Leaderboard

Trump came in as POTUS with no experience as a politician and is trying to find his footing in politics. IMO he's still in the "trial and error" phase. I'm well aware that a grave miscalculation on his part could have disastrous consequences. As I said elsewhere there are safeguards in the US Constitution to protect against such actions. I concede he is puffing his chest out to convey a sign of strength. Yet, I think he believes that doing so will send out a signal that he will act in the best interest of the US come hell or high water. But to put him in the same category as the villains you did is over the top and I flatly disagree with that.

I think one major difference between the US and Canada is how Canadians tend to favour the inscribing of ethnic identity construction into the laws and the Constitution (e.g. the Official Languages Act, the separate school system, Christian statutory holidays even with mandatory closures on those days in some provinces, etc. etc. etc.)

Especially to the 'lower adversaries' oh my

Thanks for clarifying...at first glance I couldn't explain/understand why tiny NB would be at 50% of GDP, but given its small population and total GDP, basic math drives that large number and relative imbalance. For AB, and Canada's total U.S. trade, it was easy to see the impact of natural resources when plummeting oil prices put a big dent in the number. BC has been living with forced and voluntary softwood lumber export caps for decades, as this battle was enjoined long ago...decoupled from NAFTA. Steel and aluminum are just getting to this phase of trade conflict, but there has been a global struggle and consolidation for steel dumping because of China regardless of Trump.

I would love to see comparisson numbers from the new Can/US FTA days, when about 70% of all Can/US trade was under the Auto Pact, and almost all of that was between ON and MI (for obvious reasons). For NB: I suppose 50% of SFA is pretty much SFA. I imagine the big numbers for MB (electricity) SK (ag & petro) and AB (petro and mfg petro equip) are bigger under NAFTA than they were back then.

Some interesting videos here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBgGjoGof6A

I can understand the undesirability of the 5 year sunset clause. However, the current NAFTA has the option to leave after 6 months notice, and it is reasonable to expect that agreements have ongoing consent (it would be rape without consent). I don't see why no 5 year sunset clause should be a pre-condition for Canada. It is better than no trade agreement for the next 5 years. I suspect there are other issues that the Trudeau government is unable to compromise on (such as supply management) and that they are using the 5 year sunset clause as a convenient excuse to justify inability to get a deal. Or maybe the Trump administration is too difficult to deal with. It's too hard to tell since both governments are protectionist.

Because Canada's biggest limitation is domestic...caused by other Canadians. Regional infighting, provincial trade barriers, lack of investment capital, foreign ownership and export market dependence, tree huggers, sins against First Nations, multi-cultural games, etc. , etc.

Funny how nobody seems to see that... Why not take care of the domestic market first then export what's left? The masses blindly follow the "experts" and politicians, nobody wants to step back and look at the big picture. Climate change and NAFTA are another couple of examples of this.