>But that astonishingly successful formula [of free trade between Canada and the United States] is now dead at the hands of U.S. President Donald Trump and a supine Republican Congress. Mr. Trump’s tariffs, clearly, would spell a formal end to a tightly integrated continental economy if they are implemented. Late Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau secured a 30-day stay of execution.
>Even if Mr. Trump does in the end retreat from the threat of steep tariffs, the deed and damage are done. The United States, under Mr. Trump, has demonstrated that treaties mean nothing, and that the rule of law is only useful insofar as it can be used as a cudgel. The chaos is deliberate, designed to create a state of permanent uncertainty so that risk-avoiding businesses shift operations to the United States.
>Mr. Trump may back off his threats once the 30-day reprieve expires. The Republicans may lose control of Congress in the 2026 midterms. A Democrat might even win the White House some day. None of those possibilities will alter the reality that protectionism is gripping the United States, a fever that began with Mr. Trump in 2016 but continued through the Biden administration (albeit in the form of enormous industrial subsidies whose intention was, like the Trump tariffs, to draw investment into the United States).
>Canada cannot count on the United States coming to its senses any time soon, if ever. The old formula for prosperity is dead. A new one is needed.
>That calculus must start with internal free trade. Interprovincial trade barriers have always been absurd. They are now reckless, given Mr. Trump’s economic assault and the new era it heralds. There is a growing cohort of voices speaking up for change: Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly has raised the issue, as has Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre this week said he would pay out any revenue windfalls from internal free trade to provinces that eliminate regulatory barriers – a policy this space has repeatedly advocated.
>Such an approach will fulfill the promise of Confederation to create a unified economic space. Canadian businesses will need every economy of scale they can find to continue to compete in the U.S. market, and to find new domestic customers. There is historical irony here: Confederation was propelled in part by the United States abrogating the 1854 Reciprocity Treaty. It would be fitting, in a way, for Mr. Trump’s equivalent trade action 171 years later to provide a catalyst to finish the work of 1867.
>But free trade within Canada must only be the start. This country is, and will remain, a trading nation. The challenge now is to find new partners – starting with an old partner, Britain. Free-trade talks with Britain are in stasis, with Ottawa unwilling to make concessions that would open up Canada’s dairy market. Deeper ties with the European Union are needed – after all, Canada does share a land border with an EU member (that would be Denmark’s portion of Hans Island).
>It will ultimately be up to Canadian businesses to seize those opportunities. Ottawa can help, but not with the tired and failed approach of industrial subsidies,. Instead, the next federal government needs a new strategy that rewards those who invest in Canada, by allowing them to keep more of their profits, in order to invest again. A revamped approvals process for industry and infrastructure that focuses on expeditious outcomes is another key reform.
>Mr. Trump is no friend, but he has done Canada a service by sweeping away the complacency that has allowed this country to drift for far too long, just comfortable enough to avoid hard choices. Those days, those decades, are done.
!ping Can
footie4life on
While we Canadians can take a deep breath of relief after everything that happened yesterday, we have to realize that the Trump threat is not over for us. We need to take the lessons we’ve learned from this episode and look at how we can move forward together. But after yesterday, it’s clear that our relationship with the US is never going to be the same. [https://magpiebrule.substack.com/p/this-aint-over](https://magpiebrule.substack.com/p/this-aint-over)
E_Cayce on
> The United States, under Mr. Trump, has demonstrated that treaties mean nothing, and that the rule of law is only useful insofar as it can be used as a cudgel.
Isn’t that always the case for international law?
> None of those possibilities will alter the reality that protectionism is gripping the United States, a fever that began with Mr. Trump in 2016 but continued through the Biden administration
The US has always been protectionist.
> Mr. Trump is no friend, but he has done Canada a service by sweeping away the complacency that has allowed this country to drift for far too long, just comfortable enough to avoid hard choices. Those days, those decades, are done.
This kind of fetichism of suffering is so… Christian.
amainwingman on
>But free trade within Canada must only be the start. This country is, and will remain, a trading nation. The challenge now is to find new partners – starting with an old partner, Britain. Free-trade talks with Britain are in stasis, with Ottawa unwilling to make concessions that would open up Canada’s dairy market.
5 Comments
Link for the global poor?
Archived version: https://archive.fo/XwpxE.
Summary:
>But that astonishingly successful formula [of free trade between Canada and the United States] is now dead at the hands of U.S. President Donald Trump and a supine Republican Congress. Mr. Trump’s tariffs, clearly, would spell a formal end to a tightly integrated continental economy if they are implemented. Late Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau secured a 30-day stay of execution.
>Even if Mr. Trump does in the end retreat from the threat of steep tariffs, the deed and damage are done. The United States, under Mr. Trump, has demonstrated that treaties mean nothing, and that the rule of law is only useful insofar as it can be used as a cudgel. The chaos is deliberate, designed to create a state of permanent uncertainty so that risk-avoiding businesses shift operations to the United States.
>Mr. Trump may back off his threats once the 30-day reprieve expires. The Republicans may lose control of Congress in the 2026 midterms. A Democrat might even win the White House some day. None of those possibilities will alter the reality that protectionism is gripping the United States, a fever that began with Mr. Trump in 2016 but continued through the Biden administration (albeit in the form of enormous industrial subsidies whose intention was, like the Trump tariffs, to draw investment into the United States).
>Canada cannot count on the United States coming to its senses any time soon, if ever. The old formula for prosperity is dead. A new one is needed.
>That calculus must start with internal free trade. Interprovincial trade barriers have always been absurd. They are now reckless, given Mr. Trump’s economic assault and the new era it heralds. There is a growing cohort of voices speaking up for change: Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly has raised the issue, as has Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre this week said he would pay out any revenue windfalls from internal free trade to provinces that eliminate regulatory barriers – a policy this space has repeatedly advocated.
>Such an approach will fulfill the promise of Confederation to create a unified economic space. Canadian businesses will need every economy of scale they can find to continue to compete in the U.S. market, and to find new domestic customers. There is historical irony here: Confederation was propelled in part by the United States abrogating the 1854 Reciprocity Treaty. It would be fitting, in a way, for Mr. Trump’s equivalent trade action 171 years later to provide a catalyst to finish the work of 1867.
>But free trade within Canada must only be the start. This country is, and will remain, a trading nation. The challenge now is to find new partners – starting with an old partner, Britain. Free-trade talks with Britain are in stasis, with Ottawa unwilling to make concessions that would open up Canada’s dairy market. Deeper ties with the European Union are needed – after all, Canada does share a land border with an EU member (that would be Denmark’s portion of Hans Island).
>It will ultimately be up to Canadian businesses to seize those opportunities. Ottawa can help, but not with the tired and failed approach of industrial subsidies,. Instead, the next federal government needs a new strategy that rewards those who invest in Canada, by allowing them to keep more of their profits, in order to invest again. A revamped approvals process for industry and infrastructure that focuses on expeditious outcomes is another key reform.
>Mr. Trump is no friend, but he has done Canada a service by sweeping away the complacency that has allowed this country to drift for far too long, just comfortable enough to avoid hard choices. Those days, those decades, are done.
!ping Can
While we Canadians can take a deep breath of relief after everything that happened yesterday, we have to realize that the Trump threat is not over for us. We need to take the lessons we’ve learned from this episode and look at how we can move forward together. But after yesterday, it’s clear that our relationship with the US is never going to be the same. [https://magpiebrule.substack.com/p/this-aint-over](https://magpiebrule.substack.com/p/this-aint-over)
> The United States, under Mr. Trump, has demonstrated that treaties mean nothing, and that the rule of law is only useful insofar as it can be used as a cudgel.
Isn’t that always the case for international law?
> None of those possibilities will alter the reality that protectionism is gripping the United States, a fever that began with Mr. Trump in 2016 but continued through the Biden administration
The US has always been protectionist.
> Mr. Trump is no friend, but he has done Canada a service by sweeping away the complacency that has allowed this country to drift for far too long, just comfortable enough to avoid hard choices. Those days, those decades, are done.
This kind of fetichism of suffering is so… Christian.
>But free trade within Canada must only be the start. This country is, and will remain, a trading nation. The challenge now is to find new partners – starting with an old partner, Britain. Free-trade talks with Britain are in stasis, with Ottawa unwilling to make concessions that would open up Canada’s dairy market.
Lmao Canada is a caricature of itself