Canada

It's honestly a little reassuring to here that the reason for these tariffs is "We want to tax the ever-loving shit out of our citizens so we can give money to billionaires, but we don't want to call it a tax."

At least that means that it wasn't meant to be an act of betrayal and pre-text to war with Canada. I mean, it still was an act of betrayal creating massive hardship and permanently damaging our relationship. But the idea of a Russian/Ukraine remake happening along the 49th parallel seems less likely than it did.

There are three ways the U.S. government is working to cut down that deficit, Paterson added.

The first is a major budget resolution that calls for billions of dollars in tax cuts

Any good financial planner will tell you if you want to get out of debt, step one is decreasing your income

Tax cuts for billionaires to balance the budget? What morons actually believe that?

What a bunch of shit bags. The tarrifs violate the same trade agreement the cheeto signed a few years ago. If he doesn't like it, he can request a review in 2026. Until then, he should live up to his agreements. His actions make it abundantly clear any agreement with him isn't worth shit.

And using annexation threats as trade leverage to pass his tax cuts for the rich is beyond despicable.

It's literally a way to raise taxes on poor Americans without using the word tax.

Billionaires aren't importing significant amounts of physical goods from Canada, Mexico, or China.

For poor people, a good chunk of what they buy is coming from or partially made in one of those locations.

"There are three ways the U.S. government is working to cut down that deficit, Paterson added. The first is a major budget resolution that calls for billions of dollars in tax cuts"

...ah, yes, nothing balanced the budget like siphoning the federal coffers into the 1%ers' pockets.

“Tariffs are now a global policy of the United States,” said David Paterson, Ontario’s representative in Washington. “And this is a historic change to global trading patterns, and [the Americans are] very aware of that.”

Paterson said the American plan is to impose tariffs by sector across countries all around the world on April 2. From there, the countries that get along with the U.S. the best will be “first in line” to adjust or mitigate the tariffs.

[Ambassador Kirsten] Hillman described the meeting as “concrete” and appreciated the conversations, but she noted that nothing changed in terms of the ongoing trade war between Canada and the U.S.

That’s what I understood the strategy to be back in 2015 when it was first being floated.

Why did it take the government so long to figure it out? Because it’s so badly thought out that it couldn’t possibly have been the plan?