Trump’s 25% tariffs take effect; Canadian PM calls it “a very dumb thing”

Stock markets sink; US faces retaliatory tariffs and complaints at the WTO.

See full article...

 

[pfosx]

As a Canadian, I enjoy the full quote of Trudeau's 'dumb tariffs' comment even more:

"It's not in my habit to agree with the Wall Street Journal, but Donald, they point out that even though you're a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do," Trudeau said.

(it is also important context showing that Trudeau is not launching ad-hominem attacks at the Trump administration. That's Trump's thing.)

Plus, two more note-worthy quotes from the same speech which I think are important and relevant to the article. (anecdotally, the link to the annexation threat seem to be under-reported in the US Media):

In his opening comments, Trudeau contrasts President Trump’s trade attack on Canada, the United States’ “closest partner and ally,” with his efforts to cultivate a relationship with Vladimir Putin, “a lying murderous dictator.” He added: “Make that make sense.”

Trudeau said it was difficult to determine Trump’s true intentions in imposing tariffs. “What he wants is to see is a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that’ll make it easier to annex us,” Trudeau said, adding: “First of all, that’s never going to happen. We will never be the 51st state.”

Source;
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/03/04/us/tariffs-us-canada-mexico-china


edit: added the first sentence in parentheses

 

[Resolute]

There exists no such distinction in the US anymore.

If we're being honest, the "centre-right" is the Democrats. And they are proving to be completely ineffective right now. Literally nothing approaching leadership seems to exist in American politics.

 

[Frodo Douchebaggins]

In the immortal words of Bob and Doug McKenzie - "Take off, you hosers!"

On a somewhat more modern note I wish with all my heart that Trudeau would throw some Letterkenny quotes at Trump.


(Audio profoundly unsafe for many workplaces)


View: https://streamable.com/b0r9i

 

[thrillgore]

 

[TreeCatKnight]

that's what the far-right voted for, not the center-right.

The center-right is literally the Democratic party.

 

[TheOldChevy]

What will he do tomorrow ?

• Stop controlling Russian cyber thieves worldwide - done
• Support Russian attack of Ukraine- done
• Put stupid taxes on nearest partners that did all he asked for one month ago - done

Everyday comes with new records...

 

[Wallachia]

View attachment 104210

What is the unit these prices are measured against? This is a graph crime!

 

[Snark218]

If we're being honest, the "centre-right" is the Democrats. And they are proving to be completely ineffective right now. Literally nothing approaching leadership seems to exist in American politics.

Seriously, when was the last consequential thing not related to a concession speech you've heard a Democrat leader say?

 

[kpuc]

To my northern neighbo(u)rs -- I am so sorry. What a f**king disaster.

 

[Frodo Douchebaggins]

Seriously, when was the last consequential thing not related to a concession speech you've heard a Democrat leader say?

Jesus Christ I should have bought aloe futures before you posted that.

 

[Eurynom0s]

The feds did. Ontario does not give a fuck. It slapped a 25% export duty on electricity that powers 1.5 million homes in New York, Minnesota and Michigan. Ontario also controls about half of America's nickel imports.

We're also responsible for almost all of your potash imports - and America's new overlord Russia cannot make that up.

Your prices across the country are about to skyrocket.

And I have no sympathy whatsoever.

There's more collateral damage with the Ontario electricity export tariff but it puts a lot of pressure on a bunch of GOP House seats.

 

[Person_Man]

The electorate voted for a dictator and that's what they got.

 

[CatBus]

Damn Biden DEI making groceries expensive again.

I laughed, but it's certain that during the coming economic disaster, there will be a massive push by both the administration and their media allies to blame it all on someone else, and media outlets that don't toe the line and blame the Jews will find their FCC licenses revoked.

You'd think people wouldn't be dumb enough to believe it, but I think it's already been clearly established that far, far too many Americans are dumb enough to believe anything.

 

[ruet]

Meanwhile, somewhere in Ontario.

Spoiler

Liquor Control Board of Ontario

 

[Thakk]

If you voted republican this is what you voted for.

Also: If you didn't vote, this is what you voted for.

 

[SinclairZX81]

To do this to your own allies, misunderstanding the nature of national allegiances, is the height of foolishness. The U.S. has just willingly decided it no longer wants to be the most powerful empire on Earth. I'd say this was a good thing, but Republican voters likely wouldn't, and I certainly didn't want it to be accomplished in this way, by making us the world's pariah.

Isolationism has taken hold in the US again. particularly with the MAGA Right, just like in decades past and especially in 1915 and 1939. The idea takes hold that the problems of the world "are not our problems," and "the oceans will keep us safe," and that, somehow, we can meet all of our needs "here at home."

It didn't work before and it won't work again. It never works, and it always ends badly.

 

[Wallachia]

I laughed, but it's certain that during the coming economic disaster, there will be a massive push by both the administration and their media allies to blame it all on someone else, and media outlets that don't toe the line and blame the Jews will find their FCC licenses revoked.

You'd think people wouldn't be dumb enough to believe it, but I think it's already been clearly established that far, far too many Americans are dumb enough to believe anything.

When the Department of Education is gone -- they'll be even stupider than that

I guess at least at that point it won't be all their fault any more.

 

[GooseGoesHonk]

Wondering when Canada is going to open up asylum for people in the US... Probably when the killing of political opponents starts right?

 

[numerobis]

I don't care what your politics are, if you voted for Trump, voted for 3rd party, or sat on your ass and didn't vote at all, this is what you voted for.

And we don't care what your politics are, the government is what it is, and it's imposing tariffs on us and talking about annexing us. It would be really nice if you took your government down.

 

[hel1kx]

that's what the far-right voted for, not the center-right.

Presumably the center-right heard far more about Trump's worst plans than the far-right, so it's even more baffling they voted for him imo

 

[launica]

Now we know what borders on stupidity - Canada and Mexico

 

[Corporate_Goon]

Back to?

Personally, I choose to believe that not all of the ~40% of the US who are Trump supporters have always been and will always be delusional whack-jobs. Most of them are in the grips of a bizarre and hopeful temporary delusion brought on by a combination of legitimate grievances that have been ignored by the mainstream and bad-faith influencers and social media warping people's minds.

As a Canadian, this whole thing is just utterly baffling. The only drug that moves in significant quantity from Canada to the US is cannabis, which is legal in Canada and a good portion of the US now. Net flow of hard drugs like fentanyl and cocaine is northward, from the US to Canada. There is simply not a significant quantity of hard drugs moving southward over the US-Canada border. The stated rationale for these tariffs, at least on Canada, is incoherent.

The only explanation I've heard that makes any sense at all is that Trump personally dislikes Justin Trudeau and feels that Trudeau has slighted him in the past. But Trudeau resigned as Liberal leader prior to Trump returning to office and will be stepping down as Prime Minister later this month. And all the polling shows that this trade war is significantly increasing support for the federal Liberal party, who three months ago were flirting with a 10% approval rating and it looked like the Conservatives were going to win 200+ seats in the next election. Now the Liberals are polling way up and look like they might even have a chance to hold government (it's a slim chance, but it exists, which it did not prior to January).

This is just the flailing of a petulant child.

 

[JohnDeL]

Between this unnecessary and unjustified trade war and the way that Trump and Vance treated Zelensky last Friday, I'm starting to feel like an Air Traffic Controller in a 1980 movie...

 

[numerobis]

Presumably the center-right heard far more about Trump's worst plans than the far-right, so it's even more baffling they voted for him imo

They didn't. They voted for their own party, the Democrats.

 

[clackerd]

Well the uneducated voters sure showed us. I for one can't cope with all this winning

 

[DCStone]

What will he do tomorrow ?

• Stop controlling Russian cyber thieves worldwide - done
• Support Russian attack of Ukraine- done
• Put stupid taxes on nearest partners that did all he asked for one month ago - done

Everyday comes with new records...

Well, he's well on his way to having the federal government as the defendant in 100 lawsuits before the first 50 days of his presidency are finished (count as of yesterday was about 90). Oh, and there's a shortage of DOJ lawyers available for those lawsuits for some reason...

 

[justin150]

Bullies always assume that their victims will not fight back, that the victim's friends will not step in to support the victim.

Trump is a bully, his victims are Canada and Mexico. Those countries are fighting back, and they will find they have far more friends willing to support them than the US under Trump has

 

[3DoubleD]

So inflation in the US is going to skyrocket right? then interest rates will go up.

How long before all the debt so many American's are in causes them to mass protest?

There have been no mass protests, which is a damning statement given the amount and the magnitude of the crazy (and blatently unconstitutional) things the Trump administration has been doing.

Most of the crazy things the administration have done haven't negatively impacted most American's lives (yet, this will be noticeable). Let's be honest, while Trump did not quite get a majority of the vote, more than the majority of Americans are just fine with what he is doing.

Bullying allies -> He's soooo strong, he's getting America a better deal!, ect.

Cozying up to dictators and despots -> he's making peace, making those deals no one else could make! (at least if they had a conscience)

Tariffs -> Magical solution for all of our problems!

Government "efficiency" -> Send all of the bureaucrats home, they've never helped us!, break the system!!!

At the end of the day, the majority of Americans (not all of them, fellow-Ars readers) are some combination of entitled, brainwashed, and desperate. The fuel on the fire is that the American constitutional system has already completely failed, the Article 1 branch has abdicated its independent authority to the Article 2 branch. After they spit in the eyes of their allies, no one will be coming to save America from themselves.

Wake up, Americans! Get up and protest before you don't have a country anymore! (where did I hear that before...)

- Not so nice anymore Canadian

 

[GiantRacoonPanda]

So inflation in the US is going to skyrocket right? then interest rates will go up.

How long before all the debt so many American's are in causes them to mass protest?

It’ll take more than that. For a country so loud about its first and second amendments to the constitution, it takes a lot for people to take to the streets. In “oppressed” France, they’ll burn cities because 5 minutes might be taken away from their lunch break.

 

[chanman819]

One thing that is not specified in the article, is that the Canadian government has previously said that the retaliatory tariffs target Republican states, specifically.

This only ends when the MAGA crowd comes back to reason. How much damage this is going to take is anyone's guess.

Generally, everyone does that with retaliatory measures to target particular constituencies or interest groups. One of the retaliatory measures/side effects of Trump's first term trade war with China was retaliatory tariffs on American soyabeans, which led to Brazil becoming a far larger and more important supplier for the Chinese market.

https://www.economist.com/china/202...e-fuelling-chinas-anxiety-about-food-supplies (paywalled)

The tariffs were mostly removed in 2019, but Mr Xi had made his point. China—which previously had imported 40% of its foreign soyabeans from America—no longer had to rely so heavily on it.

America now provides less than one-fifth of the soyabeans that China buys from abroad. For American soyabean farmers, China remains nearly as important as it was: it still takes nearly half of their exports (down from just over 60% in 2017)

The general upshot is that because the US can't be trusted to behave responsibly (or at least predictably) with leverage, the general trend for everyone is going to be to reduce the amount of leverage the US is able to exert.

 

[Castellum Excors]

One thing we must keep in mind, this isn't Trump. He's barely literate. This is the Heritage Foundation, Russia, and Musk all destroying the United States from within, because no one could do it with force. Smart people behind the scenes are rubbing their greedy hands together and they're calculating that this chaos, this dysfunction, this disintegration of our country will benefit them in the long run. They know what the world will do in response to our insane demands. They know the only two options are to cave or to turn their back on us and they've got plans for these scenarios.

Musk is just a South African immigrant angry at the US for hurting his feelings, mainly starting with the "pedophiles" comment. It's all about revenge for him. How dare we not like his 420/69 memes?! Trump is also getting his revenge on for losing in 2020, but mainly staying out of prison and keeping his handlers in Russia happy. He might not even survive his firm term thanks to his age and health. There's a reason why Vance was selected to be the VP. He will follow through should something happen to Trump.

I'm probably preaching to the choir but we need these midterms to flip, if we're still allowed to vote in a free and fair election. But I'm pretty sure the last election was rigged. And to be frank, I'm starting to feel like the DNC is complicit.

 

[Ushio]

Wait I just had a horrible thought.

Trump isn't going to use the rising prices from these tariffs as his justification for attacking Canada is he? he isn't going to blame Canada and say they are attacking the US with the price increases to get his base to support military action is he?

 

[jandrese]

There have been no mass protests, which is a damning statement given the amount and the magnitude of the crazy (and blatently unconstitutional) things the Trump administration has been doing.

Other than the mass protests happening regularly in DC? You don't hear about them because the mass media is run by billionaires who are fully on board with Trump. This isn't something important like Biden being old or Obama wearing a tan suit. It doesn't warrant relentless media coverage.

 

[Ushio]

It’ll take more than that. For a country so loud about its first and second amendments to the constitution, it takes a lot for people to take to the streets. In “oppressed” France, they’ll burn cities because 5 minutes might be taken away from their lunch break.

I have to assume the majority of second amendment morons are full Trump supporters so no surprise they aren't doing anything.

 

[yippiekayakotherbuckets]

When does this escalate to the US invading and annexing Canada? I wish I wasn’t considering this outcome seriously, but since the administration has aligned with Putin and essentially gave him a pass on invading Ukraine, at what point does that behavior become ok for the US?

He’s already floated the idea of Canada becoming a state. And also renamed the Gulf of Mexico…when do these not-so-subtle signals turn into actions?

 

[GMBigKev]

The tragic thing is that there's no way in hell anyone trusts the US after this point. We've exhausted all of our good will and it'll take generations to rebuild it again. If every four years our allies have to contend with the possibility the new guy's going to roll in and wipe out every agreement and order made the previous four years... how can you trust that country?

The US is the abusive spouse of the world right now. And no amount of "baby I've changed" will fix that anymore.

 

[Gunman]

Wondering when Canada is going to open up asylum for people in the US... Probably when the killing of political opponents starts right?

I regret to inform you this has been going on for a while. Trans people being assaulted and driven to suicide, pregnant women refused life-saving healthcare, black people shot by the police, illegal immigrants treated like cattle, etc. (not even talking about the US past)
It just hasn't been happening to white men.

 

[A.Felix]

Another thing not specified in the article is that about 80% of Canadians are actively avoiding buying US-sourced goods when we can and are cancelling vacations to the point that airlines are cancelling flights.

I think this is exactly the biggest issue in this whole boondoggle. Even if he goes back on this bullshit again, it doesn't matter. Tariffs are intended to increase the price of your product in a market which will lead consumers in that market to choose domestic products based on price differentiation. If a negotiation happens, and the tariffs are dropped, consumers may pick up your product again as the price changes.

None of this is the case with the bombastic aggressiveness of Trump. When he attacks Canadians like that, they just stopped buying American brands. Last month, when he backed out of tariffs, the market still behaved as if tariffs were there, or even worse than that. The alcohol brands weren't moving any product. There's nothing you can do about it either. The government can negotiate eliminating all tariffs, but it can't compel the public to buy American whiskey. The damage is done and it's not recoverable. You could even subsidize that shit and Canadians are still not going to buy it purely out of spite. This is akin to imposing a one sided sanction on yourself. Canadians are boycotting American products, but Americans aren't boycotting Canadian ones, nor do they want to. Things have gotten so fucking bad in just a bit over a month with Trump and the Republicans in general that I wouldn't be surprised if Americans in blue states joined the Canadians in boycotting the red states.

I don't even know what the end of this is. Kicking out Trump would need the Republicans to grow a spine, which they won't. Even if they did, that still leaves Vance in power and a Republican Congress and SCOTUS, which both have supported Trump's agenda. Project 2025 didn't grow up on its own, it is the brainchild of conservative think tanks and politicians. That's if they also grow a spine against Elon and his threat to funding their primary opponents, which they're scared shitless about. Let's go to the absolute extreme of it, let's assume everyone gets kicked out and we have new elections for president. You seriously think the Republicans aren't going to pick the most Trumpian candidate in the primaries? You think Alabama or Kentucky are going to vote for a Democrat for sanity's sake? How do we deal with millions upon millions of the public actively wanting this? Because let's face it, they do. You've seen them, they "disapprove" of what the president is doing, but they still support him. We like to read the schadenfraude stories of those who regret voting for him, but in a redo, how many of them would actually vote for Harris instead? Trump is not the cause, it's the symptom.

 

[ruet]

I understand this is a joke, but I think we need to push back against these kinds of claims when they are made seriously. The right's going to say it and the legacy media's going to publish that the right said it without any pushback, so I think it's going to be up to us.

Damn Trump, Project 2025, and Republicans making groceries expensive again.

Friend, you can push back until their foreheads connect with the back of their skulls. The effect will be undetectably negligible.

 

[numerobis]

When does this escalate to the US invading and annexing Canada? I wish I wasn’t considering this outcome seriously, but since the administration has aligned with Putin and essentially gave him a pass on invading Ukraine, at what point does that behavior become ok for the US?

Takes a while to get the military on board, and get the population on board. The propaganda only just started coming out, I don't think they've got the military on board yet.