3 ms·

Trump is just sabre rattling but arguably this has been effective with China, and will probably motivate Canada to permit changes as well. Trudeau doesn't have

Trump is just sabre rattling but arguably this has been effective with China, and will probably motivate Canada to permit changes as well. Trudeau doesn't have much choice, the Canadian economy basically doesn't exist without US trade. No Canada isn't going to join the EU or anything like that, most of the Canadian economy is less than 100 miles from the border. The stuff that is further away like the tar sands is also deeply integrated with the US. NAFTA has basically turned Canada into a US state economically. Note that the Berniecrats have long lobbied for better trade deals that emphasize protections for US workers...it will be hard for left Democrats to oppose Trump with a free-trade agenda. Mostly the Berniecrats have been silent because Trump is the first President in thirty years to rethink free trade. Canada should be looking further south for criticism...it is Mexico where jobs like auto manufacturing will end up...Canada cannot compete with Mexico. When NAFTA was written, Mexico was not yet a realistic manufacturing center so Canada had little to worry about

toast0 8y ago
I think all the tarrifs (and retaliatory tarrifs and another round of that) is more than sabre rattling.
- claydavisss 8y ago
  No they will all be rolled back, but the threat will be effective
endorphone 8y ago
"Trump is just sabre rattling but arguably this has been effective with China" It accomplished absolutely nothing with China, while cementing them as the Eastern world power (and coming global world power). It has been profoundly Pyrrhic, like virtually all of Trump's "deals". "the Canadian economy basically doesn't exist without US trade" Canada's economy is absolutely integrated with the US, courtesy of trade agreements going back decades. A lot of that trade is reciprocal -- e.g. Alberta sends natural gas to the US, and Ontario imports natural gas from the US. But to say it doesn't exist without US trade is simply ridiculous. One quarter of Canada's GDP is tied up in trade, a large portion of that involved with necessary minerals and raw goods, which will always have a market. Whether it's the US because it's convenient, or another country, it will be sold. If all US trade stopped, Canada will be absolutely fine. There will be disruption, but it would almost certainly be beneficial in the long run. Your last paragraph is just completely wrong. Mexico -- and the whole premise of NAFTA -- was to allow North America as a whole to compete better with Asia. Indeed, Trump's boasts about the trade agreements with Mexico are uproarious because at best they seriously hobble North American car makers against much cheaper foreign makers.

toast0 8y ago

I think all the tarrifs (and retaliatory tarrifs and another round of that) is more than sabre rattling.

claydavisss 8y ago
No they will all be rolled back, but the threat will be effective

endorphone 8y ago

"Trump is just sabre rattling but arguably this has been effective with China" It accomplished absolutely nothing with China, while cementing them as the Eastern world power (and coming global world power). It has been profoundly Pyrrhic, like virtually all of Trump's "deals". "the Canadian economy basically doesn't exist without US trade" Canada's economy is absolutely integrated with the US, courtesy of trade agreements going back decades. A lot of that trade is reciprocal -- e.g. Alberta sends natural gas to the US, and Ontario imports natural gas from the US. But to say it doesn't exist without US trade is simply ridiculous. One quarter of Canada's GDP is tied up in trade, a large portion of that involved with necessary minerals and raw goods, which will always have a market. Whether it's the US because it's convenient, or another country, it will be sold. If all US trade stopped, Canada will be absolutely fine. There will be disruption, but it would almost certainly be beneficial in the long run. Your last paragraph is just completely wrong. Mexico -- and the whole premise of NAFTA -- was to allow North America as a whole to compete better with Asia. Indeed, Trump's boasts about the trade agreements with Mexico are uproarious because at best they seriously hobble North American car makers against much cheaper foreign makers.