[tomder55]

Headline Canada :
Trudeau to step down . He will be replaced by Liberal Mark Carney . Elections that were probably going to happen in the Fall will be moved up. The Liberals will use the wave of nationalism that Trump's threats provoked to win the elections. The Conservatives were on a clear path to change before Trump.

“America is not Canada. And Canada never, ever will be part of America in any way, shape or form,” Mr. Carney said in his acceptance speech on Sunday evening to an electric crowd of party faithful, directly addressing Mr. Trump’s constant threat that he wants to make Canada the 51st state. “We didn’t ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves.”

This was a fight we did not need or want. Trump has twice used tariffs against Canada and twice has backed off . This time Canada is not taking their retaliatory tariffs off the table. The people of Canada have responded to Trump's threats by predictable believing that war has been declared against them .They have rallied behind the flag and the government .

Jack Daniel's maker says Canada pulling U.S. alcohol off shelves 'worse than tariff'

How Donald Trump’s attacks on Canada are stoking a new Canadian nationalism

Two senior Canadian governments official told the Associated Press that Canada’s first wave of response tariffs will remain. .......Canada’s initial $30 billion Canadian (US$21 billion) worth of retaliatory tariffs have been applied on items like American orange juice, peanut butter, coffee, appliances, footwear, cosmetics, motorcycles and certain pulp and paper products.

Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Canada has suspended a second wave of retaliatory tariffs after Trump signed the executive order to pause some duties. Ottawa had planned a further $125 billion (US$87 billion) in tariffs in three weeks on American products like electric vehicles, fruits and vegetables, diary, beef, pork, electronics, steel and trucks.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, the leader of Canada’s most populous province, also said Thursday that, starting on Monday, the province will charge 25% more for electricity shipped to 1.5 million Americans in response to Trump’s tariff plan. Ontario provides electricity to Minnesota, New York and Michigan.





Ford said Ontario’s tariff would remain in place despite the one-month reprieve from Trump.
“The only thing that’s certain today is more uncertainty. A pause on some tariffs means nothing. Until President Trump removes the threat of tariffs for good, we will be relentless,” Ford posted on X.

Canada's tariffs to remain despite Trump postponing tariffs on many imports from Canada for a month | AP News

Car dealers are advising customers to purchase cars now because the effects of the tariffs will be immediate. I for one made the call last year. My thoughts were that car prices would rise no matter who won the election. Trump's tariff threats were clear during the campaign . Kam the Sham was going to continue making more punitive green new steal regulations that would drive up costs.

To Americans his "beautiful tariffs " are not looking so beautiful now . Americans took him at his word when he said inflation would be tamed (he actually said prices would come down but I never saw that as realistic) .


“So when I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on day one."

Trump blasts Kamala Harris' high grocery prices and 'Maduro plan' while standing in front of Cheerios, meat


Now he says that his plan may cause some pain. That is NOT what he promised . Instead now he does not rule out a recession.

Trump Declines to Rule Out Recession as Tariffs Begin to Bite - The New York Times

The recession is here

Atlanta Fed model forecasts GDP shrinking latest update March 3 | 11alive.com

Stagflation is an economic cycle with slow growth ;high unemployment rate and inflation. We are rapidly marching toward that end. This time the government will not be able to spend their way out of it .

The US economy added 151,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate rose to 4.1% | CNN Business

[tomder55]

btw for the record ;Trump's tariffs are largely unconstitutional. The power to tariff was given to Congress. They ceded some of that power to the executive in 1977 with the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. (IEEPA) .

That act gave Presidents authority to act swiftly in a crisis with economic freezes ;sanctions; export controls ;preventing some transactions etc. It was never intended to give the President the power to tariff.

There is Section 232 of a 1962 trade law that gives Presidents limited power to tariff. Even there Presidents have expanded it to abusive application .

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10667

But it usually takes longer to get tariffs approved .

Trump's emergency pretext is fentanyl and illegal immigration. He may get a pass if it comes before SCOTUS . But I think he has a weak case ;especially against Canada.

[tomder55]

Flashback . 1929 . After the market crashed the economy was weakened . But it was arguably the threat of tariffs that caused the crash.

Smoot -Hawley passed in the House of Reps in May 1929 . The market immediately started it's decline .

The Senate promised to overhaul the bill. The markets began a rebound . On October 21, the Senate rejected a move to limit tariff increases to agriculture. October 23 16 members of the anti-tariff coalition switch sides and vote to double the tariff on calcium carbide from Canada. The next day is known as Black Tuesday . The day the market collapsed.

The full bill was passed in 1930 . That lead to the Great Depression.

[tomder55]

Carney ;striking when the iron is hot ;has called for snap elections to be held in about a month. His liberal party is leading in polling since Trump started flapping his gums about annexing Canada .

“We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump’s unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty,”

Canadian PM Carney calls snap election, says Trump wants to break Canada | Reuters

If it wasn't for Trump's attacks on Canadian sovereignty and his silly tariff games ;Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre would've easily defeated the Liberals in the Fall . Now he is forced to side with the Liberals against Trump while making a much weaker case than he had that the Liberals are wrecking the Canadian economy .

Either way ;when Trump says he wants Canada to be the 51st state ;doesn't he realize that Canada would be in effect Minnesota ? (or fill in the blank NY ;Michigan)....a blue state

[tomder55]

Maybe Trump wants US troops and barbed wire or walls to protect our 5,525 miles border with Canada ???

His hostility towards Canada is dumbfoundingly stupid . There I said it . Carney has. been PM there for a couple weeks now . They have not yet had a conversation .Instead Carney pretty much has made a call to arms address .

“The old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation is over,” “It’s clear the US is no longer a reliable partner. It is possible that with comprehensive negotiations, we could reestablish an element of confidence but there will be no going backwards,”
“There’s even more to do, and that’s why I chose to go to France and the United Kingdom, two long-standing and reliable partners, friends and allies of Canada,”

Prime Minister Mark Carney outlines federal response to latest U.S. tariffs – March 27, 2025



Before the tariffs go into effect . Canadians are cancelling trips to the US . There is a 70% decline in bookings . That is Canadians that wanted to spend their money supporting US businesses. I know that doesn't hurt Trump's holdings too much . But it does hurt American businesses .

But the larger implication is on national security . Besides the border Canada stands as strategic space against Russia. Our whole early warning system is based there .

As far as I am concerned this Trump animosity against Canada is unprovoked and lacks even the smallest of justification.

[tomder55]

Predictably Trump's silly antics regarding Canada turned the elections from a probable conservative win to a liberal party victory .

“As I have been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. But these are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us,” Carney said, as he hailed a remarkable reversal in fortune for his party. “That will never ever happen.”

Canada election results: Liberal Party leader Mark Carney declares victory, says country will ‘never’ yield to Trump’s threats | CNN

[tomder55]

The Aussies just went left in their elections .

Cost-of-living pressures and concerns about President Donald Trump's volatile policies had been among the top issues on voters minds.

Labor wins Australia election, broadcasters ABC, Sky News Australia say

The minister who leads the conservative party ,Peter Dutton ,lost his seat after more than 20 years in office. He was compared to Trump throughout the campaign.

Federal Election 2025: Opposition Leader Peter Dutton faces growing comparisons to US President Donald Trump as Coalition denies MAGA ties | Sky News Australia

[tomder55]

Who is Mark Carney ? He is Justin Trudeau with brains . Trudeau unleashed the financial system on truckers who did not want a jab. Carney ;like Clueless Joe wants to convert the entire system into a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). that has total control ;the ability to easily to track ,limit or freeze currencies for political or any other reason. It allows the government — or its banking partners — to control not just how much you spend, but where, on what, and whether you’re allowed to spend at all.

Central Bank Digital currency (CBDC) will be Joe's final FU to the nation

For a real life example of this in action ,look at China.

Unlike fiat currency, CBDCs are trackable and potentially subject to interference and even freezing by government authorities. CBDCs will affect citizens’ control over commerce, payments, and savings, and impact their privacy rights. The Chinese government has piloted, refined, and rolled out its own CBDC called the Digital Currency/Electronic Payment initiative (“DC/EP”), also known as the digital yuan or e-CNY.

Everybody Wants to Rule the World: Central Bank Digital Currencies in the Era of Decoupling the World’s Two Largest Economies

[jlisenbe]

It is sad to see what is happening in Canada and might add Australia as well.

[tomder55]

It is sad what is happening in the
US.
Canada is an unforced error. It is part of the world accelerating it's shift to the left due to Trump excess backlash.

His perspective with the rest of the world is based solely on the idea that everyone is "ripping off" America and taking advantage of us.

He is right that the world order needs tweaking so it becomes less dependent on US security . But his methods of punishment to enemies and allies alike was bound to have a backlash.

Why would Canada go along with someone who threatens their very sovereignty ? What would we do if they tried to annex us ?

Australia watched Trump and decided they wanted someone who would fight Trumpism.

Before he was elected there was a move to 'the right' in nations like Argentina with the election of Javier Milei . I wonder how the people of Argentian would vote today ?

[tomder55]

wooooo hooooo ! Trump made a minor trade deal with a nation we have a trade surplus with !!!!!!! (+$3.6 billion. )

He is rolling back tariffs in exchange for them purchasing Boeing jets and allowing more American agriculture products in . There will still be a 10% baseline tariff. U.K. steel and aluminum will be exempt from the U.S.’s 25% and U.K. car tariffs will be lowered to 10% from 25% for the first 100,000 vehicles.( make those Rolls Royce cars affordable again) U.K. is cutting tariffs on some U.S. beef imports from 20% and will also cut tariffs on ethanol( that subsidized product that is supposed to be more environmentally friendly than petroleum....but really isn't .)

[tomder55]

A a 3 judge panel of a Federal trade court ;the Court of International Trade , has ruled that Trump does not have the authority to use emergency powers to impose sweeping global tariffs that have plunged the world into a trade war.

“The government argues that so long as the president says he’s confronting an unusual and extraordinary threat that he can set tariffs of any amount from any country for any length of time, and no court may review it,” Marshall said during the hearing. “That’s a position that no court has ever embraced and, until this year, power no president has ever asserted.”

Trade Court Strikes Down Trump’s Global Tariffs - WSJ

He does have the authority to impose tariffs under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 . But that is not the course he took . Why ? Because there is oversight in that law. It involves the Commerce Department initiating an investigation.

Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. §1862) authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to conduct comprehensive investigations to determine the effects of imports of any article on the national security of the United States. Section 232 investigations include consideration of:

• domestic production needed for projected national defense requirements;
• domestic industry’s capacity to meet those requirements;
• related human and material resources;
• the importation of goods in terms of their quantities and use;
• the close relation of national economic welfare to U.S. national security;
• loss of skills or investment, substantial unemployment and decrease in government revenue; and
• the impact of foreign competition on specific domestic industries and the impact of displacement of any domestic products by excessive imports.

Section 232 Investigation on the Effect of Imports of Steel on U.S. National Security | U.S. Department of Commerce

He used this tool in his first term to impose steel tariffs . In fact he has the authority if he uses the right law to do it . But he wants power without oversight.

As I have mentioned ,the Constitution gives tariffs power to Congress. Any power the President has is because Congress ceded that power.

Trump has used IEPPA powers to impose the tariffs . But that is supposed to be used as reciprocal to unfair trade practices by other nations . China comes to mind. Great Britain where we run trade surpluses doesn't .

There will be roll backs if this survives appeal. But how far ? Tariffs have been imposed and revised many times in the last few months . Negotiations are ongoing .

What happens next cannot be predicted . If there are roll backs then the question is 'to where' ?