Monday, June 30, 2025

Rope-A-Dope Or Taking A Dive?


TheOngoingRumbleInMrTrump's
TariffJungleVille


From Benjamin Lopez Steven of the CBC (and 3,713 other outlets this morning):

The federal government announced late Sunday evening it is rescinding the digital services tax, days after U.S. President Donald Trump demanded it gone and cut off Canada-U.S. trade negotiations.

 In a press release, the federal government said it would rescind the tax "in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States."

"Prime Minister Carney and President Trump have agreed that parties will resume negotiations with a view towards agreeing on a deal by July 21, 2025," the press release added...


Personally, I'm not entirely certain that Mr. Carney is our Ali in this scenario:

The rope-a-dope is a boxing fighting technique in which one contender leans against the ropes of the boxing ring to draw non-injuring offensive punches in an effort to tire their opponent out and, while they are on the ropes, try to execute devastating offensive punches. The rope-a-dope is most famously associated with Muhammad Ali in his October 1974 Rumble in the Jungle match against world heavyweight champion George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire...


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Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, even Mr. Starmer is saying No! No! No! to requests that he, too, go to digital tax Rehab...At least so far.


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17 comments:

Lew Edwardson said...

So, Mr. Carney went to work on the weekend dressed in knee pads rather than elbow pads. Knees down instead of elbows up. Doesn’t feel very good, but what are we to think?

Did he learn that the international effort to tax the digital tech giants was being undermined and Canada would be an outlier? Did he make the calculation that $1 billion per year wasn’t worth what he could save on the bigger trade issues? Is there a plan to eventually skin the tech cats another way? What about principles? What happened?

He owes us an explanation, and while it’s probably not going to come in the middle of the current negotiations ( nor should it), it had better be good. For his credibility going forward, if nothing else.

Meanwhile, we hear of ferries for BC being built in China, steel for the new Pattullo Bridge being supplied from China, and here in Tsawwassen I daily watch mile-long outbound trains loaded with coal destined for China and equally long inbound trains loaded with containers of durable goods built in Chinese factories fuelled by that coal. All while the federal government tells us that the Chinese are the bad guys.

Time for my South American orange juice.

GarFish said...

I'm thinking Rope-A-Dope. Those taxes have now become the sword of damocles.

GarFish said...

It will be interesting to see if it works, but all bets are off!

Cap said...

Trump is a dignity wraith. If you give him what he wants even once, he sucks out every ounce of dignity or respect. His victims are legion, and they now include Carney.

Evil Eye said...

Coward Carney capitulated and that means Canada has capitulated to the Mango Mussolini.

As i said before the last election, I voted for the lesser disappointment and coward Carney has met expectations.

History has taught us over and over again - YOU CANNOT APPEASE A DICTATOR and that is what Herr Trump is.

Coward Carney has become the Canadian Neville Chamberlain, "peace in our time and all that".

Not one Liberal MP should be allowed to attend any Canada Day events and should be "Elbows up" removed.

Canada has the best politcans money can buy.

Evil Eye said...

Lew, we must be neighbors, I have lived in Tsawwassen for 63 years! By the way, several of those mile long trains are filled with very dirty Montana Coal and we do not see the very volatile Braken Oil going by rail to Vancouver for Transshipment to Asia!

Lew Edwardson said...

I believe you meant to say Trump creates dignity wraiths, rather than he is one. Like Chris Christie, or Rudy Giuliani for instance.

In any case, I agree to a point. Which is that Trump will try to create one named Mark Carney. I don’t believe he’ll ever succeed, although I’ve been disappointed before, and he is up against a formidable thug on our behalf.

Watching somebody like Lindsey Graham, Mike Lindell, Marco Rubio or any of Trump’s cabinet secretaries at pressers with Trump and it’s very easy to see there’s no dignity left if there ever was any in any of those sad sacks. They’ll crawl over broken glass to be in the same room fawning over him. They’re clearly in it for themselves, and in the end that’s about all they’ll have.

But with someone like Zelenskyy, or Carney for that matter, there’s no dignity lost for a leader representing their country against a tyrant that they in other circumstances wouldn’t be seen in the same room with. In fact there’s a certain dignity in just showing up and demonstrating who the adult in the room is, even when you know you don’t have all the cards. Or in making a strategic retreat if necessary. As long as it doesn’t become a habit.

I think most people can spot the difference.


Lew Edwardson said...

Could be. We’re on Kuma, just off Wesley on the Bluff.

Anonymous said...

Ah, the village, we are on Cliff Place.

RossK said...

It looks like Mr. Trump's Press Secretary is on the same page as EE--

The United States has said that Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney “caved” to demands from the White House after his government abruptly scrapped their digital services tax on US technology companies, which was set to go into effect on Monday.

“It’s very simple. Prime minister Carney and Canada caved to president [Donald] Trump and the United States of America,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a daily briefing...


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Lew Edwardson said...

Such a classy White House press secretary.

If you’re on the same page as that bimbo, you’re on the wrong page, no?

e.a.f. said...

don't know what Carney's plans are but he may have played trump. Trump said he would not negotiate, well Carney removed that impediment. Now they can negotiate and given trump thinks Carney is a push over he may find out he isn't. Negotiations require some give and take. We will see what trump wants to give. Also this gives Carney time to see what develops in the U.S.A. Lets not forget trump is 79. those 3 back up singers we see in the photo ops don't look happy. I'm sure if
they could shove a knife in his back they would. This isn't over yet. trump not only has to deal with Carney but his own party and the possibility of some sort of civil war. At some point ICE et al are going to shoot the wrong people and we will have Kent State all over again with way more weapons.

Graham said...

e a f is right, Carney didn’t cave he gave up something to get something. What he gave up didn’t really matter except maybe to some of the Canadian media but does anyone really care about them, really? Not enough to go and buy a copy or a subscription. As the digital services tax hadn’t kicked in yet it was easy to not engage it and waste time collecting it only to give it back. It was a major sticking point so why start the fight there? And, what if Carney doesn’t give in on the DST? What then, how do the negotiations look at that point? People, those here too, would be crying for him to give in on the digital tax because they are hurting every where else that is a trade item with the US.
Carney is and must play a long game and I imagine there will be many ups and downs along the way. Not unlike the stock market if one can’t stomach the daily highs and lows one had better not watch.

Graham said...

Further to the conversation here… https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/digital-services-tax-carney-trump-analysis-1.7574315

GarFish said...

A standard Carney tactic. It worked so well with PP and the carbon tax.

RossK said...

Thanks all! Great conversation and real food for thought.

I'd be right there with those who feel that, from a negotiating point of view, Mr. Carney has done the right thing if I felt that the negotiations themselves were being held in good faith from the point of view of the other side.

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Keith said...

trump and his equally appalling press secretary were high fiving over the “win” however on one of our Canadian news channels it was reported the DST had been brought up by trump at the G 7 meeting. It could be a case of negotiating trump an easy win for him and the tech bros continuing donations, but Carney got something in return in the grand scheme, which is a bit of an assumption on my part considering with whom he is dealing with.