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Trump’s Trade War With Canada on Verge of Becoming Economically Nasty

A USMCA trade deal breakdown with Canada is increasingly likely.

Carney Walks a Political Tightrope

Canada retaliated against Trump’s tariffs by pulling US liquor from store shelves. It’s not that easy to restore but a trade breakdown may hinge on that, however silly it sounds.

Bloomberg reports Carney Walks a Political Tightrope as US Trade Talks Approach Deadline

A year ago, after a meeting with Canada’s provincial leaders, Prime Minister Mark Carney made a pledge that he has since repeated many times.

“Canada will not accept a bad deal,” he said about trade negotiations with President Donald Trump’s administration.

That promise is being put to the test as never before. Canadian trade officials have spent days camped out in Washington as they try to reach a pact to avert a punishing array of new tariffs threatened by the White House.

Trump and his officials have demanded Carney act on a lengthy list of trade irritants or the US will move forward on Aug. 19 with 50% duties on about $20 billion worth of Canadian products, including milk, plywood, hockey sticks and beer.

The framework of a potential deal would see the US back away from the 50% tariffs and reduce certain Section 232 tariffs on Canada. The 232 levies are the ones Trump has put on foreign-made steel, aluminum, autos and lumber — all industries with integrated supply chains between the US and Canada.

In exchange, Canada would remove some of its retaliatory measures and make other concessions, such as returning US booze to store shelves and widening access to its dairy market, the people said.

One item under discussion would be lowering the US auto tariff, which is currently set for Canada and Mexico at 25% of the value of the non-US content, the people said. Trump’s previous deals with auto-exporting nations Japan and South Korea have cut the auto tariff to 15%.

Roughly half of the value of a typical Canadian-made vehicle is from US components. So a 15% headline rate may mean an effective 7.5% tariff, depending on the model. To get such a deal, Canada would have to roll back its retaliatory tariffs on US-manufactured cars and trucks.

Carney, 61, and his team have optimistically seen next week’s deadline as an opportunity to finally get the comprehensive tariff-reduction deal with Trump they’ve been seeking for more than a year. But the prime minister has limited room to maneuver.

The liquor bans, imposed by provincial governments after Trump’s initial round of tariffs in early 2025, have done major harm to US exporters of wine, whiskey and other products. Canadian imports of American alcoholic beverages plunged 81% in a year, according to the White House.

Carney can try to persuade provincial leaders on booze, but he can’t order them to. And each province has its own grievances with the US.

Many business executives don’t want Carney to grant concessions too easily. A KPMG survey of hundreds of business leaders found about 70% said the Canadian government should take a tough stance in negotiations, using any leverage it has available with the country’s most important trading relationship on the line.

“If we are not tough, what’s the alternative? We’re going to concede and give everything that they’ve asked for without getting anything in return?” asked Joy Nott, a partner in KPMG’s trade and customs practice in Canada. “That would be seen as more negative.”

In recent days, Canadian officials have warned Greer that they can’t accept a deal that forces concessions without getting any movement on Section 232 tariffs, according to people briefed on the negotiations. Such a move would be impossible given the Canadian public mood, they said.

Polls show that, too. A recent Abacus Data poll found 69% of residents in Ontario and 72% in British Columbia want to keep the US alcohol restrictions in place.

Carney Not In Control of Liquor Bans

Carney is not in control of liquor bans. Even if he was, the political atmosphere is poison.

You can put US liquor on Canadian shelves, but you cannot make anyone buy it.

This, Trump brought on himself.

An overall rise in tariffs from 6.5 percent to 10.5 percent, with the effective rate jumping from 1.9 percent to 5.9 percent would be a big deal.

Yes, this would hurt Canada more than the US. But the correct action would be to remove tariffs totally.

The World’s Dumbest Tariff Has Been Revealed

Trump’s inane push to manufacture everything in the US despite natural production advantages elsewhere raises US prices and costs US jobs.

Trump is too stupid economically to see that.

Canada has much cheaper electricity rates than the US because of abundant hydropower. That translates directly to aluminum and steel production.

CATO comments The World’s Dumbest Tariff Has Been Revealed

Aluminum protectionism has been a confounding own-goal.

According to the US Geological Survey, imports constituted approximately 60% of domestic consumption last year, even with high tariffs. This dependence does not reflect “unfair trade” but deep structural realities. Aluminum production is extremely electricity-intensive, and US power prices – along with fierce competition for electricity from AI and other high-value industries – have made smelting uneconomical relative to regions with abundant power and access to the core inputs bauxite and alumina.

In just the last few years, primary aluminum smelters in Washington, Missouri, and Kentucky have each shut down, and production has declined. Now, only four smelters are in operation, just two at full capacity. And this contraction occurred despite tariff protection expressly intended to boost output.

Taxes, regulations, and permitting burdens add to the headwinds, as do the cost and complexity of bringing a modern smelter online. Thus, the one new US facility under development in power-rich Oklahoma won’t start until 2030 at the earliest. Until then, and likely well beyond, America will continue to depend on imports to keep store shelves stocked and factories running – and tariffs will continue to impose major costs.

Most obviously, the tariff wall has caused domestic aluminum prices to skyrocket, rising much faster than global prices did last year, Bloomberg News reported in early February. The “Midwest premium” – the surcharge American buyers pay above the London Metal Exchange (LME) benchmark – more than doubled after the 50% tariffs took effect, and producers have since applied another surcharge on top of that.

Aluminum Prices Soared

Comparative Advantage Trashed

Making matters worse, an easy solution to the aluminum shortfall lies next door – or, at least, it did. Canada has long been America’s largest aluminum supplier, thanks to abundant hydroelectricity that gives its producers a decisive cost and environmental advantage. Canadian aluminum is also deeply integrated into US defense supply chains because the nation is a close ally that was officially made part of America’s Defense Industrial Base in 1993. With Canada specializing in primary smelting and the US focused on downstream fabrication and manufacturing, bilateral trade and investment flourished. Today, Pittsburgh-based Alcoa Corp. owns three Canadian smelters that collectively churn out almost 30% of the nation’s total output.

Comparative advantage was working exactly as advertised – until we blew it up

It would be ridiculous if a feud over meaningless liquor blew up the entire USMCA agreement.

However, Trump is so petty that outcome could easily happen.

He has poisoned the best trading relationship in the world and all he has to show for it is higher prices and more global animosity.

I have warned about this for over a year.

People said tariff-related inflation was transitory. I disagreed then and more emphatically now.

Here’s the issue.

The impact of continually insane economic policy is not transitory. Trump keeps doubling down in the worst possible ways on tariffs and the war in Iran.

Related Posts

January 24, 2026: Trump Threatens 100 Percent Tariff on Canada If it Makes a Deal with China

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February 24, 2026: Fact Check on Trump’s Claim “Canada Ripped Us Off”. What’s the Real Story?

In a rambling Speech, Trump signals out Canada.

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Curtis
Curtis
9 days ago

Lots of American liquor on the shelves of Alberta liquor stores because they are privately owned and not government controlled like Ontario. People are still drinking bud light and Jack Daniel’s in the bars. No one talks about avoiding American booze.

Greg
Greg
10 days ago

Who remembers the 1930’s?
I guess almost no one so let’s repeat.

Casual Observer
Casual Observer
10 days ago

The US has been the punching bag on trade for decades. The US is now quickly turning into a MAGA version of a banana republic. It is going to get worse.

Jojo
Jojo
10 days ago

US doesn’t seem bad to me right now. I’m making money, living comfortably, eating well, learning new things.

randocalrissian
randocalrissian
10 days ago
Reply to  Jojo

The Roman citizens said the same thing as their empire crumbled while they didn’t pay attention.

Jojo
Jojo
10 days ago

That was 2000 years ago!

Augustine
Augustine
10 days ago

The US have always been a banana republic. Don’t be fooled by thinking that being the richest banana republic ever made it less so.

Last edited 10 days ago by Augustine
Arthur Orwell
Arthur Orwell
9 days ago
Reply to  Augustine

The U.S.A. has always had abundant resources, which were not being exploited by the primitive people who lived there when Europeans arrived. That has led to some exuberance and a tendency to attribute some special virtue to people who emigrated to America as against people who remained in Europe. We have exactly the same idea in Australia. We have all these wonderful resources which the primitives who lived here didn’t know about and couldn’t use, and we came here and exploited them, and we think that makes us much smarter than our cousins who stayed home in Europe.

I’m not saying that the ideas of individual rights and other ideas that came out of the last few centuries are all wrong. But we tend to be over-confident about them.

limey
limey
9 days ago
Reply to  Arthur Orwell

Im not sure about your definition of primitive, people living for centuries in harmony with the land and then Europeans rock up and slaughter buffalo for fun. You have a tenuous grasp of history with an apparent dose of racism thrown in for good measure.I doubt that you are superior in any way to an Aborigine.

Arthur Orwell
Arthur Orwell
8 days ago
Reply to  limey

That “living in harmony with the land” line hides the fact that their lives were nasty, brutish, and short. I don’t imagine that you have ever met an Aborigine. Neither have I as it happens; but I have met part-Aborigines, and stories about frontier days have not yet died out amongst Australian people living outside the big cities.

I’m back robbyrob
I’m back robbyrob
10 days ago
Casual Observer
Casual Observer
10 days ago

Dont be surprised if Trump does something that prevents election day from even happening. Martial law is still on the table.

Casual Observer
Casual Observer
10 days ago

Bond market about to go up in smoke. The Fed may have to raise rates to prevent it.

Casual Observer
Casual Observer
10 days ago

Canada will join the EU by the end of the year.

Jojo
Jojo
10 days ago

The EU is a sinking ship.

limey
limey
9 days ago
Reply to  Jojo

Yes its following the SS United Staes to the bottom of tho ocean, only a bit slower. It wasn’t captained by a complete a/h.

Frosty
Frosty
10 days ago

I know quite few Americans that have migrated to Canada since this trade war began because the cost of raw aluminum increased dramatically (tariffs).

They report that the Canadians have welcomed them warmly for the most part.

The Canadians used to attend national events in the US do not consider coming here any more.

Casual Observer
Casual Observer
10 days ago
Reply to  Frosty

Thats odd bc I just went to canada and was only one of two US citzens coming into the US and had no wait. The non citizen line on the other hand wss a 30 minute wait.

pokercat
pokercat
9 days ago

Could it be, show your passport, oh American come on in. Show your passport oh Canadian, have a seat we gotta check you out.

Jojo
Jojo
10 days ago
Reply to  Frosty

People immigrated to Canada because the price of aluminum was cheaper? Do they eat aluminum? 🤣

Frosty
Frosty
9 days ago
Reply to  Jojo

No, they work for a company that moved to Canada to avoid tariffs because they build aluminum parts for Canadian aircraft manufacturers. Interesting thing that happened is now they also do parts for Airbus and the business has grown tremendously.

Trumps tariffs drove about 20 high earning families out of our town.

‘Lil Mr.
‘Lil Mr.
10 days ago

Trump is just mad that the only two hotels he had in Canada were failures and had to be sold off. Offer Kushner, AKA Taco, a deal on a new hotel and all will be forgiven. He hates being shown up by the Kanucks. Tune into Tod Maffin on FB. Canadians have gone out of their way to buy Canadian. There’s no way to force consumers to buy US made products. This isn’t the opium wars.

rk syrus
rk syrus
10 days ago

BREAKING: Canada signs deal to merge with Russia! PM Carney (him/her/zhir) said “Putin is gontabe mooche easy ta deal wit dan Trump. An addin’ a turd langage nu won can speak proper ta t’two we gots: Anglaish n’ Freench, t’aint noothin’ ta add Rooshin ta boot, eh?”

Jojo
Jojo
10 days ago

“Here’s the issue.

The impact of continually insane economic policy is not transitory. Trump keeps doubling down in the worst possible ways on tariffs…”

Trump is stubborn in what he believes. Unlike his first term, there is no one to temper his sometimes misguided ideas (NOTE: I did not say ALL his ideas are misguided!).

Another 2.5 years of complaining about Trump’s irrationality is not going to be productive.

randocalrissian
randocalrissian
10 days ago
Reply to  Jojo

Finally you admit all his ideas are misguided hahahaha

Jojo
Jojo
10 days ago

I did not say that. Can we see your high school graduation diploma?

yippee
yippee
10 days ago

SMOOT TRUMP HAWLEY

peelo
peelo
10 days ago

Same dynamic as when a marriage breaks down. Everybody pulls up all available drawbridges. Everybody raises the “price” of reciprocal things: approval, meal preparation, emotional support, sex, etc.
A party can determine to be completely autarkic: self-produce meals, emotional satisfaction, etc. Yes it is possible, but it is very different. Now every task belongs to the self. Things others might share, or do more efficiently? Tough luck.
Many countries since the 1930s tried that. I would invite any example of where that worked, and in what way.

yippee
yippee
10 days ago
Reply to  peelo

trump and bessent……….are just gonna try and steal everything not nailed down. they don’t give a fuck about anything else but a few more shekels for their twisted little minds and grubby little hands. they might bankrupt the us treasury for kicks and profits.

CJW
CJW
10 days ago

The provinces control what liquor is available in the liquor stores in Canada. They decide who they buy from. Carney can ask but there is a lot of hard feelings in various provinces.

Canada should introduce an export tax on oil and electricity and see how that goes. Shouldn’t be a problem as the US doesn’t need anything Canada has. Although Trump wants Canada to be the 51st state for some reason. Out of 40MM people in Canada likely 32MM would identify as democrats and 39MM would be nevertrumpers.

So if it is not Canadian resources he wants and not Canadian voters he wants what is it? Poutine? Canadian Bacon? Toronto Blue Jays? Maybe he has heard about the wild beavers?

I agree with KPMG don’t negotiate with criminals and liars. If you make a bad deal they will hold you to it, if they make a bad deal they will insist that it be renegotiated.

Brian
Brian
10 days ago
Reply to  Mike Shedlock

Yes it’s legal but politically difficult for oil & potash because the 2 provinces rich in these resources (Alberta & Saskatchewan respectively) have a victim complex vs. the federal government (especially Alberta) and there would be lots of opposition, particularly in Alberta, home of the oil sands.

You may have heard of the separatist movement in Alberta. The number of committed separatist supporters is probably in the ~20% range at this point but that could grow considerably if the feds put an export tax on oil. And Trump & Co. know this very well, which is why they’re so unafraid of Canada putting an export tax on oil that they feel confident in putting the screws to Canada with the recent 50% tariff threats.

It’s a shame that Albertans are this way because they’re playing right into Trump’s hands. Many of its citizens are very irrational about Alberta’s relationship with the federal government & by extension with the rest of the country, despite the federal government having been crucially involved in the initial development of the oil sands, oh & also footing the total ~25 Billion USD cost(!!) of building a pipeline (TMX) especially for Alberta, so that its oil could be shipped from British Columbia ports instead of through existing pipelines to the USA, thus increasing the producers’ bargaining position re: the price. In fact, Alberta is currently producing and exporting more oil than ever, yet what we mostly hear from them is how the rest of the country is screwing them!

Hell, Alberta isn’t even participating in the US alcohol ban along with the other provinces. Neither is its little brother Saskatchewan, the potash superpower. Not team players! (haha)

I’ll probably get hateful messages from my compatriots for what I’ve written here, but everything I’ve stated is true.

yippee
yippee
10 days ago
Reply to  Brian

i made so much money investing in aurora cannabis company a decade ago in alberta. 20x on my money. those oilmen and ranchers really set up a deal that couldn’t fail. until the flim flam men running the company kept issuing stock…………..trailing stop losses always. dollar cost averaging down has killed more jews than hitler. don’t be offended. that is just an old NYC wall street saying among traders. just LOL.

TexasTim65
TexasTim65
10 days ago
Reply to  Brian

If you were politically locked out of decisions at the Federal level for decades at a time you’d likely also feel the exact same way they do.

Smug people in Ontario believe everyone should enjoy the Liberal Federal government they’ve elected for the past 30 years (minus a handful of years of Conservative government mingled in there) that mostly serves Ontario and Quebec interests.

If the same thing ever happened here there would likely be another civil war as states ceded.

Brian
Brian
10 days ago
Reply to  TexasTim65

It’s not that simple. It isn’t only Alberta that’s been “locked out” of political decisions. After the last Conservative PM left office in 2015, *everyone* who leans conservative in Canada, whether they reside in Alberta or Ontario like myself, has been completely locked out of political decisions at the federal level. Even worse, they’ve also been locked out of any real ability to hold the federal government even slightly to account for nearly all of that period as well. And I think that Canada’s political system exacerbates this problem because it leans more toward a “winner take all” type of system than is the case for the US. So if the PM’s party can reliably muster more votes than the opposition parties can, it effectively becomes a dictatorship in many ways. And this can mean being TOTALLY locked out of political decision making if your interests are of no concern to the Party. Because of the way that the political system works here, it’s more likely to happen here than in the US, I think. And so we gripe about it but it’s a normal thing in all parts of the country, not just Alberta, so you have to get used to it, see? Because it’s too hard to change the system.

Also it’s not true that Alberta & Saskatchewan have been locked out of political decisions at the federal level “for decades”.The above-mentioned PM (Stephen Harper) was still the MP for a riding (similar to a congressional district in the US) in Calgary, ALBERTA just 11 years ago. And during Harper’s term as PM from 2006-2015, Alberta & Saskatchewan had more influence over federal government policies than any other province, with the possible exception of Quebec. And so naturally, PM Harper’s government ended up being very good for the economies of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

But not so good for Ontario’s manufacturing-industry! Even though ~70% of federal parliament seats in Ontario were won by a Conservative candidate in Harper’s 2011 election victory — a victory helped significantly by this strong support from Ontario. So what you see here is that even MPs that belong not just to the same party, but even serve in the *same government* can have their constituents’ interests completely ignored due to the political and/or personal priorities of the PM. While some regions represented by Conservative MPs prospered due to the interested attention of PM Harper, other regions (e.g. Ontario) represented by the *same party’s MPs* had their eonomic interests ignored and were eventually forced into hard economic times by the very same policies that benefitted the economies of Aberta and Saskatchewan! Do you see now how easy it is to be locked out of political decision making in Canada?

Anyway, please remember this the next time you see somebody from Canada complaining about not being included in political decisions.It’s the rule here, it’s not exceptional at all!

randocalrissian
randocalrissian
10 days ago
Reply to  Brian

Conservatives in the USA tell liberals if they don’t like the USA being led by conservatives then move to another country. What do the liberals say to conservatives in Canada, where the roles are reversed? Doesn’t might make right? Doesn’t a conservative support Trump’s might makes right doctrine? Just wondering if you consider turnabout as fair play, at the most basic level.

Buffalobob
Buffalobob
9 days ago
Reply to  Brian

Population of Alberta – 5 million
Population of Saskatchewan – 1 million
Population of B.C – 5 million
Population of Ontario – 16 million

Locked out, or democracy?

Roadrunner12
Roadrunner12
9 days ago
Reply to  Brian

“Hell, Alberta isn’t even participating in the US alcohol ban along with the other provinces. Neither is its little brother Saskatchewan, the potash superpower. Not team players! (haha)
I’ll probably get hateful messages from my compatriots for what I’ve written here, but everything I’ve stated is true.”

Everything you’ve stated is true?????

U.S. alcohol sales fall 40 per cent in Saskatchewan

“Sales of American wine and spirits in Saskatchewan have dropped sharply, even after the provincial government decided to return U.S. alcohol to liquor store shelves.
The Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority reports sales of U.S. wines and spirits fell by about 40 per cent in the last fiscal year.”

I would hazard a guess that US wine and spirit sales continue to decrease.

Brian
Brian
9 days ago
Reply to  Roadrunner12

What did I say that isn’t true? I don’t see your point.

Roadrunner12
Roadrunner12
9 days ago
Reply to  Roadrunner12

“Hell, Alberta isn’t even participating in the US alcohol ban along with the other provinces. Neither is its little brother Saskatchewan, the potash superpower. Not team players! (haha)
I’ll probably get hateful messages from my compatriots for what I’ve written here, but everything I’ve stated is true.”

Another link for Lyin Brian regarding Alberta.

U.S. booze is back in Alberta, but customers are buying less

Brian
Brian
9 days ago
Reply to  Roadrunner12

I said that Alberta & Saskatchewan were not participating in the US alcohol ban, meaning that these 2 *provinces* are not currently banning US alcohol from the shelves of liquor stores. Which the links and quotes that you provided actually *prove*, dummy. And you’re calling me a liar? That’s really hilarious!😂

Frosty
Frosty
9 days ago
Reply to  Brian

He does not get that it I the Canadian people that are refusing to buy Trumpsteins products. The Canadians I know HATE Trump with appropriate passion.

Brian
Brian
9 days ago
Reply to  Frosty

Yet another reason to despise Trump is how he’s messing Canada up politically. We almost got rid of the Liberal Party (Justin Trudeau’s party) in last year’s election. They were headed for possible permanent destruction & deservedly so until the Conservative Party (that was trouncing the Liberals in the polls pre-election) & its conservative supporters began to be smeared as a Canadian version of Trump & his MAGA movement by the Liberals & their leftist allies. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but that’s what Canadian politics is these days & also this election campaign started just after Trump started threatening to make Canada the 51st state, throwing lots of insults in our direction, putting tariffs on Canadian imports & lying about the reasons for doing so, and so on.

So in that environment, it was electorally fatal for Canadian politicians to be perceived as even remotely similar to or aligned with the right-wing fanatics who had just taken control of the US government after the 2024 election & were now threatening Canada with annexation. (BTW I’m not a fan of the Conservatives, they’re not really a conservative political party at all.) So the election became not about the last 10 years of excruciatingly incompetent Liberal government but instead who was the best man to fend off Trump’s threats, and the average voter was easily convinced that *maybe* the Conservatives would act as a sort of fifth column for Trump. As a result of this & other factors including the general incompetence of the Conservative leader & his campaign staff, the Liberals squeaked by with a narrow victory instead of the humiliating defeat that they deserved.

So you can see how hard it will be for any Canadian political party that’s on the conservative side of the spectrum to beat the Liberals, as long as Trump is president. It’s a shame because the Liberal Party is more rotten than ever & has been proven incapable of governing. They’ve only replaced Justin Trudeau with Mark Carney — which was tremendously beneficial to their performance in the 2025 election mind you — but otherwise the same people who implemented Justin Trudeau’s agenda to tear down Canada’s history & historical figures, deracinate its culture & go hog wild on DEI & wokeism generally, are now working for Carney! Given this fact, it’s not surprising that under Carney so far it’s been still full speed ahead with all of the same culturally-destructive nonsense that Clown Prince Justin Trudeau initiated, years earlier.

Flavia
Flavia
10 days ago
Reply to  CJW

Trump just wants the real estate.

Maximus Minimus
Maximus Minimus
10 days ago

It could be argued that many conservative Canadians blame Don Corleone for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory for the Conservative party of Canada. Before Donnie, the conservatives were to win in a landslide, but it turned around after Donnie won and opened his big mouth.
Trade is just another irritant.

Brian
Brian
10 days ago

Yes, Trump is responsible for us having to suffer through several more years of cultural destruction, thanks to the re-election of the Liberal Party (yeah, the same party led by the now-notorious Justin Trudeau for 10 agonizing years). All because maybe 20% of the Conservative Party’s supporters — the least intelligent & informed of them — thought that Trump being president again was a good thing. D’oh! Recall that the Conservatives were a shoo-in for a majority government as Justin Trudeau’s popularity circled the bowl. Then Mark Carney appeared on the scene and brought the nearly-deceased Liberal Party back to life. I was hoping that they would die! Oh and also the leader of the Conservatives is somewhat of a schmuck, with nothing like the resume of Mark Carney — but how many politicians have that kind of resume, really?

I’m back robbyrob
I’m back robbyrob
10 days ago

meanwhile Canada adds 75,000 new jobs in July, unemployment rate lowest in 2 years 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-jobs-july-2026-9.7299225

randocalrissian
randocalrissian
10 days ago

Look at that Canadian culture being burned to the ground in real time!

Name
Name
10 days ago

2 Stubborn top dogs that
may or may not have other agendas

Harry
Harry
10 days ago

The US appears betwixt and between, are you still globalist or are you MAGA? Is it that the US is more MAGA but certain legacy factors are preventing that process?

El Trumpedo
El Trumpedo
10 days ago
Reply to  Harry

We are ruled by dementia.

Feral Finster
Feral Finster
10 days ago
Reply to  Harry

Sociopaths such as the politicians who rule over us care nothing for ideology, except as it can be weaponized.

Which is why Trump so touchingly bewails “globalists” but attacks Iran at the behest of his master in Israel.

peelo
peelo
10 days ago

I notice what Putin is doing to distract from his Ukraine fiasco: sniffing around the edges of Russia (Kuril Islands near Japan, Poland, Lithuania) to make noise. I think Trump is perhaps similarly trying to open contentious spaces to change the subject from his Iran fiasco. It is harder to see a record of big widespread policy failure, when the news stories and fights he picks, are fragmented. He can open a new front in deregulation, immigration, etc., and keep the lazy Susan spinning.

Dave Smith
Dave Smith
11 days ago

Another thought on the trade relations with Canada has to do with the dollar losing purchasing power and tangibles retaining their value. I would much rather be importing aluminum, steel and every other metal and or any other tangible product in exchange for dollars and be thanking Canadians for making the trade. Trump trying to bring back manufacturing is an admirable desire, but his methods are basically putting up resistance to imports rather than incentivizing more efficient and competitive industry at home. His tariffs and other brow beating policy is raising prices for Americans, driving business away, destroying our international markets and redirecting our supply sources to other international markets. If this is his version of the art of the deal, I want no part of it. What a mess.

peelo
peelo
11 days ago

Trump never got as far as Adam Smith. He has no concept of a positive sum game. There is only zero sum: only sharpies and suckers, predators and victims, takers and losers, bullies and b*tches. Trump never got very far out of his dad’s basement in Queens. He temporarily persuaded some bankers he was hot stuff, and proceeded to drive all his laughably hubristic business empire into bankruptcy. He had the same grandiosity: we wanted to BE top dog in football, airlines, etc.
Somehow his self-manufactured halo of business prowess was dug up out of the well-deserved grave, dusted off and — here we are.
So we get unaffordable cars, regressive tariff taxes, expensive energy (in the biggest world fossil producer), etc.

Last edited 11 days ago by peelo
yippee
yippee
10 days ago
Reply to  peelo

only reason trump is potus is due to his hit show, apprentice. the nit wits in fly over country thought it was a real documentary. yes, kids, the hicks are that fucking stooopid. ps we have hicks in brooklyn, too.

most of you voted for the uniparty all your lives
most of you voted for the uniparty all your lives
10 days ago
Reply to  yippee

>> only reason trump is potus is due to

…sooooo many reasons, especially the fact TPTB wanted to reinstall Trump. There is no other /credible/ reason they sabotaged RFK and denied Biden dementia until after the convention, after they picked the unelectable Kamala.

randocalrissian
randocalrissian
10 days ago
Reply to  peelo

Imagine voting for core beliefs Smith espoused like “limited government intervention in the economy” (Obviously by voting for Trump) and getting what he delivered? Has there ever been a more controlled US economy with all the tariffs and personal vendettas Trump is waging through his EOs and other misguided policy?

Feral Finster
Feral Finster
10 days ago
Reply to  peelo

For sociopaths, every interaction is a zero-sum no-holds-barred winner-take-all game.

Derecho
Derecho
11 days ago

The Aluminum Association estimates that a new US smelter would need a minimum 20-year power contract at a price of not more than $40 per MWh to be viable at current aluminum prices.

Any smelter project is in a race with Big Tech, which is on the same hunt for energy to power its next-generation artificial intelligence data centers.
And tech companies “have no limit on what they are prepared to pay for dependable 24/7 electricity”, according to the Aluminum Association’s just-released report.

The Association estimates Microsoft conceded $115 per MWh in its deal with Constellation Energy to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.

Even reactivating moth-balled aluminum lines will be challenging given the 2023 price of power averaged $73.42 per MWh in the four US states hosting smelters with idle capacity, it warned.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-aluminium-smelters-vie-with-big-tech-scarce-power-andy-home-2025-05-22/

john
john
11 days ago

Trump has used up 570 days of his time as President. But the unknown is how much more damage will he cause to many other Nations relationships with America –In the 890 days The Donald has remaining as President? https://trumptimer.us/term-countdown/

Last edited 11 days ago by john
Augustine
Augustine
11 days ago

Modern wars are industrial wars. Can’t remain the hegemony without a warring industrial base. Military spending brought down all hegemonic empires in history.

yippee
yippee
10 days ago
Reply to  Augustine

bingo winner. all empires fail. amerikan empire is very short lived. only 1792 and peaked in 1945 to 1965. been crumbling since. empires aren’t measured in years. but in decades. our boys haven’t won a war since 1945. unless you count grenada. my pal was there. said it was hysterical.

BigBob
BigBob
11 days ago

I recently spent some time in Canada. The US is hated in a way that I have never seen before. This will not change for decades as children are growing up being taught to hate anything American. This will come back to bite the US although most Americans are too stupid to see that they are now seen as the world’s Nazis.

Jeff Larry
Jeff Larry
10 days ago
Reply to  BigBob

It’s always been this way. For as long as I can remember. I’ve lived within 5 miles of the US my whole life. I speak from direct first hand observation. There was a brief period following 9/11 where there was greater amity among Canadians toward the US, but that was short lived.

Canadians really believe in the stereotype of Canadians being nice and polite. That hasn’t been true for a long long time. Go back about 5-6 years and see how nice people were.

You better believe that most Canadians have long hated the US (and don’t believe them when they say “I hate the govt but I love the people”). Along with a history of saying “you’re our closest friend”, while relentlessly casting stones from afar.

Canadians aim their every ire at Trump, (as if our opinions mattered). They blame him for problems that are completely if our own making. But few rightly point their finger at decades of ineffective Canadian leadership.

Brian
Brian
10 days ago
Reply to  Jeff Larry

Canadians have long hated the US
That’s not my experience at all, and it’s backed up by the Pew polling numbers that Paul Krugman included in one of his Substack posts a couple of weeks ago. 57% of Canadians held a positive view of the U.S. (as a country) as recently as 2023. And their opinion of Americans as individuals would be even higher, if they were asked. Canadians in general rather like Americans, or at least did until Trump came along and changed all that.

MIFE
MIFE
10 days ago
Reply to  Brian

Not sure if you believe a sample of one Canuck. I have never had an issue with Americans and frequently travel and enjoy meeting them. Generally great people. I am generally aligned with the American middle (although news would make you think that the middle does not exist anymore, but I disagree).

U.S. politics and “dept of war” related items, not so much. Just saying.

In terms of trade, yes, what your president has done will likely have long lasting repercussions. Why attack your neighbours? Canada is not a low cost geography stealing American jobs. We are an integrated economy with so much work going both ways. We have a long term deficit with the US if you include services (is my understanding). Makes no sense and can only make both sides worse off. <sigh>

Brian
Brian
10 days ago
Reply to  MIFE

Yes I have met (and am still friends with some) Americans who are really great people. It’s really tragic what Trump is doing to the reputation (as perceived by people in the rest of the world) of folks like them.

yippee
yippee
10 days ago
Reply to  Brian

northern quebec folks are rowdy. in the arboreal forests and gold mining towns. never had a problem. we used to drive to canada for beer as college kids in upstate NY.

yippee
yippee
10 days ago
Reply to  Jeff Larry

i’ve family that are canadian. i also lived in phoenix for 13 years. so many snow birds that never went back as friends. vancouver is one of my favorite cities in north amerika. great people, never detected any animosity. spent tons of time in south beach over the decades. tons of folks from canada and germany and france down there. i’m originally from nyc and now live a short train ride down the hudson river from there. nobody in nyc gives a flying F where people are from. canada or ghana. people are people. especially in the many chinatowns in manhattan, brooklyn and queens………

Jojo
Jojo
10 days ago
Reply to  BigBob

OK, I callon all Americans to go jump off a cliff, like a herd of lemmings. Happy? 🤣

Do you think that we really care what Canadians who hate us think?

randocalrissian
randocalrissian
10 days ago
Reply to  BigBob

The privilege of living a life of American-centric ignorance is that you truly believe the USA kicks ass and the entire world looks up to us like they once did. The GOP’s realized goal of dumbing down the electorate by assaulting public education and its financing have borne their first fruit. There will be a lot of fruit rotting on the tree of the USA for a long time, or we can figure out how to fix stupid.

Brian
Brian
11 days ago

I can confirm for you that there won’t be much of an uptick in US alcohol exports to Canada even if the provinces allow it back on the shelves. The only US product that wasn’t easily substitutable by European imports or domestic production here is high-end Bourbon whiskey, which is out of almost everybody’s price range anyway. And people here are not generally easing off on their hatred of Trump either, in fact it seems to be getting stronger — those 50% tariffs didn’t help, and neither did being lumped in with China (in Trump’s Las Vegas speech a few days ago) as some kind of trade villain, when in fact Canada had lower average tariffs on US goods than the US had on Canadian imports, before Trump 2.0. It’s all so absurd, and tiring.

Oleg Grozny
Oleg Grozny
11 days ago
Reply to  Brian

If I were Canadian, I think I would go to great lengths to avoid buying any product made in the USA. This is based an understanding of human nature, something that seems beyond Trump’s grasp.

Brian
Brian
10 days ago
Reply to  Oleg Grozny

I’ve been doing my best. I used to be very pro-USA, and would go out of my way to buy US-made products, especially if the choice was between US-made & Chinese-made. But Trump changed all that, especially Trump 2.0. I still like most Americans as individuals though. But not the 30% or so who are hard-core MAGAts. There’s really something wrong in the head with those folks.

TexasTim65
TexasTim65
10 days ago
Reply to  Oleg Grozny

Many like my dad already do that. He reads all the labels in the grocery store and if it says product of USA he doesn’t buy unless there is no Canadian substitute. Same with other non-food products.

Problem is he’s really hurting himself because a lot of it is more expensive than the US stuff. He’s not the only Canadian I know doing that but yet they all complain their cost of living is rising which is does if you don’t buy US products.

Last edited 10 days ago by TexasTim65
Steve
Steve
10 days ago
Reply to  Oleg Grozny

Not really how regular Canadian people with bills to pay and food to put on the table will behave. I’m Canadian and we pay about 65-70% of our gross income in all kinds of imaginable taxes to our various levels of federal, provincial and local governments. Patriotism propaganda has greatly faded since spring 2025 and people will buy what’s cheaper, regardless of where it’s from.

randocalrissian
randocalrissian
10 days ago
Reply to  Brian

We, the USA, fully deserve all the damage Trump is raining down on us. We were stupid enough to elect him, then elect him AGAIN.

David Heartland
David Heartland
11 days ago

My Mom married a Canadian Politician (What an A-hole he was) as he was a local P. His disdain for America and Americans grew to be BOORISH at best and deeply maddening when he could not control his mind enough to be at lease polite.

It was all about “Canadians are better at __________” this and that. The Nuclear Power plant in Pickering, nearby, was his big thrust when it was AMERICA that created the more advanced tech there in the 50’s.

I am glad he is dead.

Brian
Brian
11 days ago

So what does that have to do with anything, really? Is that a reason to put tariffs on Canada?

Sentient
Sentient
11 days ago
Reply to  Brian

I would say yes.

El Trumpedo
El Trumpedo
10 days ago
Reply to  Sentient

Well, a tariff upon YOU sir! How do you like THAT?

Creamer
Creamer
10 days ago

Coming soon to a bookstore near you: David’s daddy, and other fantastical stories from the mind of a deranged geriatric.

CJW
CJW
10 days ago

I think there are more A holes per capita in the US than anywhere else in the Americas.

Sam
Sam
10 days ago

You need therapy

Pedro
Pedro
11 days ago

Trumps ignorance continues to bring the lower standard of living that Americans deserve for allowing him to serve as their president

David Heartland
David Heartland
11 days ago
Reply to  Pedro

“Deserve” is unkind, Pedro. You deserve a spanking.

Creamer
Creamer
10 days ago

Just like your father in law I see!

randocalrissian
randocalrissian
10 days ago

As an American, I can say Pedro is 100% right. We deserve the leaders we elect. David, why not take responsibility for what the USA did? Let’s stand up and be accountable.

Harrold
Harrold
11 days ago

Trump is poisoning the relations with all of our allies. Unfortunately, this will be permanent as our allies cannot depend on swing voters in Wisconsin not voting in an idit to plan their economies.

The US will be isolated.

El Trumpedo
El Trumpedo
10 days ago
Reply to  Harrold

He’s making all the white people hate us too.

yippee
yippee
10 days ago
Reply to  Harrold

crumbling evil empire 101. this is a doctorate. keep notes to tell the youngsters who are toddlers today…….

Jojo
Jojo
10 days ago
Reply to  Harrold

You honestly believe that the rest of the world could ignore the world’s number #1 economy and superpower, go about their business ignoring us? Be serious!

limey
limey
10 days ago
Reply to  Jojo

Wake up bud, the transition is already in motion. Get with the programme. You are no longer a reliable ally or trading partner, the ROTW is moving on without you and you will be poorer as a result.

randocalrissian
randocalrissian
10 days ago
Reply to  Jojo

You shouldn’t take any chances, I recommend doubling your ignorance medication dosage, stat!

top gone
top gone
10 days ago
Reply to  Harrold

if he is not a russian plant they could not have asked for a better one. methodically destroying america challenge voting and so many american institutions, piss off allies waste billions on bombing the desert, run the debt up to weaken the dollar, destroy americas soft power with the idiotic musk fiasco. steal billions from the american people

Tony Frank
Tony Frank
11 days ago

One thing that can be said about taco that when it comes to dealing with foreign leaders, he never misses a chance to either embarrass them and/or causes a “big stink.”

Augustine
Augustine
11 days ago
Reply to  Tony Frank

The TACO embarrass no one but himself and these not so US.

Sentient
Sentient
11 days ago

Losing Canadian drinkers’ money is serious.

Brian
Brian
11 days ago
Reply to  Sentient

We do like our drinks. They’re very heavily taxed though, which is why there’s still a huge market here for cheap US-produced beer, such brands as Busch, etc.

Sentient
Sentient
11 days ago
Reply to  Brian

There’s no other way to account for curling or ice fishing. As a Minnesotan, I know.

pokercat
pokercat
10 days ago
Reply to  Sentient

Women’s team curling would be much improved if played naked….maybe.

randocalrissian
randocalrissian
10 days ago
Reply to  pokercat

You’re typing like a Trump voter

pokercat
pokercat
9 days ago

Really? You haven’t read much of what I’ve posted. I’m as far left as anyone on this site. Oh Yeah, I hate trump and wish him gone by whatever legal means necessary.

Looks like you don’t understand jokes.

TexasTim65
TexasTim65
10 days ago
Reply to  Brian

Whenever I come home to Canada to visit family I don’t really see much price difference between name brand beer and the cheap stuff. When you are paying 45 for 24 beer getting it for 41 because it’s Busch isn’t really a deal especially given the taste.

In fact I always argue that in Canada due to taxes all alcohol costs roughly the same price so you should only be drinking premium stuff.

In the US where you can get discount brands for half price or better it makes sense to buy the discount stuff for mixing or when you plan to mass consume.

yippee
yippee
10 days ago
Reply to  TexasTim65

busch beer ? that’s not beer. that’s piss watered down.

yippee
yippee
10 days ago
Reply to  Brian

BEST deal we ever invested, was with pirates smuggling seagrams blue label into mideast and japan. back in the late 80s and early 90s. fun stuff. all viet nam veterans working on wall street as bankers and lawyers……….. ww2 vet investors and a kid like me born in 1960. i wonder how much smuggling is going on now between canada and usa. i imagine quite a great deal.

Brian
Brian
9 days ago
Reply to  yippee

There’s not much smuggling of alcohol anymore, these days it’s more tobacco (especially through Indian reserves that straddle the border), drugs and humans.

limey
limey
10 days ago
Reply to  Brian

With the exception of Sam Adams and similar, American beer is insipid carbonated flavourless piss to be avoided at all costs.

Brian
Brian
9 days ago
Reply to  limey

The mass market brands are like that for sure, but I lived in California for awhile and a lot of the beer brewed locally there was really, really good!

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