Summary
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced retaliatory tariffs after Donald Trump confirmed 25% tariffs on Canadian goods and 10% on energy, set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
Trump justified the move by linking it to fentanyl smuggling concerns.
Trudeau called the tariffs “unjustified” and imposed 25% tariffs on $155 billion in U.S. goods, with $30 billion effective immediately and the rest in 21 days.
He warned of price hikes and job losses in the U.S., arguing the move violates Trump’s own trade agreement from his last term.
Trudeau’s measured retaliation shows Canada won’t back down but prioritizes diplomacy over chaos.
🐱🐱🐱🐱
Don’t retaliate 1:1. Retaliate 5:1.
Burn the fucking bridge already.
American here.
100% support you Canada. Keep it up.
<3
We know it’s not all of you.
Excuse my ignorance but wouldn’t that make things more expensive for Canadians as well?
Yes. It’s alright, I’ve managed to mostly eliminate American products. Anyone smart or at least patriotic has looked into it as well, since the madness began. It was kind of neat watching the US products just sit on the shelves while Canadian stuff emptied out.
To reiterate what all our politicians have been saying to US media, Trump is raising prices on Americans to hurt us, it’s for no good reason, and we’re forced to do the same on our side.
Genuine question, if Trump’s tarrifs just make things expensive for Americans why would we put retaliatory tarrifs that effect us?
Do tarrifs really just make things more expensive for the home country? How do they effect the country the tarrifs are imposed on?
Trump’s tariffs make Canadian stuff more expensive for Americans, so they’ll tend to buy less Canadian stuff. Without retaliatory tariffs, Americans only buy American stuff, and Canadians continue to buy American stuff, so nobody is buying Canadian stuff. This hurts Canada because nobody is buying their stuff. With retaliatory tariffs, US stuff becomes more expensive in Canada, so it encourages Canadians to stop buying American and spend their money in Canada.
Do tarrifs really just make things more expensive for the home country? How do they effect the country the tarrifs are imposed on?
It makes it harder for that country to sell. Which means layoffs and loss of asset value there. The most dramatic example is the auto industry. They’re talking about just closing shop immediately, because their business plan depends on moving things back and forth across the border as they gradually get assembled.
If this goes on as long as I suspect, there will be new businesses that bubble up to use the same resources, but it’s never going to be as nice as a single integrated continent, and in the meanwhile, time is money, things can’t grow and develop while just sitting there. Not to mention the workers that now don’t know how to put food on the table.
Genuine question, if Trump’s tariffs just make things expensive for Americans why would we put retaliatory tariffs that effect us?
That’s actually a separate question. It’s a matter of tit-for-tat, partly. But, there’s also the fact that the US government is pocketing all those tariffs. If we didn’t have a bit of extra income to match, I imagine it’d get really hard for the government to pay for things with our now weaker currency. Not retaliating was considered, though.
Imagine widgets are $10 in country A, but a company in country B can make and sell them for $8. Buyers are likely to buy the cheapest (all else being equal). A 100% tariff would turn $8 into $16. Company B still only gets $8, but they now look far more expensive to customers in country A.
They are designed to price out external competitors to local companies. This can be used to protect industries. Steel is a good example. China can make steel far cheaper than the rest of the world. However, steel plants take a long time to build and get producing. You generally don’t want a potential rival to have control of the materials you need for war production.
Another legit use is to account for local regulations. If you require local companies to pay in a carbon credit system, an external company could undercut them from abroad. A tariff would help level the playing field.
None of these apply to what trump is doing. He’s swinging a claymore mine around like a toy hammer. It causes huge damage to all involved.
Not an economic, but everything is entangled
Say you have two products: one from USA ($110) and the same from Canada ($100). Now we impose a tariff of 25 pct on the Canadian product ($125).
This means that consumers are going to buy the cheaper product, resulting in less income for the Canadian manufacturer.
The USA manufacturer can increase the price to $120, and still be cheaper than their Canadian counterpart. All while prices for customers are increasing
The USA manufacturer can increase the price to $120, and still be cheaper than their Canadian counterpart.
Unless there is no USA manufacturer, or there is but they don’t make nearly enough of the product to satisfy demand. More importantly, if the manufacturers we (USA) have buy much of the needed raw materials to make their products from Canada or other places with tariffs imposed, then a USA-made product becomes that much more expensive.
It’s stupid, and hard on everyone but the blame is entirely on trump. Canada (and hopefully Mexico) imposing retaliatory tariffs is basically the only way to get trump to back down. Like with MAD (mutually assured destruction), the assured part has to be there or it doesn’t work. Even though it causes pain to everyone, retaliation is the most effective way to end this madness sooner–it will hurt the US economy, raise prices, and turn trump’s supporters against him. The more it hurts, the sooner people will be out in the streets.
Only on American products. Canadian products theoretically will cost the same.
I am starting to understand how felon tRump bankrupted casinos
Yes, but items are targeted to inflict the least amount of pain. We don’t neeed orange juice or bourbon for example.
And inflict the maximum amount of pain on specifically the bad Americans who are doing this.
Yes, tariffs increase prices in almost any case they’re implemented, which is the goal. Trudeau seems to be hoping that by adding these tariffs, it will become even easier to shift consumer behavior to buy non-American made goods, which could possibly either lead Trump to reduce/remove his tariffs, or at least make Americans feel more of the economic impact of those reductions in sales, which could then push more people to go against Trump politically.
I like Cory Doctorow’s plan.
The reason Canada got tariff-free access to sell to the US in the first place? Canada agreed to enforce penalties for tampering with digital locks, following the premise of the Digital Milennium Copyright Act.
If the US is going back on the deal, then Canada should too. Make it legal to jailbreak all US tech.
Doctorow advocating for this plan:
- On Democracy Now
- On his blog
- On his podcast
- In the Ursula Franklin lecture at the University of Toronto’s Innis College (I especially enjoyed this one, but it is the longest)
If the US is going back on the deal, then Canada should too. Make it legal to jailbreak all US tech.
That should be considered with plans for further escalation varying from nothing to an embargo.
Though arguably piracy and jailbreaking are not so bad for said domination. Microsoft practically encouraged piracy in ex-USSR at some point. Piracy solves the availability problem, supports market share, leads to short-term loss in sales but long-term growth.
But that’s Microsoft, while US government in general seems to think DMCA is for them what the Sound was for the Danish crown in middle ages.
Microsoft practically encouraged piracy in ex-USSR at some point. Piracy solves the availability problem, supports market share, leads to short-term loss in sales but long-term growth.
Yup, Bill Gates pretty much said he’d rather have people growing up on pirated Microsoft products than use alternatives.
Heck, make it legal to pirate all American media.
Hit where it really hurts: stop paying Microsoft.
A surprising amount of ‘American’ media is filmed and produced in Canada.
TorontoVancouver is like Hollywood North. This would probably be a footgunVancouver is a huge TV filming location as well.
Ugh, I feel like a dummy. I was picturing BC in my mind and typed out Toronto. You’re 100% correct about Vancouver
Toronto is used for pretty much any scenes set in NYC though
No problem, make exceptions for anything that was made involving Canada!
Producers like to film in Toronto while pretending that it’s NYC. X-Men and What We Do In The Shadows are the first things that come to mind. I still find it hilarious that the “Westchester” Train Station in X1 is in Hamilton (I believe)
A more subtle crossover is that Ramona (Scott Pilgrim) is from NYC
Stargate SG-1, full of blatant military propaganda (I know it’s not so bad, but), was filmed there.
It already basically is; Anti-piracy laws in Canada don’t have a lot of teeth. I leave my torrent computer running 24 hours a day to seed and I don’t even get emails anymore after switching to a smaller service provider.
VPN with multi-hop proxy, my bratha/sista.
In that case, the Candian government should set up an official service for downloading American stuff. Making it easy to find things would be worth a nominal fee for a lot of people.
Yeah, I’m not too concerned about that. Their courts are being attacked with so much that I’m pretty sure downloading a car isn’t going to be high on their list.
Im pretty sure i watched him say this on democracy now and he was a great listen
Yep, I caught that one too. He’s a fantastic orator. He’s got an endless arsenal of one-liners.
I added a link to that and some other instances where he’s made this argument.
They could also make their own play store and apple store, and could charge the developers much lower fees, for the same apps that would work anywhere. It would cost them very little and be nothing but profit.
The fact that both Apple and d Google fail to keep malware off their stores makes me think it’s maybe not so easy.
Pretty sure Canada could do as good of a job as anyone though.
Trump is such a vindictive moron. Whether he’s a Russian asset or just a certifiably stupid, the end result is the same.
Good god I hate this fucking timeline. Fuck corporate America for backing this monster and fuck everyone who voted for him. Fuck the Democrats for collectively shrugging about all this too.
Whether he’s a Russian asset or just certifiably stupid
Most definitely both.
Yeah, if he was just in it for his own aggrandisement, none of this would make sense. The orders are very clearly coming from Moscow here, because only Putin benefits from all this bullshit.
And he’s stupid for going along with it - a smart Russian asset US president would get something in return other than a pat on the head.
We need to really turn the screws into the U.S. Along with applying tariffs, we also need to just outright stop delivery of critical materials they need. Full Stop.
I’m know this is just a sounding board, but honestly I’d love to see the cutting off of any and all essential raw materials they need. I’m sure they can source it elsewhere, but they most likely can’t get enough of it fast enough.
Cut off anything they need for energy and more importantly: agriculture.
People can live without power. Make their stomachs ache.
Trump is a diseased cunt who doesn’t understand what happens when things don’t go his own way. Let’s show him.
The Beaverton had as a headline a few weeks back along the lines of “Americans choose the most expensive way to figure out what they purchase from Canada” which I thought was appropriate.
I said it before. Stop sending aluminum and steel and aerospace and military manufacturing would suffer immensely. That is 90%+ of all good made, metals have strict import requirements and certifications, and we couldn’t just make our own on a whim.
Starting off slow and ramping up sends the correct message that (a) we want to find a way to stop this garbage and (b) we can and will make things more painful for business and consumers alike if it continues long term.
Yes make us hurt. It’s the only way.
I was going to buy an item but the price went up since yesterday. Not going to buy it now. It’s his tax on us. Not going to finance Krasnov’s destruction of America.
unfortunately, America has created a system where we can’t really do anything about the president at this point I am really wondering how long will the global world order allow Donald Trump to continue to screw things up for everybody else? Not just talking about economics with Mexico, Canada and China. But also the military situation in Ukraine, which directly impacts the European Union as well as NATO 
Unfortunately Americans are convinced they can’t do anything about it, so they don’t.
They absolutely can do something. They don’t want to. They support this.
This is not Donald Trump, this is America. They voted for exactly this. And they seem to be enjoying it.
I am NOT enjoying it and I’m doing everything in my power to resist this administration.
Checks instance name
In Minecraft. Always in Minecraft.
Fair, not everyone, but a slight majority of people still support this shitshow.
The polls I saw said the opposite.
And that’s ignoring that a large percentage of those who do still support our are choosing to believe their messiah over reality and think that it will make everything cheaper; I do believe that as soon as it’s no longer deniable a large chunk will turn on him. But unfortunately not all of them since plenty will be fully prepared to just blame someone else anyway
Trust me, we (the sane of us) don’t like any part of the dumbest idiots of the country letting it the rich narcissist Nazis takeover them.
The problem is that the global order is collapsing. That’s what makes this possible for Trump and his companions. It’s been going to shit for a while. We’re entering a world where international law will be less important. Sadly.
International law was already completely irrelevant when it came to the developed world imposing its will on the entire developing world, or anyone classified as an “enemy”. There are hundreds of violations across the years that were never enforced, from America carpet bombing south east asia and installing puppet regimes around the world, to Russias use of phosphorous warheads and chemical weapons in Syria, to Israel (and allies) genocide in Palestine.
International laws have only ever been, at best, gentleman’s agreements among the developed world’s oligarchs and political classes.
What’s happening now is the US political class and oligarchy are shifting allegiance to fascist authoritarianism and imperialism, because both are populated with mentally ill narcissists and psychopaths of insatiable greed and megalomania, completely detached from reality; no different to the feudalist monarchs, emperors and pharaohs of old.
I also don’t believe this is an America problem, as much as it is a capitalism problem. Americas oligarchy are no different to Russias oligarchy, who are no different to Chinas oligarchy, who are no different to every oligarchy. They are borderless, stateless, only worship wealth and power, and are a reflection of the psychology created by unchecked wealth and power; these people view themselves as the rightful rulers of humanity, by virtue of their wealth and power, and views concepts like democracy a direct threat to their existence.
Fucking phenomenal run for American upper-middle classers & up for daysssss (decades)
Staycations on every screen, DoorDash, weekends at national parks, summers full of music festivals, no air raid sirens or drafts
Little blips of economic busts and terrorism, but overall stable with a solid stock market. The climate taking its beating without much protest. The developing world manufacturing much of our own world for pennies on the dollar, their conditions out of sight and out of mind. Stagnant minimum wage, the prison industrial complex, the crimes of the healthcare industry - captivating John Oliver segments, yes, but not pressing personal problems.
waow that was a lotta work over the years from a lotta good people to get the US here, and now…
(job hunt question)
Any recommendations for organizations that might be hiring right now and looking for people who want to fix this?
We’re entering a world where international law will be less important. Sadly.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record: International law was never important. It was always rules for thee and not for me.
I am really wondering how long will the global world order allow Donald Trump to continue to screw things up for everybody else?
I mean what are they gonna do? Invade and depose him? We’re witnessing the end of the Pax* Americana, simple as that.
*Terms and conditions apply.
Well if this were the middle east or a communist problem , western countries would just have him assassinated…which is horrible- but its true if you go back long enough
The trouble is that the problem is not confined to just Trump. If he dies, Vance becomes president. If they both die, Mike Johnson does. This is not a coup by a single person, this is an entire philosophy - neo-fascism - thats now in charge of the US. Its goose-stepping turtles all the way down.
While that’s all true, nobody likes Vance or Johnson the way they like Trump. If he dies and Vance replaces him, I expect a lot more pushback than what Trump gets.
I don’t think any of them give two shits about pushback. Unless that pushback takes the form of forcible removal from power, they wont care in any way.
I don’t think it’s within other countries capabilities (Israel maybe, but why would they), nor in their intrest.
In some failed states it’s considerably easier to have certain people eliminated (and for sure has happened many many times).
Current USA is an internal affair with external effects. Other countries can’t do anything, that’s what happens when 1 country has the very biggest strongest military and security machine ever (way bigger than any competitor, no country get near). Even if they’ld want to, there is no way. And the current situation is unpredicatble and not stable, it would become even less predictable and less stable when certain people were to be assassinated.
If assassinations happen in the trump admin in the near future, I think it would more likely come from USA security services internally. Not sure if it’s for the better. Decent chance in that case of civil war type scenarios tbh.
at this point civil war is maybe the best we can aim for
I’m sure there will be a welcome mat, door is open
The US is one of the only, if not the only country in the world where what can be done is enshrined in the constitution.
Surely the US isn’t the only country that has foreign leaders assassinated?..
Lee Harvey Oswald found a way to do something about the presidency. Just saying…
I mean then Vance would succeed him, which is… not good. At least Trump is an idiot.
I believe you mean Bernard Montgomery Sanders who we all know was the second shooter.
I guess this is a joke, but it’s dangerous because any conspiracy theory can find many people who take it seriously these days.
It is Robert Evans of Behind The Bastards has been making this joke for 6-7 years now
Lee Harvey, ONI and Guy Bannister
should double those tariffs.
If Trump escalates, so do we.
If we go “all in” on day one, we don’t have any future leverage.
you are right, got to strategically tariff so it hurts US but with minimal impact on Canada.
Why doesn’t trump just setup fentanyl production in the states? Seems like a easy fix for me /s
By the end of these 4 years, everyone will be jobless and prices will be unreasonably high. Wonderful.
4 years? Do people really think that there will be mid-term election? and presidential one in 4 years? really?
I thought the point of all this was to ratchet up tensions so Trump could declare martial law and suspend democracy indefinitely.
“We have always been at war with everyone but Russia and China….”
Yes, elections are run by the states, not the federal government. Will red states have fair elections? Absolutely not.
Just like, checks notes 96 years ago!
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