NAFTA negotiations.

[?Impact]

Just now, bush_cheney2004 said:

So I guess Trudeau, Freeland, and Wynne will be back in the U.S. yet again very soon, begging for more trade concessions from those evil, protectionist Americans.

Personally I think we should be spending far more time in Europe than we do.

[bush_cheney2004]

3 minutes ago, ?Impact said:

Personally I think we should be spending far more time in Europe than we do.

 

Sure, but talk is cheap.   CETA won't have much of an impact on Canada's U.S. export market dependence.

Trudeau is heading home from California and another beggars mission.

[eyeball]

Are these stupid stickers supposed signal virtue or something?  Its 2018...I would have thought by now we'd be seeing stuff with stickers that say Made in Orbit by Robots.

Anyone else notice how often the glue they use on these things stick like snot to a screen door? PITA

[bush_cheney2004]

4 hours ago, eyeball said:

Are these stupid stickers supposed signal virtue or something?  Its 2018...I would have thought by now we'd be seeing stuff with stickers that say Made in Orbit by Robots.

 

I like the stickers and other country of origin labeling.

Canadian items have it in two official languages !

 

 

[?Impact]

1 hour ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

Canadian items have it in two official languages !

I guess you haven't seen Fabriqué au Québec. Actually the ones I have seen say les produits québécois, j"en fais mon choix.

Edited February 12, 2018 by ?Impact

[bush_cheney2004]

1 minute ago, ?Impact said:

I guess you haven't seen Fabriqué au Québec.

 

???...I've seen that label for decades.

[bush_cheney2004]

More NAFTA consternation as Canada rails against the U.S. proposal on caps to bidding on government procurements:

Quote

"The U.S. offer on government procurement … is the worst offer ever made by the U.S. in any trade negotiation. It would leave us in a position where the country of Bahrain would have far better access to U.S. government procurement markets than Canada would, or Mexico would," he told a Canadian Global Affairs Institute conference.

Washington has said it wants to cap the amount of work available to Canadian or Mexican companies at the sum total of what their governments make available for U.S. firms to bid upon. This could hurt Canada and Mexico because the U.S. government purchasing market is valued at more than US$500-billion while the combined Canadian-Mexican market is about US$90-billion, the Washington-based Information Technology Alliance for the Public Sector has estimated.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canadas-lead-nafta-negotiator-criticizes-us-proposal-as-freeland-heads-to-washington/article37972813/

 

Canada (and Mexico) want to have access to huge U.S. government procurements on an equal basis regardless of the fact that neither can/will ever offer the same market opportunity for U.S. contractors.  

Canada and Mexico at the NAFTA table are like a Johnny Carson divorce trial.....Johnny (USA) has $300 million towards marital assets....Mrs. Carson (Canada and Mexico) only have $30 million....but she still wants HALF !

 

[Thinkinoutsidethebox]

So the negotiators are busy floundering around in the mud hole we call NAFTA, a petty announcement every so often... Trump looming in the background...

I wonder if he's letting this fumble along until the midterm elections? Could be some leverage there...

 

I haven't seen a political cartoon to this effect yet  

[Thinkinoutsidethebox]

On 12/2/2017 at 1:02 PM, bush_cheney2004 said:

Nearly two-thirds of Canada's oil imports come from the United States....that's much higher than the percentage of U.S. oil imports coming from Canada (about 39%).   Looks like oil will never be a NAFTA weapon.

 

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-pipelines-saudi-oil-imports-1.4428565

One small example of the most intelligent life form on the planet doing something so stupid it defies imagination.

Economists;

We are selling crude oil at discounted prices only to import it again at world prices (plus refining, logististics and transportation costs). How does contributing to foreign entities profits improve our economic well being?

Environmentalists;

We are trying to push crude oil the longest possible distance across the continent only to import refined oil from the longest possible distances again. You're happy to protest the expansion of pumping product out of the country but don't say peep about importing it again. This may come as a shocker but reducing the distance a substance must travel will considerably reduce its environmental footprint.

Is this being done just to keep as many people as possible busy? Is this why we absolutely have to have "free trade"? What is the logic behind this?

 

[eyeball]

12 hours ago, Thinkinoutsidethebox said:

Is this being done just to keep as many people as possible busy? Is this why we absolutely have to have "free trade"? What is the logic behind this?

I'm pretty sure its to concentrate as much wealth as possible into as few hands as possible.  What's even more necessary is globalizaton. I think free trade is just for show.

[Thinkinoutsidethebox]

On 15/02/2018 at 7:13 PM, eyeball said:

I'm pretty sure its to concentrate as much wealth as possible into as few hands as possible.  What's even more necessary is globalizaton. I think free trade is just for show.

And the masses eat it up hook, line and sinker. 

It is said computers will become more intelligent then all of mankind in the near future, if they are programmed to think logically its not hard to imagine. Humankind are sheep, they need something to follow, maybe IA will save mankind...

Or it'll have to eliminate mankind if programmed to save the planet. 

Edited February 17, 2018 by Thinkinoutsidethebox

[bush_cheney2004]

More Canadian jobs moved "south of the border".....sunny ways !

Quote

More than thirty years after Spitz sunflower seeds first sprouted in Alberta, the last factory in the province is set to shut down.

PepsiCo is closing the Bow Island processing plant in July, and laying off 53 workers from the small community of just 2,000 residents in the process. 

...In an emailed statement to CBC, the company said Spitz production will be moved to an existing partner in the U.S.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/spitz-factory-alberta-1.4540237

[?Impact]

1 hour ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

More Canadian jobs moved "south of the border".....sunny ways !

I think you mean global corporate dominance due to conservative politicians giving them everything they want. PepsiCo buys a company, and then fires most of the staff to streamline (ie. steal from the many to give to the few).

[bush_cheney2004]

Just now, ?Impact said:

I think you mean global corporate dominance due to conservative politicians giving them everything they want. PepsiCo buys a company, and then fires most of the staff to streamline (ie. steal from the many to give to the few).

 

Too bad...sucks to be a tiny fish in Canada, a country that lacks the domestic capital to compete on the global stage.

 

[?Impact]

Just now, bush_cheney2004 said:

Too bad...sucks to be a tiny fish in Canada, a country that lacks the domestic capital to compete on the global stage.

10 times the number of tiny fishies in the US.

[bush_cheney2004]

2 minutes ago, ?Impact said:

10 times the number of tiny fishies in the US.

 

Eat...or be eaten.   American interests control 50% of Canada's manufacturing base...because they can.

[Kerfuffle]

On 2/11/2018 at 9:45 PM, OftenWrong said:

I have ordered some parts from US vendors in the last month, and noticed a couple of them arrived with "Made in the USA" stickers on them. One came with "Made with PRIDE in the USA". Haven't seen those in a long time.

Stickers can be deceiving......Rheem hot water heaters were made in Mexico and the temperature/pressure relief valve was installed in the us with sticker  "Made in the USA

[Kerfuffle]

On 10/31/2017 at 4:40 PM, bush_cheney2004 said:

 

The only thing inbred for NAFTA is just how much Canada and Mexico depend on trade with a single nation....the United States.

...that is far more "isolationist".

Canada’s economy would lose less than one percentage point if President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement

The total impact of ending NAFTA and reinstating tariffs would trim 0.7 to 1 per cent off Canada’s GDP according to a Bank of Montreal study, while another study by the former head of computer modeling for Canada’s foreign-affairs ministry puts the damage at 0.55 per cent.

[bush_cheney2004]

12 minutes ago, Kerfuffle said:

Canada’s economy would lose less than one percentage point if President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement

 

Meh...the Canadian and Mexican economies would still be far more "inbred" and "isolationist" that the America economy, which is far less dependent on exports to a single nation.

The Canadian economy needs the U.S. far more than the U.S. economy needs Canada.

 

Edited February 18, 2018 by bush_cheney2004

[OftenWrong]

1 hour ago, Kerfuffle said:

Stickers can be deceiving......Rheem hot water heaters were made in Mexico and the temperature/pressure relief valve was installed in the us with sticker  "Made in the USA

That's not the case for what I buy.

[OftenWrong]

49 minutes ago, Kerfuffle said:

Canada’s economy would lose less than one percentage point if President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement

The total impact of ending NAFTA and reinstating tariffs would trim 0.7 to 1 per cent off Canada’s GDP according to a Bank of Montreal study, while another study by the former head of computer modeling for Canada’s foreign-affairs ministry puts the damage at 0.55 per cent.

In that case we could save a lot of money by asking Trudeau and his team to stop going to the US and lobbying to keep NAFTA, since it isn't worth much.

[Kerfuffle]

35 minutes ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

 

Meh...the Canadian and Mexican economies would still be far more "inbred" and "isolationist" that the America economy, which is far less dependent on exports to a single nation.

The Canadian economy needs the U.S. far more than the U.S. economy needs Canada.

 

True...Trump may be doing Canada a favour by making Canada  wake up and diversify...the TPP and formal negotiations with China are necessary for this to happen

[Kerfuffle]

4 minutes ago, OftenWrong said:

In that case we could save a lot of money by asking Trudeau and his team to stop going to the US and lobbying to keep NAFTA, since it isn't worth much.

Its really a front so they can bring back that cheap weak piss they call beer.

[bush_cheney2004]

1 minute ago, Kerfuffle said:

True...Trump may be doing Canada a favour by making Canada  wake up and diversify...the TPP and formal negotiations with China are necessary for this to happen

 

That's right...Trump is helping Canada wean itself from overwhelming dependence on U.S. investment and export market.

Boycotting Heinz ketchup in Canada doesn't really accomplish much.

[Kerfuffle]

2 minutes ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

 

That's right...Trump is helping Canada wean itself from overwhelming dependence on U.S. investment and export market.

Boycotting Heinz ketchup in Canada doesn't really accomplish much.

Cant understand why anyone would use ketchup anyway....unless your eating something that tastes even worse than ketchup.