# The United States Declares Economic War on Canada **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [February 1, 2025, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734 "2025-02-01T21:16:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 52
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1021 "2025-03-21T02:08:43Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > I could say that adding the amount of left leaning representatives to congress would allow a block to form to make laws on lobbying that could limit big pharma. And I love how you think you’re going to get representation. You will be a conquered second-class non-citizen. You won’t have a vote, you won’t have representation, and you WILL do what your military governor (US military of course) says or you WILL go to a prison camp without trial. This won’t be kumbaya “peace in our time”, this will be a military occupation. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1022 "2025-03-21T07:08:38Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > This seems like the stronger argument. > … > @Uzi why not try to argue against the stronger argument, here? Because Trumpschulss isn’t going to happen other than in the most paranoid mind. IF something happens it will be far more likely that the Liberals will use the tariffs to get themselves elected again, using Trump as the excuse for the shitty economy (that they are largely responsible for) using PP as the proxy for Trump even though he is far from it. And they will continue with their policies, e.g Carney stops the individual carbon tax but will likely make it higher for industry. You’ve heard him already say this saying he will target the highest emitters. In other words, Alberta. At which time the US will just have to sit back and see how long Alberta will take it. An interesting poll on how if the US offered a 1-1 exchange on assets, 43% of 18-34 would vote for merging with the US. Imagine if groups started lobbying for this. Would it increase or decrease? Those that are older have lower numbers, but they are aging. I think it is inevitable. I would also like to see this broken down by new immigrants. I’d not be surprised to see new arrivals more keen on the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1023 "2025-03-21T07:20:11Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > Because Trumpschulss isn’t going to happen other than in the most paranoid mind. Because “Don’t worry, it won’t happen” has _such_ a great track record. 🙄 As for the idea of America offering one to one exchange of assets, that’s just silly; the entire point is to take _everything,_ in return for _nothing._ Just like any other form of armed robbery. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1024 "2025-03-21T09:30:56Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > An interesting poll on how if the US offered a 1-1 exchange on assets, 43% of 18-34 would vote for merging with the US. Is there a link for this alleged poll? ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1025 "2025-03-21T09:52:32Z")
Ah, sorry. [https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/43-percent-canadians-would-vote-be-american-if-citizenship-and-conversion-assets-usd-guaranteed](https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/43-percent-canadians-would-vote-be-american-if-citizenship-and-conversion-assets-usd-guaranteed) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1026 "2025-03-21T09:59:39Z")
Is there a poll on how Canadian men would vote if the US offered each of them a personal clone of Sydney Sweeney? Because it’s just as likely a scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Chelonaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@Chelonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chelonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1027 "2025-03-21T10:12:05Z")
According to the infographic, among 18-33 year olds 77% say they would “never vote for Canada become part of the USA”. The same group of whom 43% would vote yes if given citizenship and full recompense in US$. So at least 20% agree with both statements. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1028 "2025-03-21T10:19:28Z")
Along with the incongruent 20% pointed out by **Chelonaut** , there’s also: > These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between January 9 and 13, 2025, Lotta things have changed between now and then. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1029 "2025-03-21T10:45:46Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Is there a poll on how Canadian men would vote if the US offered each of them a personal clone of Sydney Sweeney? Because it’s just as likely a scenario. And a pony. @Uzi, the same poll shows 80% of Canadians would never vote to join the US ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1030 "2025-03-21T11:02:25Z")
Could it be the order the questions were asked? e.g. 1. I would never vote… 2. If you were give a clone of Sydney Sweeney would you vote… You don’t expect a different answer by some people? It also could mean that for some people, they don’t identify so much with being Canadian that they can’t be bought off to change their vote. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1031 "2025-03-21T12:06:39Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > It also could mean that for some people, they don’t identify so much with being Canadian that they can’t be bought off to change their vote. Yeah it depends. If someone sweetened the pot enough I (a stone cold atheist) would convert to flat-earthism. Canada needs to provide some basic necessities to its citizens (safety, comfort, opportunities, etc.) to keep people affirming their future here. If you take these away you get net emigrants; if you offer benefits you get net immigrants. Not a commentary on Canada or the US or Canadians willingness to defend Canada or whatever. Canadians, on the whole, are invested in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1032 "2025-03-21T13:12:29Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Look, we all accept that Americans and Canadians are more like each other than they are like a culture such as Rwanda or Mongolia. This similarity does arise, in large part, from our histories as a colony of England \> UK. While I agree with your excellent post, I’ll just add here that our colonial histories were also very different. Americans reacted to British colonialism by starting a bloody revolution. Canadians instead engaged in a peaceful process of gradually gaining more autonomy. > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Canada has a very, very different attitude to: > > 1. guns > 2. healthcare > 3. how a democratic republic is governed (our Westminster-style parliament, the relation between the provinces and the federal government, criminal codes… it’s a long list) To which I would add a fourth point, somewhat related to the first two but distinct, and that is that we have fundamentally different social values from Americans. The American ideal is expressed as the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. The Canadian ideal is expressed as “a peaceful and just society”. The American ideal is fundamentally individualistic and self-centered, while the Canadian one is fundamentally social and collaborative. Thus Canada has evolved to be a social democracy, while America has become a capitalist oligarchy, ruled by a small cadre of wealthy plutocrats. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1033 "2025-03-21T13:30:49Z")
There have been suggestions, I think in this thread and also in others, that the most likely outcome of all this is that Canada will make some trade concessions, Trump will hail this as a major victory and evidence of his superb leadership, and it will all blow over. I believe this is, indeed, the most likely outcome, but there’s a much darker possibility. I’m going to link to a post and a cite I made in the Canadoper Cafe thread. I think the article by Timothy Snyder is well worth a read. The main thesis is around what historians of Hitler call The Big Lie – an accusation against a people or a nation that is completely untrue, but repeated again and again and eventually used as a pretext for whatever escalation the authoritarian wants. Trump is already doing this with respect to Canada. The “fentanyl pouring into the US from Canada” is a complete and total lie (the amount is something like 0.02% of the total amount smuggled into the US each year). Blaming Canada for illegal immigrants is equally a lie. And the trade deficit argument is a lie, too – the numbers are grotesquely exaggerated, and are accounted for entirely by US imports of Canadian oil and gas which America needs; remove that from the trade balance, and the US actually runs a trade surplus with Canada. Trump isn’t even smart enough to stick to one Big Lie; he keeps alternating between the three made-up excuses as if he’s trying to gauge which Big Lie will work best. > [@Welcome to the Canadoper Café, 2025!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/welcome-to-the-canadoper-cafe-2025/1012410/514): > > Insightful article by Timothy Snyder, American historian and author. Just a couple of excerpts: When Trump announces an aggressive policy, he attaches to it a grotesque justification. The nonsensical fiction is supposed remain in our minds, as a button to be pushed, so that we accept violence. We will have trouble questioning lies later if we accept them when offered, because that would challenge our own sense of ourselves as not being idiots. … The demand for fentanyl is American, includin… ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1034 "2025-03-21T14:24:35Z")
Trump being Trump, and MAGA being MAGA, how long do we think it’ll be before _The Canadians_ are eating our house pets. I wish I were kidding. If it isn’t that, exactly, it’ll be something equally insane, but tailor made to tug at the heart strings of his oh-so-easily-demagogued flock. And then the “arsonist-as-firefighter” can decide what to do: - forcefully annex and be hailed a conquering hero, or - lower the temperature of his own bellicose insanity and argue for a Nobel Peace Prize Wash. Rinse. Repeat. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1035 "2025-03-21T14:29:37Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > . If it isn’t that, exactly, it’ll be something equally insane, but tailor made to tug at the heart strings of his oh-so-easily-demagogued flock. Seal-clubbing? Unnatural relationships with moose? ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1036 "2025-03-21T14:31:41Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Seal-clubbing? Unnatural relationships with moose? No, that would make them want to become Canadians. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1037 "2025-03-21T14:31:46Z")
The name of Canada’s national dish being a secret insult against Trump’s best bud, the leader of Russia? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1038 "2025-03-21T16:09:47Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > So, any invasion, assuming it happens at all, will be very surgical with the minimum damage. Why do that when you could crush it economically? If you want to fast track it, implement an embargo. > Again, it is one thing to bomb Tehran and another to do the same to Toronto. Oh, you mean with reporting coming from the same media that gave the impression that San Francisco was completely destroyed in the 80s by the earthquake. And then in the recent past that Seattle was completely burned down by protesters? The point here is that it will not matter if Trump only blows up Nickelback’s homes 🙂, Most media in the US and Specially Canada will exaggerate with gusto the hoped for limited destruction (and I do think that even if limited, it will be an appalling thing to do. A long-winded _la resistance_ will be expected (and in Quebec, no less) ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1039 "2025-03-21T16:35:20Z")
To those unfamiliar, US dollar load recompense is like a 40% bump in wealth. It wouldn’t do it for me. But if you are young and trying to buy a home? Sure. However, since it is entirely hypothetical, so it is still meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734/1040 "2025-03-21T17:38:53Z")
I wonder if Trump will invade Canada before or after he accepts King Charles’s offer to join the British Commonwealth? 😁 > **[Trump weighs in on report King Charles will offer U.S. commonwealth membership](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-commonwealth-offer-us-member-b2719470.html)** > > Trump indicates willingness to have America become 57th Commonwealth member [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734.md?page=51) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-united-states-declares-economic-war-on-canada/1013734.md?page=53)