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
Shitt’s creek or Orphan Black
Isn’t the decrease of US cars imports and increase from Mexico just the result of manufacturers shifting Mexico produced cars to Canada to avoid the US tariffs, while keeping US produced ones in the US for the same reason?
When we invade Canada do we think it is better to strike in summer for better weather for the invasion force or in winter when a significant number of Canadians are elsewhere?
The snowbirds being out of the country just means less vulnerable citizens for us to protect and account for. It removes the logistics of getting those folks out of war zones.
As the invading force, I’ll let you decide if that helps or helps or hinders your conquest goals.
Favorite Canadian car? The last couple years of Studebaker, even if they had Chevy engines.
I don’t have a favorite Canadian car. Product? Poutine. The best TV Show is Letterkenny hands down, and best actor has to be Raymond Burr.
Ferda boys!!!
50k chinese cars to Canada is nothing, but it looks good optically towards China, while actually protecting the local market (and getting that sweet Canola exported to China).
Then again, if Canadian consumers get a taste of some of the better Chinese vehicles then there might be desire for more. The higher end cars are pretty good. BUT they depend on decent charging infrastructure.
It’s sad to see that the US sees everyone as an ‘adversary’ while the future obviously is in cooperation and lower prices for everyone. Canada could, for example, ask/force Chinese companies to open a local factory where Chinese car models could be made.
Just like Mercedes produced M and other cars in their Alabama plant, as far back as 1997. That is, yes, 29 years ago!
The problem, for the US, is that no large ‘foreign’ company is trusting the government, so forget any big investments. Canada however, while having a smaller market, could be seen as way more stable. And once the cars are actually being made in Canada, they COULD be exported to the US, right?
Why has no one mentioned Propagandhi? Those dudes RIP. More recently, I quite like Colter Wall.
Least favorite Canadian export: Drake.
Propagandhi rips hard
Two outstanding Canadian products: “Peace by Chocolate” (I was just scoping out stores with their bars for my upcoming Toronto trip) and Grohmann knives. If you are in the area stop at the Larchwood cutting boards outlet too – very expensive at Williams Sonoma, etc. but much more affordable from the factory outlet (the outlet products may have some defects/blemishes I cannot see).
And no Poutine please! I am surprised no one has mentions Arcade Fire as Canadian music groups they like – not exactly my cup of tea, but they are surprisingly popular.
I grew up in the US but moved to Canada after high school. At this point I have lived in Canada longer than the US but still travelled back and forth quite a bit. I am all in on buying Canadian and think distancing ourselves from the US is the best move. The 51st state nonsense really pissed me off. The only good that came of it was that it destroyed Pierre’s election campaign.
I am not a Canadian.
But I’ve been best friends with Canadians, had Canadian girlfriends, visited up there a lot, and know an awful lot of history about The Dominion in my over forty years of interacting with them.
I like Canadians. Good people.
I like their take on Western civilization. Nice place.
But they have very thin skins.
Especially in regards to the U.S.
They are also rather smug. Especially the folks in Ontario and Quebec.
Much of their national identity is, “We aren’t Americans.”
They also fundamentally tend to misunderstand America. We rebelled against the British crown. That set the course for a more violent, more dynamic, more fluid society that a gazillion people around the planet want to be part of and vote with their feet to join for the last 250 years.
And we got rich in the process.
Canada was the good kid, stayed out of trouble, did their homework without being told to, took out the trash, went to college, got a job, lived a quiet life. Never rebelled. Played by the rules.
And felt more than a little jealousy, envy and anger at the rebellious kid who seemed to get away with it.
Most Americans have long forgotten that twice Canadians fought off our attempts to invade and take over.
Each time America scratched their head and wondered why they didn’t open their arms to us and want to become us. Americans fundamentally misunderstand Canada.
Incompatible cultures.
We can’t be them, not in our nature.
They can’t be us, not their thing.
But, as someone famous once said, “Why can’t we all just get along.?”
Canada does a better job protecting their people, from corporations and healthcare vultures.
Canada never forgets, America never remembers.
But they have very thin skins.
Especially in regards to the U.S. Inferiority complex. Simple
Americans, insisting that everyone thinks they’re the best since 1776.
It’s not an inferiority complex, it’s a well-earned distrust – and we were clearly right too, look at the shit happening down there.
We’re certainly inferior at using the government to kill citizens in the streets.
We’re also inferior at stripping women of bodily autonomy and denying people the right to marry who they love.
And our inferior healthcare has my cancer 2 years in remission, at no cost to me.
My wife certainly hated our inferior maternity leave, spending a year home with our daughter, while still getting paid.
American exceptionalism has poisoned the minds of so many people. Which makes me sad. Cause the US is a country full of beautiful, wonderful people. Who deserve to have a country that cares about them.
Our government is FAR from perfect. But goddamn if we’re not trying.
This might be the most accurate long form comment I have ever read on any website.
Thank you Canada, for poutine and the band Dayglo Abortions.
Please prosper without us. Make it hurt.
I do love me some Letterkenny. And to a slightly lesser extent, Shoresy.
Favorite car? Funny you should ask. My Toyota Matrix was built there, according to the door jamb.
Product? They make pretty good craft beers in Calgary.
TV show? “Psych” was filmed there.
Actor? Plenty, but Catherine O’Hara, Leslie Nielson top the list. Favorite actor to look at naked? Pamela Anderson.
Favorite Canadian Car – Meteor
Favorite Canadian Product – Maple Cookies!
Favorite Canadian TV show – CBC Olympic and Curling Canada coverage
Favorite Canadian Actor – It’s a draw between Nathan Fillion, Will Arnett and Victor Garber
Favorite Canadian Actress – Draw between Catherine O’Hara, Margot Kidder, and Mary Pickford
Yes. I love watching CBC curling coverage.
Gosh. I had such crushes on Catherine O’Hara and Margot Kidder. I’ll admit I’m going to have to look up Ms. Pickford. OK. I just did. She was beautiful and… born 65 years before I was, so that was not going to work out. Lol.
Yes. The CBC always did a better job than NBC in the 70s and 80s.
As mentioned elsewhere, I’m 1/4 Canadian. So many high-performing artists and people of all walks “up there.” They don’t come down to the US and brag about being from Canada.
I would humbly go up there and not make a big deal of coming up from the US. I would just be happy to be accepted. I’ve been in Winnipeg in a -20*F blizzard. Found my rental car under more than a meter of snow. Walked four blocks each way to the work site. I didn’t die. I think I could still live there. But I’m retired, so I realize that I would probably just be a drain on their economy.
One more favorite product:
Hudson Bay Blankets.
Hudson Bay point blankets are manufactured in Yorkshire, England. The Hudson’s Bay Company was the exclusive vendor until (IIRC) 2025.
Point blankets are perhaps the single finest product manufactured, in my humble opinion.
HBC went out of business this past year.
HBC Blankets are selling for well over retail on eBay.
There’s a rumor Canadian Tire may bring them back.
(Now that’s a story: How a tire store became one of Canada’s largest retailers, and even issues its own currency)
Pendleton sells similar US made blankets – but it’s not as rugged and doesn’t have the points.
They ditched the paper currency in favour of digital a few years back. I took my stockpiles in and had them added to my account.
The beer. And CBC Winter Olympics coverage is a 10. The girls are awesome too. Well dressed. Well spoken. Well mannered. Dated 2.
Favorite comedian: Norm Macdonald
The dirty truth is that battery construction almost cannot occur in the US without a repeal of EPA regulations (a position I am NOT advocating). Acutally mining the rare earths and manufacturing the cells is unbelievably dirty. We may be trading carbon footprint for other ecological disasters.
There are absolutely EV batteries being made in the USA.
Panasonic builds 2170 battery cells at the Nevada Gigafactory near Reno. I’m fairly certain Nevada is a US state, but I could be wrong.
Lithium is mined in Nevada in one location, and I am aware of three new lithium mines coming online in Nevada.
I don’t see any other way to read it. Nobody is going to hold China up as a paragon of human rights, but only one country in the world has recently jumped off a cliff in terms of human rights.
Oh? And who, exactly, are our allies now? Canada? Nope. Mexico? Nope. Europe? Nope. I guess Venezuela technically counts now? Do they have much in the way of EV battery industry?
I should also point out the other character mentioned in the article, Navarro, is a convicted felon.
It bothers me how much all media tends to just ‘forget’ to mention the criminal record of current administration lackeys whenever they come up in a story.
We can’t talk about great Canadians of television without mentioning Keith Morrison. If my wife murders me, I want no one else to narrate my Dateline episode.
Thank you for Neil Young, Rush and Keanu.
You can take back Ryan Reynolds and Bieber please.
Norm Macdonald by a country kilometer
Do you have a dog?
I very breifly owned a Canadian market Honda Civic Wagovan, not sure if that counts, rad idea but that thing was bitten bad by the tinworm! I am a big fan of Shoresy and Letterkenny, and I will have to check out some of the other suggestions in the comments.
Favorite car: Acadian Beaumont convertible, for no reason other than I like the name, looks, and the fact it was a Canadian market convertible.
Favorite product: Clek child seats, possibly the only ones not made in China
TV Show: Trailer Park Boys
Actress: Colby Smulders
Love Colby. Wish there was more than one season of Stumptown.
Cleks are great! Let me get 3 across in my C-Max Energi.
Kids in the Hall is probably my favorite thing from Canada.
Buddy Cole should have been made the Governess-General.
Thirty Helens would certainly agree with that.
I can spend way too much time watching Buddy Cole on Youtube…again and again.
Signed: 71 year old gay man.
So many good skits I still quote.
… That absolutely no one else gets.
I’m having that problem in another comment.
Don’t worry, I haven’t read that post yet.
Looking like Carney’s Neville Camberlain moment.
Sounds like you’ve read some history, but maybe not quite enough.
There is no history beyond what we have now. Chamberlain bought time, we don’t yet know how this will turn out for Carney. Perhaps you thought otherwise?
Sorry, I think I misunderstood what you were getting at. I’m not quite sure I see the parallel to Neville Chamberlain though, Carney seems well enough aware that Trump will not be bargained with. I’d say this is twisting the knife.
Unless you’re referring to Xi, but I don’t really see the parallel there either. China is far from an ideal country, but they are an ocean away.
You mean Maria Corina “Peace for our time” Machado?
Someone seems to know how to deal with manchildren. An Honorific cannot be claimed, transferred or had by association.
My favorite thing from Canada? Mounties riding mooses obviously /s
That’s a thing, right? I’m pretty sure that’s what they do.
They also ride beavers sometimes…
Last year I was officiating a major lifecycle event. Half the family lives in Canada. The stateside family told me they were not coming as they refused to set foot on US soil. For me that was the “oh shit” moment.
Most people here now feel that way. Knowing someone who is willing to cross the border is like having a grandparent who had a good time at the Berlin Olympics.
Can concur. A renunion with dear, dear friends from Toronto – whom we used to exchange visits with biannually – have ceased. They emphatically refused to cross the border this summer. Upstate NY is reeling from Canadian withdrawal.
And I don’t blame you in the least. I imagine I’d feel the same. It was so shocking to me b/c it was the moment it clicked that “f*ck, people see the US like Nazi Germany.” (I mean, we’re not quite there yet, and hopefully never, but we’re on our way…)
True. Ouch, but true.
If more people knew how the US is currently viewed by the rest of the world, President PP’s approval rating would be even lower. I don’t think a lot of sheltered Americans understand just how much damage has been done to our reputation in a very short period of time.
Heck, a big thing at my job recently has been “sovereign” tech infrastructure because suddenly no one trusts the US to control their data. We’ve lost things we probably won’t get back in my lifetime, if ever.
Maybe. I kind of hope the LA Olympics ends up us competing with Saudi Arabia and North Korea while everyone else sits out. That’s the sort of thing that will get ppls’ attention. Short of that, yeah I don’t think the average American realizes how far we’ve fallen. Granted, they may not care…
I didn’t know my sister and parents are part of said lifecycle event.
We live in Dunedin FL where the Toronto Blue Joys have spring trained for decades. Talk about conundrum. Fans came in big numbers last year and we hope they will again this year. It helps that our town is a very progressive and inclusive town among a cluster of similar neighboring towns.
Given what you describe plus all the other industries that rely on international tourists, all I can hope is maybe some of these corporations that like making money will flex some muscle.
“. The stateside family told me they were not coming as they refused to set foot on US soil.”
You mean the province-side part of the family wasn’t coming, right?
I also was initially confused, until I assumed that ‘they’ reference is to the Canadians, from the US members’ POV.
yeah sorry I see how that was confusing. The American side of the family informed me their Canadian relatives would not be stepping foot on US soil. Also, this was from way back in the Spring
Fave Canadian car: Mercury pickup
Fave Canadian product: music, thanks to Canadian content requirements and broad arts support. You got yer GY!BE, nomeansno, Neil Young, Corb Lund, Weakerthans, Cowboy Junkies, Arcade Fire…
Fave Canadian TV show: Murdoch Mysteries of course
Fave Canadian actor: Lorne Greene
(yes I’m dating myself here)
Always and forever: Joni Mitchell
How in the world is Rush not appearing in these lists???
Every time I’m in Canada, I see a buttload of last-gen Mitsubishi Lancers. They’re clearly my people.
(read: adopt me, Canada, and get me the hell out of here)
Come on up!
Hell yeah.
Canada has my favorite chip flavor of all time, too: Miss Vickie’s Sweet Chili and Sour Cream. Letterkenny and Red Green are probably tied for my fave show of theirs. As for bands, there’s too many good ones—maybe GYBE!? (Or was it GY!BE last? I lost track.) Broken Social Scene or Feist? It’s a big ol’ tie. So, I’ll pick a favorite album name and tracklist: Venetian Snares’ Winnipeg is a Frozen Shithole. I don’t reeeeeally agree with the sentiment (Winnipeg seems fine!), but I laugh every time I see it because I’m really just five second-graders in a trenchcoat and I have approximately that level of rage for the Nissan Altima.
Also, y’all made the Eventful Frontenac. I didn’t get to race the one that did Lemons, but I love that someone raced a rare, weird Canadian version of a car.
You should try Covered Bridge’s Storm Chips. Absolute peak potato chip.
Seconded.
For a guy who has high blood pressure and basically eats none of these things anymore, I sure have a lot of snack food recommendations.
Defo recommend it, if you have a degree and can get a written job offer you’re in like Flynn on a TN visa.
Bold move assuming I’m employable.
(she writes from work)
(in my defense, it’s lunch hour)
Also – TN visa is tied to the employer, but it comes with an unrestricted work visa for the holder’s partner, and Canada has a broad definition of “partner”.
I don’t think Puffalumps qualify, sadly. I do have some Canadian-market-only Enchanted Puffalumps, though. Those are extremely cool.
I can adapt to bagged milk.
SLAP THE BAG, BABYYYYY
(of moo juice)
I can confirm from certain mis-spent youth moments that milk bags are surprisingly tough and will survive a fall from a third story balcony on to flagstone. One fall, not two.
Christ, these days the Beatrice bags don’t survive the fall into the milk jug.
Obviously I will have to confirm this for myself the next time I go visit Mom. She’s still in the same house with the same balcony and flagstone. She’ll be happy about it, I’m sure.
Door’s open, eh! C’mon in!