I was in church the other day and was excited to see a friend who had recently moved back to Canada. You can’t miss this guy, because he’s a giant Ontario farm boy of Dutch heritage. The Dutch know hard work, but that didn’t stop him from getting laid off here in the U.S., forcing him to move back home.
Even he, a fairly worldly fellow, was surprised by the current sentiments towards the U.S. when he crossed the border. I don’t think most Americans quite grasp both the depths of Canadian consternation and how hard it is to make a Canadian get that mad. He invited me up to watch a NASCAR Pinty Series race, and I asked him if I’d take some heat for being American. He laughed. “No, of course not, we’re still Canadian,” was his answer.
American people are welcome, but American products are a tougher sell. He said that the local liquor store was telling people to buy the American spirits they like now, because they weren’t ordering any more. For now, most of the boycott seems to be localized to brown liquors. Are cars next? It’s not a crazy thought, given Canada’s announcement that it’s lowering the tariff on Chinese cars.
Put on your buckets, today’s Morning Dump is going to be a little controversial, and I just ask that we all respect one another as we work our way through some challenging times. While Canada and China are buddying up, German companies like Porsche are having to deal with slumping sales in that country. China remains the world’s biggest battery supplier, and Ford is having to squash a rumor that it was looking to buy batteries from BYD.
Tesla does huge business in China and tends to avoid a lot of static for it, but it’s still facing a NHTSA investigation here in the United States. The company asked for an extension because there were too many incidents to review.
Canada And The United States Suddenly In A… Heated Rivalry
The President recently told the world that Americans don’t need Canadian products, seemingly as a way to dismiss the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA, or CUSMA as they call it up north). Per The Canadian Press:
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade is “irrelevant” to him and Americans don’t need Canadian products.
“It expires very shortly and we could have it or not,” Trump said while touring a Ford plant in Michigan. “It wouldn’t matter to me. I think they want it. I don’t really care about it.”
Clearly, President Trump isn’t up on all the Jacob Tierney-produced, Hockey-based television Americans are devouring. In addition to Heated Rivalry, a new season of Shoresy better be coming to Hulu in a few weeks. Also, who doesn’t appreciate some Alberta Beef and all-dressed chips?
The better question might be: What does America export to Canada? Besides booze, the answer is that America exports a lot of cars (and also builds a lot of cars there). For historical, geographical, and regulatory reasons, a lot of vehicles travel between the two countries.
Or, at least, that’s what used to happen. As Bloomberg reports, the number of exports from the United States is falling dramatically:
US factories’ share of the Canadian vehicle market has tumbled to a new low, as automobile tariffs upend an industry that for decades enjoyed tight cross-border integration.
Just 36% of passenger vehicles imported to Canada were manufactured in the US during the first 10 months of 2025. That compares with an average of 49% in the 10 years before that, according to Statistics Canada imports data.
Canada is the largest buyer of American-made new cars and trucks, by far. But the numbers help illustrate how the trade war started by President Donald Trump’s administration has changed the business. Mexican and South Korean-made vehicles are gaining a bigger share of sales at Canadian auto dealers.
In response to President Trump’s tariffs and the risk of losing out in a renegotiated USMCA, American car companies have shifted production away from Canada to the United States, which has royally upset Canadian leaders. Canadians also seem irked by the suggestion that Canada should become the 51st state and, recently, over similar, uh, ‘discussions’ about its neighbor, Greenland.
I don’t think the U.S. and Canada can exactly extricate themselves from one another so easily, and American brands could still produce cars in Canada for the local market if it came to that. The other alternative is that Canada could allow more Chinese cars into the country, which, yup, that’s what’s going to happen.
“It’s a partnership that reflects the world as it is today, with an engagement that is realistic, respectful and interest-based,” Carney told a news conference in Beijing.
Carney said Ottawa expects Beijing to drop canola seed duties to 15 per cent by March, and called that “enormous progress.”
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said in a social media post that the break on canola tariffs “demonstrates the importance of foreign trade missions and shows what can be achieved when the federal and provincial governments and our export industries work together to strengthen our trade relationships.”
Canadian canola meal, lobsters, crabs and peas will no longer be subject to Chinese “anti-discrimination” tariffs from March to at least the end of the year. There was no mention of canola oil.
In return, Canada will allow up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles into the Canadian market each year, at a 6.1 per cent tariff.
That’s less than 5% of the total market, but presumably those will be almost entirely electric vehicles or PHEVs. As if to rub it in, Canadian Premier Carney said that working with China is now “more predictable,” which feels like a dig at the United States. More pointedly, he said: “We fundamentally stand up for human rights, for democracy, territorial integrity, rights to self-determination.” That’s a crazy argument to make when talking about signing a deal with China, a country that doesn’t regularly respect any of the above, but there’s definitely a way to read that as a dig at the United States as well.
Mexico has taken a somewhat different approach, having recently upped tariffs against Chinese EVs. Will it matter? Who knows, but Mexico already surpassed the United States in auto exports to Canada at least once last year.
I don’t know where this goes, but I assume it’s not good, other than Thomas getting to drive a bunch of interesting Chinese and South Korean cars we don’t get. If it goes tarps off between the USA and Canada, he’s threatening to cut his article word count by 15%.
China Helps Take Down Porsche, Also Germany
The United States was the one major market where Porsche had an ok year, but sales were still ten-ply. Everywhere else? Woof. Germany is down 16%, and China is down 26%.
Per Automotive News Europe, there are a lot of challenges facing the company’s new CEO:
Porsche has struggled with a range of challenges, including correcting an overly ambitious battery-electric vehicle rollout that upended model plans and weighed on margins. Tariffs in the U.S., which has surpassed China as Porsche’s most important market, have also weighed on profit.
The automaker stopped selling combustion engine versions of the Macan and the 718 Boxster and Cayman in Europe because their older digital architectures did not meet new EU cybersecurity regulations.
Given where emissions standards are in the United States, my advice is for the company to produce a new V8-powered 928 built in Tennessee.
Ford Is, Or Isn’t, Thinking About Using BYD Batteries Abroad
BYD makes a good battery, historically, and plenty of automakers have used them in their own cars (including Tesla). Would Ford consider it? A report from Keith Naughton, via The Detroit News, suggests there’s at least been a discussion about it and some pushback.
The potential pact with BYD drew immediate political blowback, with White House trade adviser Peter Navarro and Michigan member of Congress questioning the deal.
House China Panel Chair John Moolenaar, R-Caledonia, said Ford “should work with our allies, not our adversaries.”
“If reports that Ford is in discussions to potentially partner with a second Chinese battery company were to come true, it would diminish Ford’s status as an iconic American company,” Moolenaar said in an emailed statement.
Ford already uses Chinese batteries in some of its EVs sold in China, but this reportedly would be for the company’s hybrids. Tesla does a ton of business with BYD, so it’s odd that Tesla doesn’t seem to get any negative attention for it.
Tesla Asks For Extension To Review FSD Issues
A probe from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into incidents involving Tesla’s ADAS systems isn’t going to be resolved soon, as Tesla has asked for (and been granted) an extension to review all the issues.
According to Bloomberg, NHTSA is looking into incidents where FSD-equipped vehicles violate safety laws, as well as the car’s ability to sense objects during fog or other reduced visibility situations:
In the extension request Tesla sent to NHTSA this week, the carmaker complained it was dealing with a pileup of queries from the regulator. On top of the agency’s questions about FSD and traffic violations, the company simultaneously has been preparing responses to NHTSA’s probes into delayed crash reports and inoperative door handles.
Having to reply to three large information requests in short order “is unduly burdensome and affects the quality of responses,” Tesla said.
You know what’s also burdensome? Having your public roads used as a beta test for a technology, so Tesla should expect public scrutiny.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
This morning, I nearly fell out of bed when I discovered that Mitski posted something to her Instagram account, which is like only the 4th time that’s ever happened. She’s got a new song! This is a big deal in my world. Please enjoy “Where’s My Phone?” and its Rapunzel-as-shot-by-third-year-UMASS Amherst Film Studies video.
The Big Question
What’s your favorite Canadian car, product, tv show, actor?
Top photo: BYD, Toyota, Audi
Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Dan Aykroyd and the Trailer Park Boys… oh and my wife 🙂
I don’t think the average American (as defined by George Carlin) realizes how much permanent damage this administration has caused with Canada.
I can’t see Denmark, Iceland, Mexico … et al having too many warm feelings
Does your wife know my Canadian girlfriend? 😉
I guess I am not average, but I am so depressed what this administration has done to our international relations. Not just Canada, although that is important. LATAM, the EU, ASEAN and I really have no idea what’s going on in Africa.
I thought it was bad during the Bush 43 years, but this has just been so much worse. And we have three more years before it might get better.
These days, I’m almost embarrassed to be recognized as an “American.” I’m 1/4 Canadian! Is there some way I can put that on my passport?
And I really despise that the US calls itself “America” in toto, as if Canada and Mexico don’t exist.
I’d expatriate, but my mom has Alzheimer’s so I have to stick around for a while.
Maybe I’ll drive up to Vancouver BC and try to find a new wife up there. It didn’t work out so well with the last one in Texas. Who I met in Los Angeles. Who knows? 😉
As you and your brother care for you mom, suggest you consider filing for a Canadian passport now… The 25% of you might make the other 75% happy later if or when you might want to formally make the move north.
(I say this as I envy you have this Canadian option.)
Thanks for your thoughts.
However, the documentation that might allow that that to happen is not easy to find. While my dad’s mom had US and Canadian citizenship, she was actually born to Scottish missionaries who fled China, where she was born in 1902, shortly after the Chinese military started shooting at them. At least, that’s what I’ve been told. So, maybe I could get Chinese and Scottish passports too? Lol.
My next trip to visit, in a couple of weeks, I will plow through her four-drawer filing cabinet. And I could be wrong, but I thought the threshold was 50%. If it’s only 25%, that would incentivize me more. I will look into that.
Mom became a bit of a hoarder, and during my last three-week visit (which I just returned from today, Sunday) I went through piles of papers on her dining room table, and it was really sad. Seeing the notes she wrote to herself to try to keep things straight but make no sense to me or my brother. Or no longer, her. So, I imagine the file cabinet will be an interesting place to “explore.”
She hadn’t paid a single bill since the first of October. Fortunately, we stepped in early enough for me to get durable power of attorney and an advanced healthcare directive. And I became a co-signer on her checking account. So, that situation is improving. And we’re fortunate enough that she has sufficient money to afford the care she is now receiving, and I realize that not every family has those resources.
Panama, Costa Rica and Italy call, but I feel frozen at the moment with the feeling like I need to split the burden with my brother, who lives 20 miles away. I live 700+ miles away and have put about 12,000 miles on my car driving forth and back every other week or so since June. That drive involves a drive down and up I-5 over the Siskiyous range. 30 years ago, I used to be able to do it in one day. It’s about 12 hours one-way, including refueling the car and my body. Now, in my later 60s, it’s not just fun hard corners and is now just exhausting. I break it up into two days, overnighting at a hotel in either Eugene or Medford.
Eventually cleaning out the property and selling it is beyond what he wants to or can do at this point. Alone
Anyone reading this post, please think about what mess you might be leaving behind for your heirs. And then try to make it easier for them.
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-citizenship/adult-minor/who.html#children-grandchildren-canadian-citizens
You’ll want to research this yourself, though the above link at least offers hope for someone with one Canadian grandparent. Immigrating might be easier before the US invades Greenland and takes it by force because some piss baby didn’t get a prize he covets.
Echoing your comment –
Agree that everyone needs to have their estate plans in place today, regardless of age. I get that younger folks might be less intrinsically motivated than older folks. Still, it’s an important thing if anyone in a blood or chose family relies upon you. Might only require a handwritten statement with your signature; check your state as YMMV.
Wishing your mom peaceful days and nights.
Thanks for the link. And your wishes.
Well, a new administration might be well meaning but there is no reason to believe we won’t be right back in MAGAland four years later. Imagine being the next President, trying to rebuild alliances and make new trade deals, with doors shutting in your face left and right? Imagine being a foreign government being approached by President Buttigieg; his guarantees would be worth nothing. Which will make it ever so much harder to right this ship, which will in turn make it more likely that MAGA makes it back into power and we will continue our slide into a police state in which the Constitution has no more meaning than the Soviet one did.
It is very hard to negotiate or work with someone who doesn’t care about their own best interest; my FIL has early-onset Alzheimers and acts the same way as our government. He was mad at his wife and secretly stopped paying the mortgage for two months to punish her; they were like days away from losing their house out of sheer spite…
Wow. That’s awful. So sorry. I’m fortunate in that there’s not a lot of animosity in our family. Just a mental mess of an 89-year-old mother.
I’m proudly American (for whatever that means), but as I was reading this morning in a newsletter, you can’t let a vague sense of pride, patriotism, or peer pressure keep you in a place. America is a nation of immigrants, but we can easily become a nation of emigrants, too. At least partially.
Unfortunately, the people most likely to leave are the smartest, wealthiest, and/or best connected. That doesn’t bode well for the long run of the country…especially as our one key competitive advantage — which I would argue is the Rule of Law (including IP and property rights) — are being eroded all around us.
Yep, I remember seeing articles about Europe recruiting US scientists that got laid off last year. I’d expect that to continue. If things continue downhill, I’d be quite happy to take my MS in engineering foreign, even just working remotely for a foreign firm.
Seems like this is quickly turning into an experiment of “I’ve seen executives personally profit a lot from destroying a large company and running it into the ground, what happens when that is done to an entire country?”
I share this sentiment, and if the South Korean or Chinese OEMs start moving into our abandoned US owned plants there I see an opportunity for my particular line of work; as up until now Canada has been closely aligned to NHTSA/ISO standards for safety and Cybersecurity.
South Korea especially, since they just repelled a similar power grab in their country. Countries with a demonstrated intolerance for fascism suddenly look a lot more appealing to me than they did a couple of years ago.
Plus, I love Korean food!
My cousin works at a university in Northern Europe and they have been seriously headhunting US talent for the last 12 months, but moreso, foreign talents who are no longer insterested in coming to the US.
We were a destination for the Underground Railroad before, we can become one again.
Which, sadly, mirrors the events of Handmaid’s Tale.
Just don’t forget the rest of us in Gilead.
Isn’t it terrible when fiction becomes reality? Well, at least that type of fiction.
Hopefully this won’t derail into shouting but I’ve seen the same thing happen in Israel. It doesn’t get covered as much but all the GDP devoted to defense really messes with the economy (and everything else about daily life). I’ve talked to Israeli physicians who have moved abroad who told me all their colleagues are also trying to leave. It creates a feedback loop: once the brain drain gets going, it doesn’t stop until you’re left only with the people who had no means of getting out. I imagine Russia (and even Ukraine) is similar. I suspect if you don’t already, you’ll soon be able to list people you know who now live somewhere else.
You are welcome to come to Norway,if you’re not scared of taxes that is.
It’s no dig, it’s just statement of fact.
Business doesn’t like unpredictability.
Manufacturers plan years in advance. Contracts with workers and suppliers cannot just be undone on a whim, which is what a company needs to do when tariffs can shift by 500% in a matter of weeks.
The one thing we can count on is three more years of instability (or worse). If my job depended on hitting certain numbers for the next three years, I wouldn’t be investing in new US production.
I remember that line being bleated constantly back when the black guy was in office. Don’t hear any of that now…
Neil Young is my favorite Canadian import.
His music is, unfortunately, not really aging at all.
That might be the point.
Without googling, and in no particular order: Norm McDonald, Phil Hartman, Rick Moranis, Rush, John Candy, Romeo Dallaire, Snow, Ryan Reynolds, maple syrup, Barenaked Ladies, The Better Half of Niagara Falls, my great grandparents, The Guess Who, and Terrance and Phillip
All fine choices! A couple I don’t recognize, but that’s ok. Cowboy Junkies were sweet to listen to. And Sloan.
Back when I was subscribing to cable in Seattle and could get CBUT, the CBC’s Vancouver station, I loved watching This Hour Has 22 Minutes and their Olympics coverage back in 90s. NBC has upped their Olympics game over their various platforms, so that has improved.
I’m 1/4 Canadian, but during the administrations of the current mad man, I wish I was 1/2 and could just move there without all the hassle.
I put in a fair amount of computer software at CBC’s English headquarters in Toronto and Quebecois HQ in Montreal. I had wonderful times in both cities as well as (not always CBC sites… A-Channel, APTN, CTV, CityTV and TVA were all customers. Some have changed names so there may be some overlap, and it’s been a while.) Vancouver, Victoria, Quebec City, Ottawa, Calgary, London and even Winnipeg. Edmonton seemed a little sad. My projects didn’t get any further north than that. Winnipeg during a blizzard was pretty rough. But the rest of the year, other than mosquitos, it was fine. I could happily live in Canada, if they would take me.
I’m retired, dealing with a declining mother and can’t relocate right now.
I really want to check out Halifax, for some unknown reason. The name just sounds cool. I was disappointed I never got sent there.
Aging parents is definitely an issue. My wife and I have 3 of those, plus a couple kids in school. We spent the last 18 months working hard to secure EU citizenship through my Croatian grandmother, but between their red tape, the glut of applicants now, and America’s own slowdown in archival services (thanks, DOGE!) everything is take 3-5x longer than normal.
I don’t know what the plan is, but at least we’ll have an “out” if it gets truly bad. Assuming Trump doesn’t ban dual citizenship, which he has explicitly threatened — I don’t see that happening when probably the majority of his largest donors have it 🙂
Halifax is awesome, although currently a bit low on housing since the pandemic brought in a ton of people. My family is from Nova Scotia and for maybe a couple of decades the kids left to bigger cities – no more, they are sticking around and not moving to Toronto or the oil fields, but maybe to Halifax I just wish the First Nation fishing argument would go away and the European fishers would just let them fish in peace and let sell some to put gas in their cars.
My father was a commercial salmon fisherman out of Moss Landing, California for about four years during my youth. We almost moved to Ketchikan, Alaska when I was in sixth grade. I’m retired now and it’s been a few years since I have worked in Canada so, I am not familiar with what’s going on with the fisheries. Or much else.
I really dislike how US-centric the news industry is down here. Everyone around the world knows at least something about what’s going on in the US. Hardly anyone in the US knows anything going on outside our borders. Well, hell, many don’t know what’s going on inside our borders.
Very little stuff going on in Canada makes it the news here in the states. I check in, once in a while on the CBC site. I did several projects for APTN, a TV network aimed for the First Nation people. I even “survived” a blizzard in Winnipeg doing a project at their HQ there. I just looked, and it looks like I can find their newscasts online. I will have to sample it. Their logo hasn’t changed since the last time I was there.
I’m 1/4 Canadian, so as I joke with my friends, not enough to get to move there.
Check out St John’s Newfoundland. It is glorious. You’d have the Targa Newfoundland at your doorstep.
Heart, Bryan Adams, Triumph, Three Days Grace (for you nu-metal fans) – yeah, it’s a long list…
To be fair, Heart is from Washington State. Just found traction and a record deal in Canada.
Originally from Seattle yes, but moved to Vancouver in the early ’70s, prior to their success – so most industry people consider them a Canadian act/band
Early years in her career Pamela Anderson (not her age, her career!), and once again now in her career. In between was a bit over the top.
My favorite Canadian export has always been Skinny Puppy, though they did retire somewhat recently.
I’m always surprised those guys are still among us.
YES! Saw them at a concert at University many, many moons ago.
Pretty excited to see some head to head comparisons between Chinese & Western cars in the NA market.
I still regret missing out on this opportunity. It was only about eighty miles away:
https://barnfinds.com/less-than-40-left-1971-manic-gt/
Favorite Canadian? Ted Cruz…haha just kidding, he’s hanging out in the basket of deplorables.
William Shatner, SCTV alums.
I’m glad trade wars are good, and easy to win. Otherwise this would be a tragic mistake for the US. /s
Cruz needs to be deported permanently, and not to Cancun. Thinking Somalia.
Maybe he can bring his expertise to Venezuela. Maybe he can find a peace prize at a garage sale too.
I’d respectfully suggest Donbas or Crimea, near the front would be best.
Canada attracting a Chinese automaker to set up a factory in Windsor before Trump can attract one in the US would be the funniest possible outcome
Funny for the short term. Long term, more of a tragedy.
Don’t be surprised if the entire world is turning their back on the US. You guys didn’t have the best réputation before Trump, now that he threatens to invade a NATO country, it’s gotten even worse.
It appears that 35 percent of the USA doesntt care about NATO or anything that doesn’t directly affect them right now.
Except they also aren’t seeing how domestic policies are affecting them, either. If no one wielding a gun, wearing a mask in all black isn’t inside their home, they’re good.
So no brown people coming through the door to eat their pets and steal their Bud Light.
That 35% has shown bad judgement and possibly needs to be stripped of their ability to vote.
Nah, that I can’t abide. That’s exactly what is being attempted now to create a 2nd class of people with all the ‘auditing’ of voter rolls, and redistricting
The solution is not to punish our fellow citizens. It’s to REGULATE those in power to stop the relentless flow of (1) misinformation to the American public, and (2) money to politicians.
We have checks and balances. It’s just that the feckless Legislative branch hasn’t been doing its job. Between confirming the most incompetent Cabinet in history and SCOTUS justices that outright lied during hearings (and they knew it), it’s pretty clear regulations are meaningless when the enforcers aren’t up to the task.
It’s all working how they planned it.
Cut education spending. Lie to the uneducated about Obama or Hillary or whoever coming to take your guns. Lie to them about immigrants taking their jobs. Lie to them about abortion and inflation and terrorism.
Get reelected, double down, and keep the gravy train running.
While I do think some of these are people are actually that fucking stupid (Marjorie might really be dumb enough to think she could be part of the club), most of them are just terrible people at their core. They opposed Trump when they thought it would help them, and they jumped on the bandwagon when that would help them.
So much for the checks and balances.
Corporations are people, my friend.
Repealing that bit of stupidity would be an excellent start for whatever administration inherits this dumpster fire.
Worked in France all those years ago.
Using military force to seize Greenland polls at an amazing “is Barack Obama a lizard from outer space in a human suit” level of 4%.
Schitts Creek
Republican Americans talking about Ford diminishing its iconic status is rich.
Oh no, a whole three tasks at once. How will Tesla survive this?
Favorite Canadian-made car: Ford GT
Favorite Canadian product: maple syrup and maple sugar candy
Favorite Canadian TV Show/actors: SCTV Network 90 and the cast from that show (John Candy, Eugene Levy, etc.)
I don’t blame Canada for making other arrangements, even if it’s with China. This is the kind of thing that happens when you have a multi-time failed businessman who has no clue how business actually works calling the shots for the largest economy in the world (for now). I suspect many of our trading partners will consider similar pathways of diversification.
I’m tired boss. Only 16 days into the year. And already threatening something that would destroy NATO, and ‘joking’ about canceling midterms.
Nobody can replace John Candy but the guys who do Letterkenny and Shoresy are carrying that torch. Need the distractions these days.
Time for a rewatch of Canadian Bacon.
Somehow I’ve never watched it. I really need to get on that.
There’s no bad choice. Throw in some Norm Macdonald to balance with some cynicism and let the syrup flow
throw in some Strange Brew. That’ll cheer you up, eh!
I am honestly hoping that Nato just implodes and is replaced by an European defence alliance instead by now. You Canadians are free to join if you dare. That would probably make you the new Ukraine though. Maybe Africa could join too if they got their shit together.
I didn’t realize Bubba was Canadian
All time? You Can’t Do That on Television.
Still waiting for Season 4 of Son of a Critch though.
If I remember correctly, the Canadian market is about 1/10th of the US market. But the split on individual vehicles isn’t that straight forward – They buy a lot of trucks and when I was in the auto industry a disproportionate number of AWD SUVs (now that’s all anyone buys, so I don’t know what the split is but at the time they were buying 1/3 of the particular SUV I worked on). Makes sense why Ford was happy to build F-150s, the Edge, etc up there in Ontario.
Point being, Canada builds more expensive and high margin vehicles – not that Mexico doesn’t but we usually think of them as building cheaper tight-margin cars. Move production over the border and make those vehicles cost more, and you’re going to be losing sales to imports from elsewhere. Really not a good situation for anyone, unless your goal is make it look like you care about automotive workers in between flipping them the bird.
Oh, and to the question, I can’t wait for the new season of Shoresy.
I second that.
Schitt’s Creek, Red Green, Most of the Second City people! Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Gram Greene, Seth Rogen.
Not that I hold our government blameless in this by any means, but I think Canada will find that jumping into bed with China is going to backfire on them in the long run, and that waiting the current administration out would have been preferable. I strongly doubt there will be a large constituency for tariffs in the Republican party after the Tariff Man is gone, and the clock is ticking on that.
So, you’re saying he’ll be gone? When is that gonna be?
Well he’s in perfect health at 6’3″ and 215 pounds, so probably never.
“Perfect health” as described in press releases signed by doctors that read like he wrote them himself.
If Dr Feelgood has an MD, then I should have won all the Nobel Medicine prizes since the beginning of time.
I did my residency and fellowship under Gregory House, M.D.
More like 5-11 325.
No later than January 2029. Before that, who can say.
You’re more optimistic than I am right now.
It is not ok in Minnesota right now.
The Free Republic of California supports you.
I think Neil Young is gonna have to update the lyrics pretty soon.
To be clear, what you’re talking about is a military coup, because the current president’s orders cease to be valid at noon ET 1/20/29.
You can blast me for naivete if you want (and people in these comments are sure to), but I simply do not believe that a critical mass of military and government assets will rebel against a legally elected administration (and if they do, there are bigger problems than tariffs).
No, a coup isn’t necessary. Impeachment and conviction are.*
And if the Republicans lose the House (likely) and Senate (possibly), that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Trump knows this, which is precisely why Trump’s trying to normalize the idea of cancelling the 2026 elections.
*If that traitor Mitch McConnell had done his job back in Trump 1.0 (either time), all of this would have been avoided. Thanks, Mitch.
The only thing less likely than a circumstance where Trump remains president after 1/20/29 is 67 senators voting to convict him of anything, no matter how the midterms this year go.
If McConnell hadn’t stood in the way (both times), I’m fairly confident Trump would have been convicted in at least the second impeachment. Both sides were pretty pissed over the Jan 6th escapades.
McConnell made a strategic error in assuming the legal system would be able to handle Trump, and a huge ethical failure in abdicating his constitutional duties by ensuring Congress failed to properly adjudicate the impeachments. He did far more than just put his thumb on the scale. He put party over country, all because it wouldn’t look good to have a Republican president removed from office.
To the extent history remembers him, I suspect it will be as one of the most pathetic Majority leaders Congress ever had. Responsibility for all of this lays squarely at his feet, as if either impeachment had resulted in conviction, Trump would have been ineligible to run again.
McConnell also delayed Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland by 8 months before a presidential election, and raced to have Amy Coney Barrett approved within 38 days before a presidential election.
Politics before country, indeed.
How different the SCOTUS would be and may have ruled on some major cases of presidential power if McConnell would have been even handed about nominees.
Mitch McConnell’s biggest mistake…Huge.
We’re talking about a guy who tried to stop the transition of power once already.
I want to believe we will have free and fair election in 2028. I really do want to. I think a military coup is unlikely. But I think “legally elected” is the part that will be in question.
I don’t think any foreign government is going to go back to trusting the US for quite some time; rebuilding this will take generations. Like my favorite Greenlander politician put it, “once a dog on the sled team bites another one of the dogs, you have to take it out and [Kristi Noem] it, because you can never trust it again.”
1/22/2029
There is strong indication that there may not be ANY way to waiting the current administration out. They do not seem to be planning on leaving any time soon.
As a Canadian, I think that’s the big concern for us. Given his recent statement on midterms, there is reason to be concerned that the future won’t roll out according to precedent.
Thanks and your Friendly Neighbors to the south in Minnesota are trying to hold the line.
Has Minnesota thought about applying to become an eleventh province?
I’m certain Canada would be happy to consider it.
Id happily trade Minnesota for Alberta. Seems like a fair trade. Oh, they want Washington too? Deal!
Can Colorado join too? I’m heading to BC to ski next week, and we’re half joking it could double as a recon trip for if we decide to move out of the US.
If you can afford it, BC is pretty peak.
Also, Colorado is chill. You’re welcome to join the fold.
I am not sure but I would be OK with it. I am only a 6 hours from Thunder Bay.
You could really lean in to it, propose to call yourselves “South Manitoba” or “West Ontario”, change MSP to New Winnipeg, and rename your portion of the Mississippi River to the Red River.
I’m sure just a petition alone would get some attention.
It’s often said that Minnesota is the most Canadian of states…
Minnesota is welcome any time.
Thanks!
Our Prime Minister, Mark Carney, is no fool. If he sees this as something Canada needs to do, it’s a sign that the US is no longer a reliable partner for Canada, and can not be trusted in the future. This is a pragmatic decision, not an ideal one. And even if America does come around, and not fall entirely to fascism for the long haul, we still need to diversify away from the US so we don’t end up here again.
Which seems to be the conclusion everyone has come to. We spent 70 years post WWII building good relations (minus the occasional misadventure) and wrecked it all quickly. It will take another 70 to get other countries to trust us again.
He’s the former Governor of both the Bank of Canada, AND the Bank of England. If there was only one thing I was allowed to trust him on, it’d be financial trade deals.
He is a very astute man. I worked for him at the Bank of Canada. He is respected internationally and is extremely well connected.
You imply that this is an issue with a single individual, and not systemic.
Building a relationship with China, who has proven more stable, would only help Canada’s own long-term stability.
I think tariffs and trade wars basically are an issue with a single individual, yes.
Boy have I got a bridge for you!
Trying really hard to be silly here, I generally appreciate your commentary.
Nah. Trump is a symptom of American cultural decay. I agree he is the glue holding Project 2025 together, but too many members of the American government and populace agree with his behaviour for us tho think this will “all blow over” once he dies or is replaced. Vance and Miller are terrifying.
That statement is true of many of his positions, but tariffs have been a lonely obsession for Trump for decades. It’s one of his least cynical, most earnest beliefs, and the one where he’s most at odds with his party. I strongly believe there will be no appetite for them once he’s gone.
Well, I can assure you Canadians will be more than thrilled to go back to our cordial relationship with the USA once that happens. Maybe I should say ‘if’ instead of ‘once’….
In the mean time, might as well make other plans.
I legit think Stephen Miller is at least as bad as Hitler.
Emphasis on the at least part.
THIS x1000000!
Trump only happened because the American people let him happen. There is a large subset of ‘Muricans that hate everyone different, hate their current life and want to blame everyone else for it, hate education, hate ‘socialism’ (though they’re the same ones benefiting) and generally want to drag everyone down in misery w/ them.
China was coming either way. If they can produce great EVs at a great price, like they do with solar panels and storage batteries, let them. It’s for the greater good.
I simply do not agree with this defeatist mindset. I’m sorry that Canada appears to have fallen for it.
The US could have been the global leader in auto/EV, battery, clean energy, microchips, you-name-it technologies, but we lost the fire in the belly that China still has. And we started losing it way before the current idiot king in the WH. The current US regime is actively turning back the clock on US leadership with stunning effectiveness. China is emerging as the dominant tech and economic power whether you (or I) like it or not. I’m not happy about it, but that’s just the reality
You’re making really good points but there’s also domestic Canadian politics for Carney to worry about. It’s not ALL about the USA, haha. Even if we’d like to think everyone everywhere acts rationally, it may not be the case that Canadian citizens want to hop right back into bed with the USA when trump finally gets the boot.
I don’t think getting back with the US would be rational – with such a large proportion of the US population believing might makes right and wanting to live in a police state, it’s not a very good partner any longer.
As a Canadian, nah.
I think you’re forgetting that we only put the 100% tariff in Chinese cars at the request of Biden, to support his attempt to kickstart EV production in North America with the Inflation Reduction Act.
Before that, Canada was actively importing something like 44,000 Chinese EVs, mostly under the Tesla brand. (Shanghai Model 3 & Y) Since then, those cars have come from USA and Germany, and costs have risen for Canadian consumers. We have also done some things like arresting the Huawei CEO on the USA’s orders, which unraveled our previously amicable relationship with China.
So now we’re basically just reverting to how things were before the IRA. We’re not “getting into bed” with China any more or less than we have been in the past. And we get to sell them our food again.
End of the day, 49,000 cheap EV in a market of ~2 million really isn’t going to make much of a dent. Those vehicles will not overlap with the mid-priced ICE cars and trucks that Canadian auto plants produce. The quota is likely not enough for Chinese brands to even set up their brands in Canada, we’ll probably just see more Chinese Teslas, and other EVs being sold under existing brands- Like Buick and Volvo.
China is far from a perfect country, but we can trust China to act rationally in their own self interests. They’re also safely on the other side of the pacific, and won’t threaten Manifest Destiny on our sovereignty. Unlike whatever the fuck the USA is doing right now…
Expect a more cynical Canada moving forwards, making pragmatic choices in their own self interest. No more carrying water for “American values”.
Good context, thanks for this reply.
Not only that, but more EVs probably make the entire economy more productive – almost 70% of Canada’s electricity comes from hydro/renewables, with increasing demand some of the regions can readily add more hydro (like Quebec). Although if Trump doesn’t kill the finally almost approved Northern Pass power line from Quebec into New England, they may have to build even more dams.
For what it’s worth, China hasn’t threatened to annex us. Which, for reasons unexplained, a lot of folks in the US either can’t or won’t accept is one of the main driving forces behind our moves.
Even if a person honestly believes it’s “a joke” and “not serious”, how about I come over to your house, hold you at gun point, make threats, and then say it’s all a joke.
I have a feeling you’re not gonna invite me around to watch Sunday Football any more.
You’re welcome to come watch football with me anytime.
In return, I’ll never threaten to take your land by force.
Saturdays are when Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts, if we wanna change it up every now and again.
My beloved Wild looked like world beaters for a couple months and are now falling back to earth.
I hope I’m still able to watch them on HNIC when my brothers and I take our dad fishing in Northern Ontario end of May.
Ooh, how north? It’s beautiful country up that way. Just gotta tie lead weights to yourself so the mosquitoes don’t carry you away.
We are doing a fly in adventure between Sudbury and Sault Ste Marie for his 70th. I’ve got some 100% DEET somewhere that I’ll have to dig out because you aren’t kidding.
bug jackets and Vick’s vaporub on your hats. Makes a WORLD of difference.
Also, apply the DEET to your outer clothes, not your skin. As a cancer survivour, I don’t recommend the experience.
Not to be a doomer here, but a) Tariff Otaku has the best modern medical care money can buy and his father made it to 93 after 7 years of obvious dementia and b) the isolationist Groypers are running the GOP now, not the business guys.
After the first administration ended and the majority of the country was appalled at that super peaceful tourist visit to the Capitol, I was hopeful we could wait this out. But then the conspiracy theories took hold and the lying continued and the Republicans rewrote history and let the guy dominate national politics for the next 4 years. And then voters handed him the keys again after the most insane presidential debate that has ever occurred.
I think we’ve crossed the event horizon into full-bore Idiocracy. I’m not sure this ends with him. He’s been around so long now that no one under 30 even knows what normal is; there’s been an unhinged old man rage-tweeting from the White House with a goose-stepping Congress behind him for as long as they can remember. This is now the New Normal.
But yeah, at least the Republicans know tariffs are a bad idea even if they’re afraid to act on that principle. They’ll gladly hand us another wannabe dictator, the veep will gladly be that guy, but he probably won’t like tariffs.
Is that a light at the end of the tunnel or the oncoming train?
Bingo. The American people are like a dog that ate bad food, got sick and eventually shit it out, only to go back and eat that same turd. Voting Orange God back into office was pure event horizon.
Can’t really expect a nation to just sit and do nothing for three years while their neighbor figures stuff out by hitting everything with a sledgehammer.
Re: Canada / China.
The two economies generally don’t overlap, aside auto and steel production, which is the bone of contention right now. One is a resource producer, the other the workshop of the world in assembly.
The Canadian ‘pivot to China’ smacks more of a short-term play against the current unpredictability of the Canada-US relationship to keep the resource money flowing while *waves hands* all of this is happening on the north-south axis.
Once a….more predictable…arrangement of trade settles north-south in a few years, I expect Canada to go back to its USA focus. It’s a decent arrangement for both – Canada gets access to one of the largest markets fairly freely, the United States gets a stable neighbour and resource supplier next door. Kind of win-win, like the past 80 years or so.
Re: Current US administration: I’m almost wondering if chaos is a deliberate strategy to deflect from large elephant-like problems in the room. But that’s more political than I’m willing to do here at the Autopian.
I endorse your last paragraph. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
When the US has already threatened to annex Canada it kind of forces us to look around for new partners. A lot of damage can take place in waiting another 3 years so best to get moving now and reduce the reliance on the US market so we don’t get dragged down too.
Favorite Canadian TV show: The Red Green Show.
Favorite actor…s? The people who appeared on it.
…wait, this seems familiar somehow…
Jeez, will the nonsense ever end? Building American cars in Windsor or Brampton or some other town that smells like maple syrup isn’t new, and it certainly isn’t a problem. Does anyone think that the Big 3 would just move all of that production to Michigan? Good luck with that.
Also, Starfleet Academy is produced in Canada, and it’s pretty good… so far.
SA is catching a lot of heat online right now but I’m enjoying it so far. I think most folks were just knee-jerk hating it because it’s New.
I watched the first episode. It was fine. I don’t suppose we’ll ever get a show like TNG or DS9 again.
Probably not but we got the reruns. I honestly enjoyed Lower Decks though, it’s one of the best ST series IMO.
Not only is LD awesome, it has great rewatchability.
I’ve watched it twice so far and expect I’ll keep rewatching it. Every time I catch another easter egg or joke I missed the first time around.
Eggactly, I see something new every time because it goes by so quick, it’s a very fast-paced show, which SNW made fun of.
That’s because we’ll never live in those optimistic Clinton-era times again.
A president getting a consensual hummer in the Oval office being the height of presidential impropriety seems so quaint now.
Quaint compared to now? I suppose, but “consensual” is a stretch. I would argue you can’t have honest consent between two people when one is in a position of power.
There’s something to this.
How does that compare with the orange shitstain’s casual statutory rape on Epstein’s island that the DOJ has been trying so hard to bury for about a year now?
That would apply to just about all relationships, including marriage. Sure, it’s more so when it’s boss/employee, and even more yet when it’s rich guy and teenager.
It does, and only because he got caught. Let’s see, Harding, Roosevelt, Kennedy. I still wonder about Reagan.
Don’t forget Lyndon B “Jumbo” Johnson:
“Historians have written that Johnson was unusually fond of showing off “Jumbo” to anyone and everyone in his political orbit.
Robert A. Caro, who penned the biography Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, wrote, “If he was urinating in a bathroom of the House Office Building and a colleague came in, Johnson, finishing, would sometimes turn to him with his penis in his hand. Without putting it back in his pants, he would begin a conversation, still holding it ‘and shaking it, as if he was showing off.’ ”
https://people.com/lyndon-b-johnson-nsfw-president-11830816
Mr Garak was one of my favorite characters. So multi talented for a simple tailor.
As a Canadian, I just have one question. WTF are you doing, America? Forcing us into China’s hands? Brilliant stuff.
What we’re doing is rigidly following the plan laid out by all of those slaveowners who decided that America would be an “agrarian nation”, and therefore gave outsized political power to rural voters who may or may not have an education sufficient enough to make rational decisions.
WELL WRITTEN!!! thank you!
Correct. I live in a rural-ish state and I’m surrounded by them. It’s…unfortunate.
This is an amazingly astute take
And succinct!
Guess I should have learned subsistence farming instead of engineering, might be more future proof…
“These are people of the land. The common clay of the new west”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hYTQ7__NNDI
That clip never gets old…
Gollums?
You said “slaveowners”, but you could more accurately say “Democrats”, since not all farmers and those who pushed for “agrarian nation” had slaves.
I was referring to our founding fathers. While it is well-known that Washington and Jefferson held slaves, it is also true that many northerners did as well.
It’s those guys on our money, the guys we all celebrate as the fuel that made the Revolution happen, that did this to us. But they had no idea how industrialization would change the world just 50 years later.
Ah ok, that’s fair.
Hard to say if they had NO idea. If you believe the story Nedd Lud saw the threat of industrialization and thus inadvertently inspired the Luddite movement as early as 1779:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Ludd
Even if you don’t believe the story the Luddites were in full swing by 1811 so the spectre of industrialization by then was well recognized by everyone, at least in England. And I imagine Ben Franklin at the very least would have had an idea of things to come.
True, and of course there had been “industry” since antiquity. But I don’t think they realized how steam power would be put to use in so many game-changing ways.
Again its hard to say given steam engines were in use starting 1712:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcomen_atmospheric_engine
and the more efficient Watt engine introduced in 1776 with further improvements in 1781:
“The new design was introduced commercially in 1776, with the first example sold to the Carron Company ironworks. About the same time, Watt encountered a business problem that led him to introduce a new unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done: the horsepower. His earlier business agreements framed his earnings in how much coal the customer of the steam engine saved, but when discussing installing a steam engine for a London brewer, that business did not use coal – it used horses to drive the mills.
Watt continued working to improve the engine, and in 1781 introduced a system using a sun and planet gear to turn the linear motion of the engines into rotary motion. This made it useful not only in the original pumping role, but also as a direct replacement in roles where a water wheel would have been used previously. This was a key moment in the industrial revolution, since power sources could now be located anywhere instead of, as previously, needing a suitable water source and topography. Watt’s partner Matthew Boulton began developing a multitude of machines that made use of this rotary power, developing the first modern industrialized factory, the Soho Foundry, which in turn produced new steam engine designs.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watt_steam_engine
Its hard to believe they had zero awareness of the power of steam.
Or maybe they did but felt slaves were good enough.
Oh yeah it was a process. I think the real watershed was around 1850 when railroads were extensive and reliable enough to allow industry to go where the resource was.
The book “Nature’s Metropolis” touches on this.
I have friends and family members that voted for him and honestly, truly believe he’s doing a great job and keep telling me “the economy is going to be booming in a few months and there will be so many jobs and we’re all going to be rich…” This is their reality, I’ll let you guys what channel their TVs are set to.
Is it an unaccredited ‘news’ show?
Entertainment calling itself news, because words mean nothing.
That’s the point I keep trying to make to them. If you’re being entertained by it then you can’t really trust what they’re telling you. News is supposed to be dry and boring by design.
Faux News? 🙂
I don’t even have to watch Fox News myself, I just listen to what all of the old rich guys in my area say. You can bet they’re getting all their talking points from Fox.
The latest gem was that they think the protesters in MSP are being paid to agitate. How @#$%ing stupid do you have to be to believe that?
I miss the days when the stupidest shit on the internet were the Flat Earthers.