The best way Canada can deal with the U.S. tariffs and other problems.

[blackbird]

I see the best way forward for Canada in the face of these tariff threats from the U.S. is to become economically independent of the U.S.

That means we must change our whole system which is presently paralyzed by government red tape, taxes, and regulations hampering resource development, home building, and investment in Canada.

This problem has existed for a long time and was created mainly by the Liberal and NDP government.  Companies have pulled out of Canada because of the heavy hand of government against investment and resource development.

If we really want to succeed we must change our thinking and government and get a development and resource oriented government.

Even provincial government have caused problems by opposing resource development.  We have had that problem with the BC NDP government which opposed the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion for example.  It is the only pipeline that carries oil to the west coast and Pacific port and Canada depends on it.  It is telling that even the federal government recognized the necessity of the pipeline expansion and when the private company could not get it built because of all the opposition groups and the BC NDP government was against it, the federal government realized they had no choice and purchased it from the private company in order to get it built.

However, they really had no choice because of it being the only pipeline to the west coast.  But the federal Liberals and NDP still created an anti-development country and that must be abolished.  

If we really want to succeed and prosper, we need to develop our country and find other trading partners in the world.  This will not happen overnight, but it must be the long term goal.

[xul]

Best way No.1: Don't bluff.

 

Ford wants to sell more electricity to the U.S. — Trump says it ‘doesn’t make sense’

Quote

On Wednesday, Trump again mused about Ontario — this time dismissing the short-lived threat to add a surcharge to electricity and saying his threat of 50 per cent tariff on steel and aluminum had shut it down.

“We had a problem with Ontario and they dropped that,” Trump said. “We let them know what we were going to be doing, they dropped it immediately. Electricity, you shouldn’t be playing with electricity, it affects people’s lives here.”

Big words and bluffing doesn't make anyone strong. They only make the person a clown😜

 

Edited March 14 by xul

[xul]

No2. Keep economic policy stable.

For example: How could Canadian deal with this beer can crisis?

I think most Canadian would say: "It is easy. We have beer and we have aluminum. Our existing can makers will build new production lines to boost the can production, or even there will be new investors to build new factories to fix the issue within a few months."

But in reality, no businessman would want to invest in anything if he couldn't see it was profitable. Which means if a businessman anticipates that Canada will kneel before US again once Trump is gone or once Trump recedes a bit, like lowering tariff from 25% to 12.5%, he won't invest in a beer-can factory.

Trump is called 川建国 by Chinese netizens for a reason. Both him and Xi convinced those Chinese private companies via the trade war that it is time to invest in high-tech products instead of buying them from US. If Trump didn't start the trade war, or if Xi didn't dare to take on him, no entrepreneurs would want to throw in billions of dollars to developing these amazing technologies:

 

 

[eyeball]

The best way Canada can deal with the U.S.

Is to not deal with the US at all until Trump stops mouthing off about annexing us.

That should should have been a pre-condition to even meeting weeks ago and I'm a little pissed off at not seeing our representatives walking out when he starts.

It's just downright insulting.

[eyeball]

The lickspittles and sycophants Trump has surrounded himself with are never going to get thru to him.

We should be relying and counting on our best allies to bring Trump to heel - ordinary Americans.

[xul]

16 hours ago, blackbird said:

resource oriented government.

I agree with you that many laws, bylaws, rules, codes....were created by political-correctness over science and economics, so they should be reviewed under the currently new and ultimate political-correctness in Canada----make the economy more efficient and competitive. Without the change, diversifying market and independence from US's is just a Canadian dream which will never come to be true.

On the other hand, a natural resource oriented economy is no good for Canada, period. Venezuela government is a resource oriented government. When oil price hit over $100 per barrel, it seems like working more than fine. But when oil price dropped under $30 per barrel, it was in big trouble. It is too risky for an economy to only count on a single industrial sector.

Putin's war against NATO-backed Ukraine has lasted for 3 years. Canadian GDP is on par with Russian. Just imagine, if Russia was replaced by Canada to engage the war, how long would Canada last? Maybe just after 3 months Canada will need to declare bankruptcy due to the spending of imported weapons. Russia can last that long because its industries, though mostly rusty and outdated, still can produce most of what Russia need to continue the war. If Canada had all Russian industrial strength, I bet Trump even wouldn't dare to dream on annexing Canada. 

[impartialobserver]

It makes sense to decouple from the US and therefore leave Canada less exposed to trade wars. My guess is that this will be a rocky journey with lots of ups and downs. 

[Dougie93]

3 hours ago, impartialobserver said:

It makes sense to decouple from the US and therefore leave Canada less exposed to trade wars.

while leaving Canada exposed to being set upon by the Russians and more significantly the Chinese,

Pyrrhic Victory

[xul]

On 3/14/2025 at 5:46 PM, Dougie93 said:

while leaving Canada exposed to being set upon by the Russians and more significantly the Chinese,

Pyrrhic Victory

This is hyena trying to sell bear-spray to safari tourists in Africa. It's a wrong salesman selling wrong product in a wrong place.... 

It's kinda like, when a woman files for divorce, the man tells her "Once you leave this room and go outside, you will be raped by other men."

Though Canada's economy is  relatively smaller than US's, Canada's GDP is still on par with Italy and Brazil, close to France and UK. How can all these countries be independent from Russia and China but Canada can't?

[Dougie93]

41 minutes ago, xul said:

This is hyena trying to sell bear-spray to safari tourists in Africa. It's a wrong salesman selling wrong product in a wrong place.... 

It's kinda like, when a woman files for divorce, the man tells her "Once you leave this room and go outside, you will be raped by other men."

Though Canada's economy is  relatively smaller than US's, Canada's GDP is still on par with Italy and Brazil, close to France and UK. How can all these countries be independent from Russia and China but Canada can't?

well first of all, Canada's inflated GDP is reliant on exports with special access to the American market,

so if Canada is getting divorced from that, the GDP will fall sharply,

but furthermore, the UK, France & Italy don't have the resources which the Chinese need,

Canada is the prize that all the major powers are now pursuing,

while unlike Europe, Canada is a  vast territory with a comparatively tiny population and practically no military power

[xul]

As for way #2, there is another example for further explanation:

When two boats, one large and one small, stay side by side in calm water, you can see passengers scattering on either boats according to their preferences. But when a gust of wind makes the water rough, you will see everyone just wants to jump on the large boat.

Trump's so-called madness, like putting tariffs on and off, moving their dates forward and backward, is a strategy which means to create uncertainty or instability. Upon economical instability, Businessmen will intend to move their business to the more stable economy which is less affected by the tariff stir, the larger boat, which is the US.

To defeat this strategy, the owner of the small boat needs to prove his existing and potential passengers that his boat is stable too and can send passengers to its setting destination, not only going to where the wind blows to.  

If Canada government lets Trump to decide whether Canadian economy will stay being-bonded with US's or will stray away from US's, it will be no different from that a ferry captain lets wind to decide where his ship goes. No one would want to buy a boarding ticket for his ship.  

 

[Dougie93]

1 minute ago, xul said:

To defeat this strategy, the owner of the small boat needs to prove his existing and potential passengers that his boat is stable too and can send passengers to its setting destination, not only going to where the wind blows to. 

except Canada can't actually prove that, because Canada is only propped up by American markets,

otherwise Canada's governance is dysfunctional resulting a moribund economy in terms of productivity,

and Canada's state capacity, the capacity to build things, is feeble

comparing Canada to France or Italy is silly ; Canada is nothing like France nor Italy,

France & Italy are actually industrial & military powers in their own right,

while Canada is just a Company Town which pumps cheap gas for America

[xul]

2 hours ago, Dougie93 said:

except Canada can't actually prove that, because Canada is only propped up by American markets,

otherwise Canada's governance is dysfunctional resulting a moribund economy in terms of productivity,

and Canada's state capacity, the capacity to build things, is feeble

comparing Canada to France or Italy is silly ; Canada is nothing like France nor Italy,

France & Italy are actually industrial & military powers in their own right,

while Canada is just a Company Town which pumps cheap gas for America

This is why Canadian economy needs some sort of decoupling from US's if Canadian wants their country to be truly independence. Besides, just as I have pointed out in another post, the US is a big falling tree. It would be better and safer if anyone who used to live on the tree walked away with more controllable manner from it before it completely fell down.

For example: Given current circumstance caused by Elon Musk to Tesla, if someone had a well-paid job in Tesla but have got fired recently, though it may be difficult to find another well-paid job in other companies so he may need to lower his salary expectation and get extra learning or training to fit a new job, is it still wise to begin seeking another job instead of waiting Musk to have mercy and recall him back?  

[Dougie93]

1 minute ago, xul said:

This is why Canadian economy needs some sort of decoupling from US's if Canadian wants their country to be truly independence.

Canadians don't really want to be truly independent,

certainly not at the cost of decoupling from America which would be catastrophic,

Canadians are colonials by nature, they just want some other country to do all the heavy lifting,

when Britain couldn't do it anymore, Canadians turned to America to run things for them

[Dougie93]

11 minutes ago, xul said:

 the US is a big falling tree.

 

Americans are 33% more productive than Canadians,

Americans are 50% more wealthy than Canadians,

America has the most capable military in the world by many orders of magnitude

while Canada is practically defenceless,

so if America is failing, feeble and pathetic Canada is certainly doomed as well

[I am Groot]

On 3/14/2025 at 1:56 PM, impartialobserver said:

It makes sense to decouple from the US and therefore leave Canada less exposed to trade wars. My guess is that this will be a rocky journey with lots of ups and downs. 

Decoupling from the US will not leave us less exposed to trade wars but more exposed.

[Dougie93]

18 minutes ago, xul said:

For example: Given current circumstance caused by Elon Musk to Tesla, if someone had a well-paid job in Tesla but have got fired recently, though it may be difficult to find another well-paid job in other companies

you're not going to find that job in Canada,

since Canada's economy is basically just exporting raw materials to America,

plus a gigantic real estate bubble which is destined to implode

[xul]

22 minutes ago, Dougie93 said:

Canadians don't really want to be truly independent,

certainly not at the cost of decoupling from America which would be catastrophic,

Canadians are colonials by nature, they just want some other country to do all the heavy lifting,

when Britain couldn't do it anymore, Canadians turned to America to run things for them

Unfortunately I feel the same way. What I posted here are just purely academic.

Though, there is still hope.....if Canada is the weeping soldier, Trump is playing General Patton... 😢

 

Edited March 16 by xul

[Dougie93]

9 minutes ago, I am Groot said:

Decoupling from the US will not leave us less exposed to trade wars but more exposed.

if Canadians actually wanted to decouple, then why are they even fighting the trade war ?

if Canadians didn't know that they are totally reliant on being coupled with America,

there wouldn't be the hysterical panic going on in Canada right now

Edited March 16 by Dougie93

[Dougie93]

1 minute ago, xul said:

if Canada is the weeping soldier, Trump is playing General Patton... 😢

well Patton was forced to apologize to that soldier in the end,

so I think it is possible for Canada to convince Trump that picking on Canada is not really in his interests,

but decoupling from America is a delusion

[xul]

32 minutes ago, Dougie93 said:

well Patton was forced to apologize to that soldier in the end,

My point is that his methods indeed delivered results...according to the ending  scene of the movie, the soldier had become the bravest man in General Bradley's army.

Quote

so I think it is possible for Canada to convince Trump that picking on Canada is not really in his interests,

but decoupling from America is a delusion

My point is the US is a falling tree, regardless if Trump can be convinced or not, the US just can't afford to support its allies by the old way. So Canada only has two options: 

1) The easy way: hand over all its natural resources and become or virtually become the 51th state of USA, then eventually fall with USA;

2) The hard way: bearing all the hardness and make its own way out of zone of the falling tree.

Edited March 16 by xul

[xul]

38 minutes ago, Dougie93 said:

if Canadians actually wanted to decouple, then why I they even fighting the trade war ?

if Canadians didn't know that they are totally reliant on being coupled with America,

there wouldn't be the hysterical panic going on in Canada right now

Decoupling is kinda like divorce. When a couple is divorcing, there are lots of things which they need to fight for until an agreement has been reached, like the money in their bank, the house they live, and kids.....etc. Even after they divorced, Trump still has business relationship with Ivana, hasn't he?

In short: decoupling doesn't mean to become enemy each other. It just means to keep some distance to make both sides comfort by having less responsibility to each other.  

[Dougie93]

27 minutes ago, xul said:

My point is that his methods indeed delivered results...according to the ending  scene of the movie, the soldier had become the bravest man in General Bradley's army.

that's not really how Canada is reacting,

Canada is rather throwing a hissy fit like a teenager,

fantasying about all the ways that they could hit back against Trump daddy,

which is not actually generating any realistic solutions to Canada's problem

[Dougie93]

5 minutes ago, xul said:

In short: decoupling doesn't mean to become enemy each other. It just means to keep some distance to make both sides comfort by having less responsibility to each other.  

Canadians don't actually want that,

because Canadians don't really want to pay the price,

it's all talk because Canada is butt hurt,

but it's not a realistic solution for a culture like Canada's,

which is by nature keen to have America do all the heavy lifting for Canada,

since Canada can then award themselves social welfare entitlements

[xul]

8 hours ago, Dougie93 said:

Canadians don't actually want that,

because Canadians don't really want to pay the price,

it's all talk because Canada is butt hurt,

I know. Unfortunately it is Trump who filed the divorce.

I wish Canada would act like Ivana, acknowledging the reality that the marriage is over and taking calculated measures to secure her future as a successful businesswoman.

Just don't be Stormy Daniels-----throwing tea cups, kitchen knives, dishes and pans on Trump's head won't help the situation.😜😢