glorious new era of Trumpflation.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Except now it will be branded FreedomFlation (TM). This is done to put our glorious Dear Leader and his pals like fElon on a pedestal! Don't worry if you and your kids go to bed hungry and have no idea if you'll keep your home tomorrow...donvict will bask in the glory of a brand new, gloriously golden 'merica.

And no complaining about it to anyone, because there will be donvict colluders to snitch on you for your thought crimes and redhatters hanging around with special uniforms to send you and your family off to glorious reeducation camps, er, centers, so you'll be thinking properly again in no time!

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[–] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 32 points 2 days ago (2 children)

If this escalates, wait until Canada decides to stop buying US made weapon systems. It will be expensive and time consuming to retrain, but the US is not a reliable defense partner under the neo-Nazi GOP. The US MIC must see the writing on the wall.

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[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 28 points 2 days ago (11 children)

I'm sure the Kamala timeline would have been Just As Bad (TM).

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[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 147 points 3 days ago (29 children)

The Trump administration says it put the tariffs in place to force China, Mexico and Canada to stop the spread and manufacturing of fentanyl, in addition to pressuring Canada and Mexico to limit any illegal immigration into the United States.

Can anyone else see any actual logic to this? Do the Trump Republicans really believe this, or are they just saying it? What do they really want to achieve, apart from Trump being able to see himself as a tough guy?

[–] breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca 135 points 3 days ago (2 children)

There's no logic to it at all. It's absolutely not about that.

Almost no fentanyl is getting into the US from Canada. A vanishingly small amount of illegal immigration occurs through the Canadian border.

It's just fascism and imperialism.

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[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 114 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Now that is a leader! His comments underline the senselessness of these tariffs:

“If President Trump wants to usher in a new ‘golden age’ for the United States, the better path is to partner with Canada not to punish us. Canada has the ingredients necessary to build a booming and secure partnership for the North American economy and we stand at the ready to work together.”

“We will stand strong for Canada. We will stand strong to ensure our countries continue to be the best neighbours in the world.”

How could you not ask for a better friend even when you're (US) being an asshole?

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[–] blady_blah@lemmy.world 35 points 2 days ago (10 children)

So from the conservative viewpoint, what is the rationale for the tariffs? Are people really supposed to believe it has something to do with fentanyl? Like do conservatives actually believe that or is there some other narrative besides Donald Trump is looking to flex his power?

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