O'Canada, O'Reagan
In a major break with the US, Canada is considering dropping tariffs on Chinese EVs in exchange for China dropping tariffs on Canadian pork and canola.
The Ontario - Reagan commercial in fact used very standard editing, with nothing deceptive that distorted the meaning. All the words were from Reagan’s 1987 speech condemning protectionism and advocating free trade:
When someone says, ‘Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while it works—but only for a short time….High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars…..….Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs.
Throughout the world there’s a growing realization that the way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair and free competition. America’s jobs and growth are at stake.
China has become an automaking powerhouse, but thanks to steep tariffs on its electric vehicles, most North American consumers have yet to see its cars on their roads. That may be about to change. Canada’s government is considering removing the country’s 100 percent tariff on Chinese EVs. The potential pivot comes as President Donald Trump’s trade war is wreaking havoc on the deeply integrated U.S.-Canada auto supply chain, and as Canada looks for ways to negotiate down trade bar. Ottawa government [not Ontario] is considering dropping 100 percent tariffs on imports of Chinese EVs, in a potentially major break with the U.S. approach.
Ontario has now pulled the anti-tariff ad off the air, which strikes me as an odd decision. The damage has already been done, and what’s the point in kowtowing? Do they believe he’ll keep ratcheting the tariffs up the longer it stays on? The leader of Ontario declined to apologize for sponsoring an anti-tariff television commercial that US President Donald Trump used as a reason to terminate high-stakes trade talks with Canada.
This lays bare what many people have been saying all along: There’s not much rhyme or reason to Trump’s protectionism. It’s not a cohesive economic theory. It’s not about shoring up critical American defense capabilities or supply-chain sturdiness in the event of war. It’s not about revitalization of the hollowed-out Rust Belt. It’s not about trying to get revenue so taxes can be cut (or so the federal government can work its way out of the debt hole). It’s about…Trump wanting to impose tariffs, and believing contra all logic and evidence that they’re part of the path to prosperity.
The trade war initiated by the Trump administration has been the great catalyst for this sudden, and still developing shift. An attempt to break Canadian economy with the expressed intent of annexing Canada as the 51st state has unsurprisingly, tanked a century of good relations. The attempt was half-assed and has not succeeded, the Trump admin has also initiated a trade war with the rest of the world simultaneously and a myriad of growing domestic crises. The cohesion and focus required to actually break Canada in this trade war, is simply not there.
The domestic political climate was rocked when the Chinese ambassador on a live interview with Canadian news announced an open offer to the public, of China being willing to drop its tariffs on Canadian agri-products in exchange for Canadian dropping 100% tariff on Chinese EVs [specific: OTTAWA Government, not ONTARIO].
This immediately provoked a conflict of interest between the prairie provinces (who grow the grain) and Ontario whose auto-manufacturing sector is a keystone of its economy. Which, has prompted a sort of public review, of the Ontario automakers. They are branch plants of American companies, they are subsidized to the tune of billions of dollars, and still close down plants when they don’t get their way. Their products are unaffordable, and they only ever deliver less and less while demanding more and more public funds.
In exchange for Canada being able to now sell far more agricultural products to China, Canadians now may get access to cheap (sub $15k new) Chinese electric vehicles, and the only thing it costs them is an increasingly net-negative, American-owned corporate welfare money pit. With one public TV statement, the Chinese ambassador might have just knocked down one of the long-standing economic pillars that binds Canada to the United States, and positions itself as both the new main buyer for Canadia grain and the new supplier for Canadian automotive consumer needs.
This is occurring just as China start showing a strong posture towards the United States, they slap the eagle and get its attention, and in the eagle’s backyard, their representative sinks a major pro-American influence node and replaces it with its own. The odds of China taking Canada from the American sphere of influence are very slim to none. But the particular geopol [GEO-POLITICAL] conditions created by Washington, have given them the opportunity to do so without much ability for the United States to prevent it.
Remaining pro-American in either diplomatic or economic orientation is now a path to further national ruin for Canada, as America has its government shut down, is on the verge of another 2008 mortgage crisis and is preparing to invade Venezuela.
I don’t think this is mere act of geopolitical opportunism, they’re taking these risks and putting up the resources to acquire Canada, as part of a strategic play with the next century in mind, and the conditions of the world at present, ensure our eager cooperation. I expect Beijing will desire the northern-facing, unpopulated areas of Canada adequately built up to support and service the ship traffic that will be transiting it, and Beijing has the ability to put it there.
Canada has forever been an overlooked, peripheral consideration of the larger British and American hegemonies it was a part of it. It has never been strategically, globally critical or the object of competition to acquire, but now it is. I am unsure what the Sino-Canadian era we are entering fully holds for the country. We are becoming a strange organism; the first modern Western state to begin alignment with China and adopt features of their economic, social and political model. But, I’m very curious to see.
The also fact: thanks for Reagan, he’s key factor dissolved of Sovyet Union. Now, because Reagan [Ontario] ad, Canada go to the East [China], [almost] break forever with United States, no matter World Cup [soccer, football] hosting together US, Canada, and Mexico.
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If you feel powerless to help Gaza, you still has a choice: donate. When so much of what exists is false, authenticity is a powerful weapon we can wield that the state never could. So if you feel lost, hopeless, depressed, angry and afraid, I implore you to return - again - again - and again - to the feeling of love that exists within you that brought you here in the first place. It is only through this that we can remake the world. To redress Gaza’s famine, displacement, and destruction, independent and impartial humanitarian organizations - UN agencies, international and national NGOs - must be allowed to deliver relief at scale. To salvage Gaza’s people from the devastation inflicted by Israel, it must be unified with the West Bank to form an independent and sovereign Palestinian State, not to be parceled and colonized by the former.
Meanwhile, children continue to be shredded by US bombs, and the starvation reaches new depths of hellish collective punishment. If both parties are going to continue to support an ongoing genocide, at least they can both be honest about doing so, rather than having one openly bloodthirsty party, and another—unconvincingly—playing the role of powerless, bumbling humanitarian.
Please keep donate Gaza especially if you, as reader, has [background] International Relation [whatever universities]. IR Graduate means [you must, at least] get some semester [about] studying Middle East [in macro, not specifically Gaza].
We need more people to share fundraisers instead of only talking about Gaza. Some people think that those in Gaza don’t need money but that’s wrong. Almost everyone lost their source of income while essentials, food & medicine get sold for astronomical prices. So I put my attempt in all social media as I can, in twitter / X, in substack [since October 2023 I put link donation], in bluesky or bsky, in threads, in instagram.
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[Daniel Brühl]
Most campaign shared or circulated in social media are for REAL people in Gaza. They’re legit. There are a lot of small campaigns for struggling families. This is their only lifeline. By donating & sharing, you are literally making history and alleviating part of their pain
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