Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

ttartoran about 5 hours ago 61 commentsRead Article on bbc.com

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Discussion (61 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

juliusceasar•about 2 hours ago

Meanwhile Israel is sucking USA empty and they call out Canada for being not "fair".

What a sick people.

lemoncookiechip•about 2 hours ago

Someone has to fund Israel's universal healthcare.

ElProlactin•about 3 hours ago

Art of the deal strikes again.

epolanski•about 3 hours ago

This administration has a thing for being really vicious with the closest allies.

It really feels strange, odd, yet unsurprising that the US is going from a globalist leadership to selfish nationalism.

Paradigma11•2 minutes ago

Its easier since they have no defenses up and lots of valuables are in reach. It makes sense if you are that ethically challenged.

hermitcrab•about 2 hours ago

Trump projects his greed and selfishness onto everyone else. So doesn't understand that there can be such a thing as a win-win relationship.

charcircuit•about 2 hours ago

I think you are ignoring the situation of a WIN-win relationship where one party is winning much more at the other party's expense. Just because it may be net positive for both countries that doesn't mean that it's a fair arrangement. The excuse that the smaller winner is still technically winning is not a good excuse against pushing for a more fair deal.

lostlogin•about 3 hours ago

> the US is going from a globalist leadership to selfish nationalism.

It’s worse than that. This doesn’t suit the US. It suits Trump (or at least, that’s what his addled mind thinks).

conartist6•about 3 hours ago

Very good yesterday, very bad today. I understand completely why nations are not eager to bargain with a petulant child

epolanski•about 3 hours ago

The problem is more long lasting. The world cannot accommodate 180 degree turns every 4 years in Washington.

So anybody that will follow, regardless of the person's policies won't matter fully, as that person itself will be replaced 4-8 years later.

jjav•about 1 hour ago

> So anybody that will follow, regardless of the person's policies won't matter fully, as that person itself will be replaced 4-8 years later.

That is the fundamental problem. The only way out, is to make changes to the constitution to specifically prohibit the executive branch from having any of this power to arbitrarily change things on a whim. That is the only way international peer could in the future trust an agreement made with the USA.

As long as the US feels it is ok to sign an agreement and immediately violate it, nobody in their right mind will bother to negotiate any future agreements. Which is not a good state to be in.

toast0•about 3 hours ago

At least the timing of the turns is predictable... I imagine working with countries with snap elections is harder, especially when they have trouble forming a government.

rich_sasha•about 1 hour ago

But we’re talking 180 degrees every… 2 weeks?

mschuster91•about 2 hours ago

> So anybody that will follow, regardless of the person's policies won't matter fully, as that person itself will be replaced 4-8 years later.

There is only one chance the US has - they need to do what us Germans were forced to post-1945, rearchitect everything.

The US and UK are the only major countries that didn't undergo some sort of revolution, war or other reset of their constitution and legal systems and it shows everywhere.

If we Europeans (or anyone else) are supposed to ever trust the US again, we demand they properly fix their shit and prevent another madman's rise for good.

sandworm101•about 2 hours ago

"That's like a toddler with a harpoon. There's a toddler wandering around in that office with a harpoon." The Thick of It s4e2.

DyslexicAtheist•about 2 hours ago

"He's so dense that light bends around him"

sandworm101•about 3 hours ago

It is a good thing canadians are so nice. Dropping US alcohol is a tiny thing compared to some of the weapons canada might deploy. Look at all the back-and-forth deals in recent years and you will see an exemption for oil and potash. Think gas prices are high now? See what happens if canada starts shipping less crude. Think food prices are high? See what happens when there is no fertilizer because canada has restricted potash exports. And what will make Musk's head explode: canada is starting to allow cheap chinese EVs into north america. Canadians will be driving them around the US very soon.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/dispatches/how-to-secure-the...

> US mines produce roughly 500,000 metric tons of potash per year, only about 8 percent of the 5.9 million metric tons of apparent annual US consumption. The remaining demand is met through imports, producing a net import reliance of about 92 percent. Reflecting the high concentration of global potash production, most of that supply comes from Canada (79 percent), with smaller volumes from Russia (12 percent) and other producers (9 percent) including Israel.

thangalin•about 2 hours ago

The sentiment here is that nobody wants U.S. citizens to be negatively impacted by trade restrictions or tariffs. We are figuratively and, in many cases, literally friends and family. (Aside, even if our provincial governments allow southern booze back on shelves, it'll stay there.)

It would be decidedly un-Canadian to leverage electricity, potash, or other commodities necessary for survival in trade negotiations -- despite what Ford may suggest. We're nice, but we won't bow to bullies. Elbows up, eh!

bluealienpie•about 1 hour ago

I want them to be negatively impacted. Maybe a couple family members spoke publicly about what’s happening, and the rest remain silent or indifferent. My cousins are too busy with their multi million dollar AI roles to even see us non-millionaires as human.

benj111•about 2 hours ago

You do realise it's the citizens that voted trump in?

And you don't have to ban them, just make them more expensive. Your US brethren did vote for tarriffs. With that comes higher prices.

thijson•about 3 hours ago

It's a slow moving train wreck. I hope the consequences of these petulant actions scar the minds of voters for years to come. We're seeing the yield on treasuries creeping up, I think that's one of the consequences.

metalman•about 1 hour ago

People here in Canada have not been sitting still. It is a truely fantastic oportunity, it's almost like 10% of the US market was suddenly transported to another country for free, and all we have to do is fill it.

spwa4•about 1 hour ago

Prepare the distilleries ...

tancop•about 2 hours ago

There's a good opportunity to use that tariff money and subsidize critical exports to everywhere but USA. Europe gets cheaper minerals and Trump gets left begging China for scraps at insane prices.

If you want political gestures then impose heavy sanctions on Israel and declare that Latinos can get refugee status in Canada because of ICE. That would be an economic win too.

bluealienpie•about 1 hour ago

But the Canadian government wants to be the 51st state. They have rapidly defunded social services, expanded fossil fuels and will adopt US style militarization. In fact, purchasing those munitions from the only country that has threatened to take it over.

MrSkelter•about 1 hour ago

You cannot negotiate with a country that doesn’t stand by its word.

All other issues aside, Trump and the Republicans love to boast that they aren’t bound by anything including their own promises. This is the end result of that.

You’d be mad to cut a deal with the US right now. The Trump Admin will just try to take another bite. They are dishonest and unreliable. Making America’s word mean nothing is the greatest long term damage done to the country and the surest indicator of the end of the American Century (80 years but we can round up)

Haven880•6 minutes ago

It has to do with how America politically structured. The trade nego change every 1-2 terms. China is much more consistent in this, and will scrap all markets from America in the long term. I simply dont see America able to force a Plaza Accord out of this. Japan fizzled because of that. But China wont. And China now backed by Russia, world powerhouse of fossil and minerals. Russia has way more natural reserve than what Venezuela America and Middle East officially published.

woggy•about 3 hours ago

Meanwhile Trump is pushing to rekindle his love affair with Kim Jong Un.