Moonbox

Isn't that supposing that we somehow didn't know that already? Trudeau had already committed something like $1.5-2B on that in December. These "concessions" will fall in under that umbrella, and a fentanyl tsar is just a cheesy symbolic gesture. Me too, but I wouldn't hold your breath on US gun enforcement under a Republican President. Whatever happens on that file will be for our border services to figure out.

Yes, but the one relic of the US system that actually still works is the midterms, and House Republicans with slimmer margins aren't going to fall in line with the Emperor if it means a guaranteed blow-out loss in states like Michigan.

Maybe, but I doubt it. The problem with the CBC over the last 20-25 years has been twofold: 1) It is very partisan and very agenda-based. 2) Its programming generally sucks. As a result, it not only provides near-zero value to the majority of Canadians, it also aggravates and antagonizes a large portion f the population.

Actions cause reactions. That's how this sort of thing works. I'm not sure what you figure "worked" though. $200M may as well be nothing at this scale, and a couple of meaningless platitudes don't count for much, do they? A fentanyl czar? Really?

That's why there are so many cities in Ukraine with no buildings left standing, and why Putin lost almost the entirety of his professional army. That's why he had to enact conscription and why thousands of his peasant donkey-soldiers die weekly...because Putin's pulling his punches. 🤣👌

I think it's funny how the donkeys are framing this as a big win. $200M (nothing) for border security and then some hollow, symbolic gestures. AMERICA IS GREAT AGAIN!

The diehard MAGA cultists will, but the more reasonable voters in the middle might care.

There's an obvious disparity in scale and Americans can absorb Canadian disinvestment far easier than the other way around, but it's still harmful to them. Folks are also fooling themselves if they think it's just going to be Canada. If the USA's closest and most economically integrated ally is diversifying away from the US (or boycotting it), we can safely assume the rest of the world will be too.

I feel almost the exact same way. Carney would have been a great PM, but signing up now doesn't show great political instincts, unless he figures he can play the long game and last until 2029.

You may very well be right, but it's flogging a dead horse and accomplished basically nothing beyond setting Canada/US relations back 30 years.

That seems like a problem in itself.

Can you write this in Haiku form, please? If you're going to write nonsense, you may as well be poetic about it.

I just don't understand what the point is in this sort of topic. Trudeau's been running a zombie government for months. He's certain to lose. The desperate scrambling and polling he was doing in his final months seems pretty irrelevant now.

No. I asked you to lay it out specifically, and all you could do was mumble vaguely about fentanyl and immigration, which is precisely all that Trump has done so far anyway. As I said before, if you don't like being challenged, then go write in your diary. Whining about the "fight" you keep running straight into is childish, especially when it was you who started this exchange. That's the point. Only Trump knows what Trump wants, because he's not really saying what he wants. He's just doing his usual grievance rambling, blustering and threatening. These performances might impress the apes who treat his words as gospel, but it's a pretty crappy way of handling international diplomacy. An ultimatum isn't worth much if it's not attached to a specific demand. This was about as good an example as you get of bad-faith "negotiating", and all it's really done is annoyed and angered everyone involved.

Okay. A poll of some sort was conducted by a government on its way out... What are you even going to have to talk about once Trudeau's gone?

There's no question that I'm correct on that. The scale of the pushback and the changes are up for debate, but there's going to be a substantial percentage of Canadians who stop buying American, stop traveling to the US, and diversify away from the US on account of how immature and unstable the administration is, and the electorate that enabled him.

Yeah can almost be certain that this is ultimately going to cost the US more than the pittance they got out of it, just in the ill-will it generated towards the USA. Consumer habits will change here just because of this.

The idea that Trump backed off of 25% tariffs because Canada committed to throw $200M (basically nothing) to border security and made a few hollow symbolic gestures is kind of silly, in my mind. Trump didn't have clear policy goals here. He just wanted to rattle cages.

They didn't acquiesce to anything. They threw some coins at a non-problem and made a couple of worthless symbolic gestures "wee another tsar!" that lets Trump pretend he muscled us into submission. Both he and our government know that's not the case, and this is far from over.

There's little/nothing to secure. The amount of fentanyl that's been seized crossing the Canada/US border over the last couple of years could fit in the backseat of my car. Trump is bogeymanning a non-issue.

They won't. The Emperor has spoken, and the Emperor gets what he wants. The least qualified and most unsuitable people are being appointed to cabinet - rewarded for loyalty and demagoguery rather than competence or know-how. It's almost like a comedy spoof...except it's real.

I don't even think Trudeau tried to pick a fight. He was just too dumb and too out-of-touch to avoid getting himself in one. He thought he could be the cool kid at the party and make fun of Trump with the other leaders behind his back. Oopsy. There are mics everywhere. Imagine that.

So, you're bringing up a study from 9 years ago, and then another one from 3 years ago that ultimately went nowhere, commissioned by a government that's on its way to near-certain and well-deserved defeat. We must discuss this further.

Risk-averse companies were already planning contingencies before the tariffs were announced. I've a client who imports commercial heating units from the UK to Canada (and sells from there to the USA) and he spent a good chunk of December scoping out warehouses to see if it would be worth importing directly to the USA. He concluded it was better to just stop doing business with the USA, but that won't always be the case...so yeah. I think you're right. I don't think he actually cares at all about Canadian dairy or chicken. It's just another red-herring. I'm sure there are things he wants, but he hasn't really articulated them and he is happy to keep everyone guessing and worried.

Bizarrely we seem to share the same thoughts, especially on the political theatre. I wonder, however, if people are thinking about this the wrong way. Instead of having any real concrete objectives that he wants to achieve with all of this chaos, I suspect the chaos and anxiety actually is the goal. Sometimes it just looks like he wants to break things - alliances, norms, rules etc that he doesn't care for, and make it so they're not easy to fix. This has caused lasting damage to the Canada-US relationship already.