U.S. officials are threatening major changes to a trade agreement with Mexico and Canada that could upend the way business is done and leave Canada on the outs.
The Trump administration has a list of things it wants Mr. Carney to concede, including longstanding grievances about protected industries in Canada, such as the dairy sector. Another pressing issue for the U.S. administration is the fact that liquor distributors controlled by Ontario and other provincial governments in Canada pulled U.S. liquor off their shelves last year, in retaliation against Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
Trump administration officials have also been irked by Mr. Carney’s global charm offensive as he seeks to bolster Canada’s trade relationships with other countries, including China. Responding to a modest tariff deal that Mr. Carney struck during a visit to Beijing last month, Mr. Trump threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Canadian goods, and claimed that China would “take over” Canada and even ban hockey.
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Mr. Trump and his advisers have indicated that the three-country pact could be scrapped altogether. Instead, the United States could end up with bilateral deals with Canada and Mexico, the advisers have suggested. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Been listening in on the finance bro economy speak podcasts over the last while and what Americans don’t seem to grasp is that this isn’t going to go away when they kick Trump out of office. This is permanent damage done.
Canadians will happily take the hit while the government sets up new trade partnerships because we spent the last year doing it. There are now crops coming from local farms that didn’t exist two years ago because we were importing before then but the threats and market pressure placed national food security at the top of the priority list. Canadians as a people will made everyday sacrifices to do the thing and start winning back our independence from reliance on American trade. As an ally America has proven it is too volitille to trust even if they elect someone less crazy there’s no assurance that the system will honor it’s commitments anymore.
It will take a little while before the American economy looks like it is properly done for. Those small businesses are already disappearing along with the manufacturing jobs because raw materials that are tarriffed now will eventually just divert to other markets permanently. People are no longer going to the US for tourism the way they once did and once the tourism infrastructure of kitschy little customer service venues that depends on those dollars is lost those locations are going to start losing some of their charm as destinations. Once these private businesses burn through their credit and are forced to close shop your landscape is going to look very barren. I implore Americans to keep up the fight against this admin and at least try to stem the soft power and economic hemorrhage before it gets worse.
Oh we understand all too well. The damage from the current administration will take years to recover, decades, generations. Some of it never will
For me the anti-intellectual oppression is worse. That brain drain is something we’ll never recover from