The initial title of this blog post was going to be, “trump is a moron”, but the problem with that is that I can write a post every day for the rest of my life (or trump’s life) with that title. But the new title became immediately apparent when I realised the fundamental issue.
I also considered, “If this is how trump treats his friends …”, but we all know that he’s in love with putin (both spelled with an initial lower-case letter, as you will note), leader of America’s traditional enemy, so it’s impossible to know who his friends and enemies really are.
And what about, “The Dumbest Trade War in History“? Oops, already taken.
The issue here is that trump is clearly ignorant. He does not understand economics, and I don’t believe he has ever attended a history class or read a history book in his life!
I’m not an economist either, but I’d like to make a few points:
- If an American imports a Canadian (or Mexican or Chinese) product that the Canadian sells for $1 (we’ll ignore currencies and exchange rates), the American is going to have to pay $1.25 with a 25% tariff. That directly penalises the American, not the Canadian, and will result in inflation increasing in the United States. Of course, the whole world knows that Biden personally wanted inflation to increase (it had nothing to do with the fact that inflation grew worldwide after COVID), and trump campaigned on ending the Biden tyranny, so trump’s going to look incompetent when he directly increases inflation with his tariffs.
- The knock-on effect is that the American might (and probably will) decide to buy a different product; that will then penalise the Canadian, but I’ll get to that in a moment when I take apart trump’s moronic post on the stupidly named “Truth Social”.
- Clearly, as trump states in his incorrectly named “truth” — seriously, the fact that it’s a lie is why “Truth Social” is a misnomer — his goal is that Canadian and Mexican and Chinese manufacturers (and every manufacturer in the world!) will up sticks and move their businesses to America, all while he cracks down on immigration! (Seriously! His left hand doesn’t know what his right hand is doing!) I can’t tell you the number of times I have wished that everyone in the world would see the light and host their websites and email with my company (it would make dealing with spam much easier), but I live in the real world where I realise that competition is a reality and I can’t do everything; the world is too varied to want exactly what my company offers. And in the same vein, as “great” as America is (or is alleged to be), it can’t be all things to all people. God help us if we were all to become Americans! (I’ll get to that in a moment as well.)
- But, most importantly, trump doesn’t seem to understand that, likewise, America can’t do everything. I grew up in a country (Rhodesia) that was sanctioned by almost the whole world, and we tried bloody hard to “reduce, reuse and recycle” decades before that became a “thing”. We did a damned good job too, but we still imported goods from abroad from people and companies that were willing to trade despite sanctions. He doesn’t understand that in the “free market” Americans are choosing every day to buy foreign-sourced goods from counties like Canada, Mexico and China, and now he is limiting the freedom of Americans to freely trade how they wish. It’s typical right-wing bullshit: we support freedom, only as long as it fits within our narrow definition of the word.
Can Americans make widgets as well as Canadians can? Of course! But the fact of the matter is that they apparently don’t! That’s why some enterprising Canadian started making widgets the way they thought they should be made, and now Americans are buying (and importing) Canadian widgets because they’re better!
Taking apart trump’s bullshit
The idiot trump has made a couple of posts (“truths”!) on his moronic “Truth Social” account which conveniently consolidate a number of points that I will now debunk:
The “Tariff Lobby,” headed by the Globalist, and always wrong, Wall Street Journal, is working hard to justify Countries like Canada, Mexico, China, and too many others to name, continue the decades long RIPOFF OF AMERICA, both with regard to TRADE, CRIME, AND POISONOUS DRUGS that are allowed to so freely flow into AMERICA. THOSE DAYS ARE OVER!
The “tariff lobby”? Who the fuck are the “tariff lobby”? (And while we’re at it, who are/is “the Globalist”?) The “always wrong” “Wall Street Journal”?! Look, buddy, “The Wall Street Journal” isn’t on my reading list, but (as you well know) they didn’t become the pre-eminent publisher of business and financial news because they were “always wrong”. However, this is your way of communicating, in black-and-white absolutisms. I get it. You’ve been so rich for so long that people are afraid to say, “Come on, Donald, they aren’t ‘always wrong’. Remember that time they reported X, Y and Z?” Nope, your lackey’s just nod their heads and scurry off to do your bidding. Now, due to all of the people in your country who apparently have no “common sense”, you’re their president, and so the whole world can see what a fool you are.
And, “RIPOFF OF AMERICA”? Are you saying/admitting that Americans (including yourself, who negotiated the last version of the North-American free-trade deal that you’re now violating) are easy pushovers? I would disagree with that in general. Just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean that anybody is being “ripped off”. That’s like George H.W. Bush claiming that his parents forcing him to eat broccoli meant he was being “ripped off”. But like most humans, Bush took it in stride as just one of the many things there are in life that we don’t like. You, on the other hand, just whine and complain like a baby that this, that and everything else you complain about are “not fair”, like any tempestuous seven-year-old does when they’re upset at the unfairness of their world. You might as well punctuate your “not fairs” with a stomp of your foot.
You’ve stated that you want “fair trade”. Again, I’d like to point out that it was you who negotiated the current United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, often known as NAFTA 2.0 because of the other ridiculous acronyms by which it is known. Maybe you should go back in time and fire yourself since you apparently negotiated such a bad deal for America. But hey, don’t fret; NAFTA 2.0 is supposed to be renewed (and possibly renegotiated) in 2026, so can’t you wait a few weeks or months? It’s not as if negotiations will start on the day the agreement expires. But of course you can’t wait, because everything has to be done yesterday.
And as I keep telling people, if “CRIME, AND POISONOUS DRUGS that are allowed to so freely flow into AMERICA” by the American Border Patrol and CBP (Customs and Border Protection) are problems, then you Americans need to get off your arses and beef up your own agencies! We in Canada are likewise suffering from the same epidemics (as well as the epidemic of American guns coming into Canada that are being used by criminals here) so we are not the source of the problem! Justin Trudeau himself (love him or hate him) is not the Vito Corleone of an operation that he personally oversees where he is feeding the insatiable American appetite for drugs! The moron that is currently President of the United States of America is blaming the wrong people! And let’s not forget that a grand total of about twenty kilogrammes (44 pounds for you Americans) of fentanyl have crossed the Canadian border into the United States in the year to October 2024, versus about five hundred times that amount from Mexico! (Illegal Immigration and Fentanyl at the U.S. Northern and Southwest Borders.) Where’s your fucking sense of proportion?!
As Forbes magazine says, the “Tariff On Canada Not Justified By U.S. Immigration And Drug Claims“, but you never let facts get in the way of your emotional tirades.
THOSE DAYS ARE OVER!
Yeah right.
The USA has major deficits with Canada, Mexico, and China (and almost all countries!), owes 36 Trillion Dollars, and we’re not going to be the “Stupid Country” any longer.
Who called you “stupid”? Sure, it’s an overused word, and certain people and certain actions (like your tariffs) certainly are stupid but, again, you’re coming to a an unsupportable conclusion that you and your fellow Americans are all, well, stupid pushovers. How do you or can you come to that ridiculous (stupid?) conclusion? You can’t. Your office is supposed to be better than petty remarks like this that are only worthy of repeating in front of your similarly drunk mates at the bar.
As for “deficits”, yes, you’re technically correct, but it’s not a deficit that you (America) has to pay, and despite your claiming that, “They [Canada and Mexico] owe us a lot of money, I’m sure they’re gonna pay,” we don’t owe you any money either! (Mexico still owes you for the wall you built that you said they’d pay for!) Let’s just say that Bob and Jane own two different businesses; it just so happens that Bob produces some products that Jane’s business needs, and Jane similarly makes products that Bob’s business needs. Remarkably, Bob spends more on Jane’s products than Jane spends on Bob’s. Does that mean that Jane somehow then owes Bob some money? Of course not! I’m not going to get into comparing Bob and Jane’s products and prices, but the economy generated over many generations between Canada and the United States has seen the free market decide that apparently (according to you) your free citizens need more Canadian products than our free citizens need from you! Does anybody — including your free citizens — need to be punished over this supposed imbalance? No! If you want to “solve” this imbalance then do it naturally, but that doesn’t sound as sexy to you or your “base” or happen as quickly as they’d like than spitting out the best word in the world, “tariff”.
MAKE YOUR PRODUCT IN THE USA AND THERE ARE NO TARIFFS!
As I said above, most of us do not live in that fantasy world.
Why should the United States lose TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN SUBSIDIZING OTHER COUNTRIES, and why should these other countries pay a small fraction of the cost of what USA citizens pay for Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, as an example?
Who is losing anything here? Jim in the USA is paying a dollar to a Canadian (or Mexican) and in return he gets a dollar’s worth of goods. Nobody is losing! And how is Jim subsidising anyone, the Canadian or the Mexican? You’re obviously an idiot who hasn’t thought this through. And why are your citizens paying so much for drugs and pharmaceuticals? What the hell does that have to do with trade imbalances? Nothing, that’s what. It has everything to do with how you Americans run your fucked up society, bankrupting your citizens because they broke their leg.
THIS WILL BE THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA!
Yeah, yeah, whatever.
WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!). BUT WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID.
Oh, so someone actually managed to whisper something in your ear in the last five minutes suggesting that tariffs are maybe not the best thing since sliced bread? You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about and this is as close as you will come to admitting it. I’m also thinking that you won’t pay much of a price, given your penchant for obtaining financing from the banks you bullshit, but Joe Schmoe way down the line will be expected to “subsidise” the American economy in a way that will cause him pain.
WE ARE A COUNTRY THAT IS NOW BEING RUN WITH COMMON SENSE — AND THE RESULTS WILL BE SPECTACULAR!!!
Typical marketing (i.e., lying) bullshit. I also love how you re-define “common sense” to be whatever bullshit comes out of your mouth. Please look up the definition.
We pay hundreds of Billions of Dollars to SUBSIDIZE Canada. Why? There is no reason.
You do? There’s another word you should look up: subsidise (or however you Americans choose to spell it), Here, let me help you:
subsidize (also subsidise)
v. support (an organization or activity) financially. pay part of the cost of producing (something) to reduce its price.
DERIVATIVES subsidization n. subsidizer n.
What, exactly, are you subsidising? And who is “we”? It’s certainly not the government of the United States of America; it’s certainly not you personally; and it’s certainly not any of the American citizens who engage freely in the free-trade market between our two countries! You are delusional and don’t understand what a subsidy is.
Since you’ve never attended a history class or read a history book, you might not realise that Canada and the United States (as modern countries) both started out as colonies of the United Kingdom, France and Spain in about the fifteenth century. (That’s the 1400s, in case you didn’t know. And I’m not mentioning Russia’s peripheral role that is not really visible outside of Alaska.) Through periods of war and other upheaval, the two countries developed into two separate nations. Canada (as it later became) and its settlers remained loyal to the Crown of Great Britain, whereas you guys (the Americans) fought a war of independence against Great Britain. Since then you and the UK have kissed and made up, and now you have what is generally known as a/the “Special Relationship” (although I suspect that, under you, that relationship is becoming less special every day), and you and we have also developed the kind of close relationship one would expect two neighbours to develop. (This is pretty typical around the world. Viz. Ireland and the UK, Australia and New Zealand, Rhodesia and South Africa, etc.)
So, as close as we now are (or were until a few days ago), we are two different and independent countries, nations and cultures. Like you guys, we have an economy, one good enough to be included in the G7 Group of Seven advanced economies. Contrary to your barroom braggadocio bullshit, we would not “cease to exist as a viable Country [sic]”. Would we be changed if the United States “built a wall” and shut itself off from us? Yes, of course, as would you, but we would not sink into the sea; that’s just moronic to assume. But to sum up this extremely brief history lesson, America as one independent, sovereign nation is not subsidising Canada, a separate, independent and sovereign nation.
End of lesson. You are wrong.
We don’t need anything they have. We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use.
Ha ha. You should probably consult a few of your citizens on that matter, the ones who are buying and importing our goods and services. Whether it’s need or want, Americans import billions of dollars worth of our goods, just as we import billions of dollars worth of yours. That’s how the free market works. No American president, under your current democracy (which I realise is in jeopardy at the moment), has any absolute power or sway over all of your people to change that. And anyone who uses the word “unlimited” is obviously someone who has spent too much time in sales and marketing, believing his own bullshit. And as for the cars, again, check with the CEOs of Ford, General Motors and Stellantis; they are not Canadian cars, they are North American cars made by the same “big three” on both sides of the border. Again, this is when reading a little bit of history would come in handy for you.
Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country. Harsh but true!
Harsh and completely UNtrue! Please see above.
Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada — AND NO TARIFFS!
Ah, you’ve saved the best for last! This bullshit “51st state” crap, although, as a Canadian, I’m not feeling especially “cherished” by America right now. As clearly shown in my mini history lesson above, Canadians are not Americans, Americans in waiting, America’s “little brother” (although, since you are size obsessed, I hate to point out to you the we are bigger) or anything else along those lines. We don’t even want you guys as our 11th province, or even out 4th territory! That would be far more hassle than we’d be willing to tolerate. As a Canadian I wonder to myself, “What would the advantage to us be?”, and I can come up with nothing. I think that Americans should be proud to be American, and we Canadians are similarly proud to be Canadian; why should either of us confuse our identities? (And why would you want to become communists, as we clearly are?) No thanks. I kinda like our higher taxes and that they fund a government able to take care of its citizens in the way that governments are supposed to. And in fact, one of the ways our government protects its citizens is by not being so belligerent, ignorant and self-centred on the world stage, so as long as we don’t become the 51st state of the belligerent country of the United States of America, we don’t need your supposedly “far better military protection”, thank very much. Hey, I’m not saying we’re perfect and have everything figured out, but neither are you and neither do you.
That’s why together as friends and allies and with our highly integrated economies that are not subsidising or taking advantage of one another — and in the other innumerable ways that other editorialists have enumerated in recent days, from world wars to your Iran hostage crisis to Iraq to Afghanistan to 9/11 — we are stronger.