4 ms·
Ontario rips up $100M Starlink contract ahead of U.S. tariffs
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- asimpleusecase 2y agoSelf inflicted harm - I’m doubtful that will get the outcome they are hoping for
- whynotmaybe 2y agoIs your comment about the US' tariffs or the Ontario's decision?
- starspangled 2y agoOr perhaps it's about existing Canadian tariffs?
- whynotmaybe 2y agoExactly my point. By definition, tariffs (wherever they are) are always self inflicted harm on the opposite of a libertarian ideology where as cutting a contract because you don't like the company is exactly that.
- starspangled 2y ago> By definition, tariffs (wherever they are) are always self inflicted harm on the opposite of a libertarian ideology where as cutting a contract because you don't like the company is exactly that. That doesn't mean it is not a "self inflicted harm" in essentially the same way, it just means you believe you have some justification that outweighs the harm. But there is no reason why you couldn't justify tariffs in some way (e.g., because you don't like the country).
- oldpersonintx 2y ago[dead]
- danso 2y agoNice to see a principled stand by a regional leader. I've seen people (e.g. Shopify's CEO) complain that Canada should be more compliant to the U.S.'s demands. But that implies there is something reasonable to be complaint to [0]. The amount of fentanyl and illegal immigrants that cross over from Canada is relatively minuscule, not any more egregious than the traffic of illegal guns from the U.S. It's absolute insanity start a trade war with our closest and oldest ally. [0] https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-imposes-tariffs-on-imports-from-canada-mexico-and-china/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-pr...
- ttyprintk 2y agoThe fentanyl excuse is technically necessary because the US President only has emergency powers in matters of commerce. He would emphasize decreasingly-urgent excuses without fentanyl, each looking expedient and cynical. Failing to persuade Congress to rubber-stamp this might expose Trump as weak.
- maxerickson 2y agoA single member can bring a resolution to question the declared emergency, with the statute granting the emergency powers requiring the resolution to be brought to the floor relatively quickly.
- ttyprintk 2y agoSince fentanyl is mostly smuggled by US citizens, I’m not sure what kind of emergency this is that it needs the executive to overrule the legislative on commerce.
- mdhb 2y agoShopify’s CEO has been a known weirdo for a long time now.
- rchaud 2y agoDoug Ford is doing this 180 out of sheer political necessity. There is an Ontario provincial election later this month, and he is desperate to reverse the perception that Canada's conservatives (especially at the federal level) are too enamoured of maga-style slash-and-burn politics after using it successfully to protest Covid lockdowns 3 years ago. There was no need for a Starlink deal to begin with, especially as his government has slashed millions in education and healthcare funding in Ontario, and has a multi-billion dollar transit line in Toronto that's several years behind schedule. There is a federal election scheduled for later in the year as well, and cosying up to present American lunacy isn't going to be a winning formula.
- thomassmith65 2y agoI wonder if Trump tells a few friends in advance of his tariff decisions. If he tipped off Musk, that's worth more than this $100 million. Perhaps that's too cynical, and the tariffs aren't currency manipulation; perhaps it's something legitimate (like an excuse to lower his own taxes on account of the tariff revenue)
- cf100clunk 2y agoI highly doubt that anything he is doing is a secret to Musk and others, perhaps even to Russian and/or Chinese intelligence.
- ttyprintk 2y agoWhat surprised his supporters is that he chose not to use this as a negotiation tactic; he enacted them on an emergency basis and risked them getting shot down without even leveraging them in negotiation.
- thomassmith65 2y agoWell, he just dropped the Mexico tariff an hour ago. In retrospect, his waffling announcements are most readily explained as a way to game the stock and forex markets.
- ttyprintk 2y agoCory Doctorow hinted that this is about John Deere tractors: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42777812 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42777812 Since John Deere chose StarLink for its newer models, would you risk your agricultural capability on the decisions of someone as protected as Elon Musk?