We know it’s a bad deal because Trump offered it; he would never , ever offer anything but a one sided deal that profited him and hurt the other side. And then go back on it at the first opportunity.
Carney is pretty much by definition more trustworthy (and more morally righteous in general) than Trump, just because he isn’t Trump. Maximum security prisons are full of people more trustworthy than Trump.
Luckily, with Trump in charge, Canadians don’t have to choose: we can oppose Trump’s expansionism and work for environmental policies at the same time!
Trump is one of the few real life examples where the old joke “watch him very carefully, then do the opposite of whatever he does” is actually reasonable advice.
Ford on CNN today sounding like a calm, rational, responsible person. Nothing like the fire & brimstone warrior of darkness that is going to cut the electricity to hundreds of THOUSANDS of Americans. The bluster is all a ruse.
Its a tactic to grab headlines, dip markets, get American investors scared at Trump, get on American news, make the case for stability, and occupy the mental space of the American voters. Ford is a particularly well suited person to play the hothead, nutbar, bad cop too. Its the ONE thing I’ll give him credit for.
The Liar-in-Chief just keeps right on. Facts have never been an obstacle!
We have/had effectively tariff free trade in North America. The relative tariffs back in 2020 was less than 1%. Tariffs were sufficiently low between the countries that only after Liberation Day did a number of companies opt to file the paperwork to ensure they fell under CUSMA/USMCA country of origin regulations.
But, I don’t think was an actual customs union, where things can cross the border without any impediment. I think parts of Europe are a genuine customs union – once a product is inside one of those countries, they flow freely to the other, just like from state to state here.
So in response to America attempting to use its economic power over Canada to threaten Canadian sovereignty, Canada should double down on an abusive partnership and tie itself to the US even more closely? Twenty years ago maybe this would have made sense, although even then i think it would be a hard sell. As of right now it doesn’t make any sense at all, and would be political suicide anyway.
I think Canada would welcome a customs union with the US, even now. They were willing to negotiate something far worse than a customs union, and only walked away when it got worse still.
Do you follow the news at all? Carney has been pushing hard to diversify Canada’s trade and wean it away from dependence on the US.
If and when a more rational US administration is willing to negotiate a new trade deal with Canada, that would be fine. But the diversification will remain. Trump has shown that the US cannot be trusted, and that stain is pretty much indelible.
Fundamentally, this all comes down to - whose side of the story do you believe, the Canadian side or the US side? And what news sources do you trust to vet what both sides are saying and look for the truest version of these events?
For me, I believe what Mr. Carney and the Canadian negotiators are saying. And I’m so used to Trump and his associates spreading lies, misinformation, half-truths, and debunked stories that I don’t believe a word any of them says.
I would recommend to my US based friends on the SDMB to look for Canadian news sources on this question, rather that trusting solely to US based sources. I highly recommend the CBC news site - www.cbc.ca/news . (Cue the outraged right-wing Canadopers who want to scream that the CBC has a left-wing bias… Tough. It’s one of my preferred news sources.) Or, if you prefer print based news online, there’s the Toronto Star (Cue the further cries of outrage!).
If it is true that the Americans claimed they could change the terms at any time for any reason despite a signed deal, this is not something you would want to codify or even call an agreement.
As it is, I believe the new tariffs will eventually be found illegal by the US Supreme Court.
I think Carney might omit facts from time to time, but is very likely telling the truth compared to his neighbours. I don’t favour changing lake names, though this would not affect anyone in Canada. I saw Lake Donnypoopypants suggested online, which seems verbose, even childish.
Lake Cheeto? Lake Dipshit? Lake Putin?
Lake Epstein
Or, even better, news sources in neither country. I like the CBC reporting, but why not read a broad range of sources?
Well, its not just a history of lying, but an honest evaluation of what both sides say. The Canadian side is saying
This is also not including other interested parties like Chrystia Freeland on Bloomberg, Bob Rae on CBC, Avi Lewis on Democracy Now, Minister Joly on CBC, The Premiers Holt, Fréchette, Ford (good God Ford), Kinew, Eby (Bloomberg too). And of course Carney and his cabinet have been making announcements every day.
You do not see such a full court press on the US side. All bluster and vague claims. The Canadian side was ready. The Canadian people are VERY informed what they are in, and why they are “in it”.
I would be very surprised if more than 5% of Americans are even aware that anything is going on here.
Trump doesn’t care about the electricity per se, but he would care about news reports saying that a factory laid off workers because of lack of electricity. And the news reports will sound pretty similar regardless of the states where the electricity problem resides.
Trump’s weakness as a dictator is that after almost six years in (intermittant) power, there’s only one TV network that he’s even partly tamed (CBS). Even if only a small portion of American workers lose their jobs, that portion will rightly be big news.
In reality, the trade war hurts Canada a lot more than the U.S. But a lot of Americans won’t realize that once there are lots of interviews with laid off workers and pictures of shuttered plants. And then Trump chickens out (if not before).
100% agree. Only the most politically engaged Americans are even aware that anything is happening, less so are even aware how serious this is to Canada. This is why Ford is playing bad cop and forcing himself into 5mins of US airtime.
Side Note: I see a few more relevant interviews in the past hour or so:
And much less importantly:
withdrawn