Friday, June 27, 2025

The Orange Juice Double-Down Rebellion.


TakeThatMsBryant
SouthAmericanSunshineVille


From today's Guardian:

Donald Trump has announced he is ending trade talks with Canada, one of its largest trading partners, accusing it of imposing unfair taxes on US technology companies in a “direct and blatant attack on our country”...

{snip}

...The US has been negotiating a trade deal with Canada, one of its top two global trading partners, for months. Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, met Trump at the G7 summit of world leaders in Alberta earlier this month...


Why would anyone bother to negotiate in good faith with or, for that matter, sign anything with that man?



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7 comments:

Cap said...

Precisely. The man won't honour the CUSMA trade agreement he himself signed only 7 years ago. If he isn't happy about our technology taxes, then raise the issue under CUSMA's dispute resolution provisions.

Since Trump won't honour the agreement, I don't see why we continue to act like we're bound by it. We should roll back the 10 year extension on the patent length of biological substances and let our genetic drug makers produce new generic drugs.

Evil Eye said...

According to his niece, Mary Trump, an American psychologist, her uncle is a malignant narcissist, who, with the aide of her aunt, a former federal judge, stole their family's portion of the family estate after her dad passed away.

Sounds sort of typical for wealthy families, from my experience. but that little background aside, who would do business with sort of guy?

He bloody well went bankrupt owning casinos for gawds sake!

Who would do business with this sort of guy.

Carney is not stupid (I would rather say naive of Canadian politics, with the appointment of mayor moonbeam as housing minister) and if one listens to what Carney says and not what the Canadian legacy (American owned) media says, Canada's relationship with Trump's America is dead.

Canada is relining with Europe and abandoning the USA as a serious trade partner. The Americans, who remain largely ignorant of Canada (I just watched a a short segment of a reporter asking Americans in Alabama about Canada and not one could say much, except it is very cold place with little or no population!)

And her lies the problem, Canada with 90% of it's population living not more than 100 miles from the border and has full access to American media, knows a lot more about the USA and USA politics than Americans know a bout Canada, which by all accounts is very little, except for hockey and snow.

Trump can BS all he wants, but the fact remains, most Canadians knows Trumps BS and our prime Minister is acting accordingly.

Two future events will determine the US economy and Trump's tenure in the near future.

1) With the demise of FEMA, if there is a bad hurricane season (and by all accounts it will be), death tolls will be large and lack of disaster funding will bankrupt many Red States
2) When exports of natural gas (needed for making fertilizer and nitrates for farming) and potash dries up, being sold elsewhere and American farming will collapse, further bankrupting the the American economy.

Under Trump, the USA has turned from the strongest economy in the world to a dystopian billionaire tax haven, where poverty is widespread and ignorance prevails.

Why do business with this?

Lew Edwardson said...

As most everyone knows, Canada and the US have an historic trade relationship that is complex, deeply intertwined, and mutually beneficial. The US is Canada’s largest export market, and Canada is the 2nd largest trading partner of the US. About seventy percent of the exports from Canada to the U.S. are used to manufacture goods in the US. The long standing relationship has stood the test of time because it makes economic sense for both parties. Disputes are inevitable and have been settled by dispute resolutions imbedded in various trade agreements. Neither side always gets as much as they would like, but like in any good relationship each party has accepted the good with the bad because of the overall benefits. The relationship is now facing its biggest test, largely because a demonstrably unfit and unstable leader and his enablers have temporary control of virtually every aspect of life in the US.

In the current climate, Canada would indeed do well to look for every opportunity to diversify trade. But also drive as hard a bargain as can be achieved with the US and salvaging what it can from the existing relationship. It won’t be easy, as the lunatic in control in the US surprises his own negotiators on a daily basis with immature reactions to situations he doesn’t understand and lies that are both blatant and transparent. But even if he lasts a full term without being tuned up by nature, unforeseen events, or the electorate, we should remember that he will be gone eventually one way or the other. We have an established access to a market comprised of three-hundred and fifty million people (as subjugated as it currently is) across the longest land border in the world. Despite the current deportation fad that market isn’t going away. It would be sheer folly to give it up without a fight because a band of caretaker thugs occupies the White House.

Applicable clichés abound: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, “Steady as she goes”, “He who panics is lost”, and “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face”, to name a few.

Elbows up, and leave the hissy fits to the expert in that department.

Evil Eye said...

The problem is the world has changed. What used to be is not, no more.

What we are seeing down south is the "End of Empire" a painful ending to an experiment started in 1776.

It is not just Trump, but the entire politcal and legal system is collapsing into a third world banana republic.

Yes, the USA was Canada's largest trading power, but that made Canada lazy, especially Canadian politcans. Trump is the wake-up call.

Either Canada changes to meet the times or the country will dissolve into mediocrity. Again, this is a reality check and it is time that the country gets working again and not relying on the American way of gouging the little man/woman so corporations can make huge profits.

D.S said...

Meanwhile we also need to deal with the Jan Brady of premiers ,Daniel that keeps wining about Ottawa,Ottawa,Ottawa!!!! .Hard to work together with one kid trying to tear the family apart

Lew Edwardson said...

EE, you say the world has changed. That could be said about the world every day since its beginning. But when you say what used to be is not, no more, you’re obviously only talking about the elements that have changed, not those that haven’t.

Successful societies (like evolution itself) retain and adapt to the beneficial change and discard or modify the bad. And they don’t try fixing things that aren’t broken. Trump and his acolytes seem to have a penchant for retaining and doubling down on the bad, while eschewing the good, which as you point out has the US on the path to devolution.

One of the ways the world has changed is the rise of the tech industries, especially the information giants. Their immense profits have created billionaire oligarchs in the US who have arguably installed and own the government. Their core enterprises are virtually unregulated and untaxed, despite their enormous influence on society. And they aim to keep it that way.

The EU and Canada have determined to change that, which threatens the oligarchs, who have predictably sent their stooge into battle. He was literally frothing at the mouth the other day over what is in reality a predicted, modest, justified and long overdue tax on his benefactors. Possibly in part because he had to take time away from planning their next insult on the citizenry; cryptocurrency, where they can both scam their followers and hide the movement of their ill-gotten and obscene gains from the uppity public.

So I would argue that Canada is in fact changing with the times, but should not give up on what has been working. It wasn’t broken until Trump broke it, so let’s not let him “fix” it without a fight. It’s worth keeping.

e.a.f. said...

Danny's problem is she is believing her .press releases about how great she is and how wonderful a job she will do pulling out of confederation. She doesn't make much sense. She is working hard to change health care for the worse. Oh, well, perhaps there is country which we don't need to be friends with where we can appoint her to as abassador, send cameras along and CBC can air it as a new comedy show.