25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports.

[wisdom]

14 minutes ago, wisdom said:

He is the North American Putin. There is no other reason just people parroting the party line. He is an expansionist who wants Canada. He admires Putin and Xi after all.

 

For Canada, it is about survival and we have to start looking for more reliable partners who don’t want to do a Putin on us.

[Gregmal]

3 minutes ago, wisdom said:

For Canada, it is about survival and we have to start looking for more reliable partners who don’t want to do a Putin on us.

Don’t get so manipulated emotionally. As cooler heads have already mentioned, Canada becoming a state is a 0 probability event, even if Canada itself wanted to do it. 

[wisdom]

I do not believe that is how partners solve issues by openly stating that is the way to end tariffs - annexation.

 

There is no good faith there.

 

Why should there be any trust moving forward?

Edited 2 hours ago by wisdom

[cwericb]

2 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Don’t get so manipulated emotionally. As cooler heads have already mentioned, Canada becoming a state is a 0 probability event, even if Canada itself wanted to do it. 

 

Why do you think that is true?

[Gregmal]

Just now, cwericb said:

 

Why do you think that is true?

Why would the party in power take an action that virtually guarantees that they are never in power again? At best, it would be a Puerto Rico scenario, and that wouldn’t qualify as a 51st state. 

[Spekulatius]

51 minutes ago, Pelagic said:

I'm kind of surprised Canada is going with the retaliatory tariffs approach too. I get that their politicians have to be seen as doing something and it's the most straightforward option to implement tariffs in return but there are other options. Putting their head down and committing to a national Manhattan Project style buildout of export capacity would likely put them in a much better position long term. This would also be a good use of tariff revenue in the short term for Canada. If a country (Canada) is selling you resources at a discount because they can't overcome domestic issues to facilitate the construction of export capacity, this isn't a situation you want to mess with, but alas here we are.

 

In a saner world Canada could even resurrect the TPP and spearhead a large free trade union sans US.

 

 

Yes, i agree, but this takes time.  Retaliatory tariffs are an immediate repose , building the economy for a world  much less centered around trade with the USA needs to be done but takes years , if not a decade. It also requires consensus within Canada.

 

This is the world that Peter Zeihan predicted.

[wisdom]

Why did Putin attack Ukraine?

 

People with grandiose delusions and  high on power do things that they should not.

 

If this doesn’t end soon the pain will be extreme in Canada. But Canada will be fighting for its survival so we will put up with more pain. Canada will have no choice for its own survival but to align with better partners.

[Gregmal]

Like you guys realize huge portions of places like Oregon, NY and California want to, and have the numbers to completely free themselves from states that don’t represent them, and yet, because of the bureaucracy, can’t? Yet Trumps just gonna snap his fingers and proof Canada is now a new state? That is literally the dumbest and most illogical fear I’ve ever heard voiced; more so even then when the kids think there’s boogeymen under their beds.

[Gregmal]

6 minutes ago, wisdom said:

Why did Putin attack Ukraine?

 

People with grandiose delusions and  high on power do things that they should not.

 

If this doesn’t end soon the pain will be extreme in Canada. But Canada will be fighting for its survival so we will put up with more pain. Canada will have no choice for its own survival but to align with better partners.

And that would be…China lol? All because they offer cheaper goods? Instead of just upping your defense spending and working out some win/win surface level deal for the press? That would be awfully contradictory to all of the fear mongering we ve been fed over the years about the evils of the Chinese.

 

Hmmm, not a lot of sense being made here. 

[John Hjorth]

7 minutes ago, wisdom said:

Why did Putin attack Ukraine?

 

Please stop derailing this topic with such.

[wisdom]

This is why any kind of war is dangerous. There is no rationality when one feels attacked and it takes turns that no one can anticipate.

 

Good luck if one thinks it will play out rationally when a President of a more powerful nation keeps repeating he wants your country.

[Spooky]

47 minutes ago, Milu said:

As you mentioned earlier tariffs aren't some new thing and they exist in just about every country in the world to some degree, yet when trump uses them panic ensues.

 

The issue is that there already is a very complicated free trade arrangement between US, Canada and Mexico with a lot of give and takes from all parties - it was formerly NAFTA and now the USMCA which has been negotiated over many decades. Now trump has invoked some kind of emergency power to impose blanket tariffs on all goods separate from this agreement. Does the USMCA even exist any more? No one even knows.

Edited 2 hours ago by Spooky

[wisdom]

4 minutes ago, John Hjorth said:

 

Please stop derailing this topic with such.

Sorry - I was trying to reply to the question why would a party do anything to hurt themselves in the future.

 

I was trying to connect it to a person or country not in touch with reality.

 

Obviously I did not do a good job in connecting the 2.

[Gregmal]

Well, the Shopify guy at least gets it. Why must people always get so emotional? 

[John Hjorth]

4 minutes ago, wisdom said:

Sorry - I was trying to reply to the question why would a party do anything to hurt themselves in the future.

 

I was trying to connect it to a person or country not in touch with reality.

 

Obviously I did not do a good job in connecting the 2.

 

You're forgiven, @wisdom ,

 

Peace.

[dwy000]

10 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

And that would be…China lol? All because they offer cheaper goods? Instead of just upping your defense spending and working out some win/win surface level deal for the press? That would be awfully contradictory to all of the fear mongering we ve been fed over the years about the evils of the Chinese.

 

Hmmm, not a lot of sense being made here. 

Since its obviously not about drugs or immigration (thats just the excuse) youre suggesting the tarriffs are just a PR stunt that will likely end with a surface level deal that really won't impact anything?

[wisdom]

People are emotional irrational creatures.

 

It is wrong to expect them to be rational - unfortunately

[Blake Hampton]

A Canadian oil embargo might be kinda badass but also kinda scary. Inflation would probably let loose.

 

It would be a similar situation to 1973 except much worse.

[Blake Hampton]

The Fed then might have to teach some of you a hard lesson in economics.

[wisdom]

We have to invest in ending our reliance on the US. 
 

We can’t allow this to happen ever again. That is the lesson learned and Canada will be better prepared for the next time. 
 

That will allow us to play hardball in the future.

Edited 1 hour ago by wisdom

[Maverick47]

2 hours ago, cwericb said:

John, you might feel a little different if you had just been stabbed in the back by your best friend.

Don’t you think that @John Hjorth might not appreciate Trump’s threats to take Greenland from Denmark, which is similar to Trump’s desire to use tariffs to turn Canada into a 51st state?

Something else will come along that will pull Trump’s attention elsewhere and some other advisor will get his ear.  Or when the weather warms up a bit in the DC area Trump will start golfing some more and get distracted just like a dog who sees a squirrel….and all this will blow over.  Besides, just because tariffs are introduced doesn’t mean that trade grinds to a halt.

 

Americans will still want to purchase Canadian oil, gas, lumber and autos.  They’ll just have to pay more for them and may not be able to afford as much of them as before, hence the expected inflation and economic dislocation for American consumers and for Canadians as well.

 

Metaphorically Trump is shooting himself in the foot with this decision.  It’s unfortunate that he’s injuring his neighbors as well with these actions, but economic decisions have economic consequences and as soon as Trump figures this out, or something else causes him pain, he’ll reverse course.  Remember when oil prices rose during the Biden administration and Biden suddenly felt it no longer necessary to punish Venezuela and keep them from selling oil?
 

 

 

[Gregmal]

1 minute ago, Blake Hampton said:

The Fed then might have to teach some of you a hard lesson in economics.

Sounds like we better get back to university and study up then! But hey, maybe JPow can channel some sort of voodoo spell from his living room couch in 2026.

[Blake Hampton]

You know now that I think about it, I don’t think Trump really understands the power Canada generally holds over us with its oil.

 

This mf is dumb.

[Gregmal]

9 minutes ago, dwy000 said:

Since its obviously not about drugs or immigration (thats just the excuse) youre suggesting the tarriffs are just a PR stunt that will likely end with a surface level deal that really won't impact anything?

Canada will end up contributing more money to defense spending and that will probably be it. 

[73 Reds]

2 hours ago, Blake Hampton said:

I did.
 

I’m completely invested in both inflation resistant assets and cash. The question I can’t seem to answer though is exactly how much of that should be cash.

Of course you always want to have cash (dry powder) available.  The precise amount is not as important as determining for yourself how much and into what will you invest any cash when the time comes.  Opportunities often arise at scary times.  It also helps to own at least some investments that regularly generate cash.