The Tariff Thread

[Mr.Coffee]

Has anyone explained to Trump that free trade is the same as annexation? Isn’t it? Just straight up no protections. I actually agree with Trump on the dairy thing it is kinda bull####.

Like what difference does it make if you have free trade? He just wants to colour a map the same colour? Why? Who cares? Very weird situation and obsession he’s got.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Has anyone explained to Trump that free trade is the same as annexation? Isn’t it? Just straight up no protections. I actually agree with Trump on the dairy thing it is kinda bull####.

Like what difference does it make if you have free trade? He just wants to colour a map the same colour? Why? Who cares? Very weird situation and obsession he’s got.

Dairy tariffs are in place due to supply management. It's there to protect Canadian production, maintain healthy farming practices, and to ensure we don't have wild price fluctuations.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Also to prevent dairy products that have horrific standards in terms of what they actually contain from being sold alongside Canadian products that require producers to actually meet reasonable health and safety requirements.

Basically, no, we will not allow you to sell your "Malk" up here, no matter how much vitamin R you say it contains.

[direwolf]

Just breaking from CBC:

Ford and Lutnick spoke on the phone today and just released a joint statement saying they had a "productive discussion" about the close trade relationship between the two countries and agreed to meet with both Ford and Canadian trade minister Leblanc in DC on Thursday in regards to potential renegotiation of USMCA.

Not sure whether to take this seriously yet, knowing these clowns in the WH. But Ford has agreed to suspend the 25% surcharge on electricity for now.

[Torture]

I work with a lot of folks from Kentucky - Bourbon being pulled off the shelves is all over the news there. "Will cripple our economy".

Oh, you mean like the 25-50% tarrifs ya'll are putting on Canadian products? boohoo. That said, most of them, even though they probably voted for Trump, think this trade war is stupid.

[chummer]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Just breaking from CBC:

Ford and Lutnick spoke on the phone today and just released a joint statement saying they had a "productive discussion" about the close trade relationship between the two countries and agreed to meet with both Ford and Canadian trade minister Leblanc in DC on Thursday in regards to potential renegotiation of USMCA.

Not sure whether to take this seriously yet, knowing these clowns in the WH. But Ford has agreed to suspend the 25% surcharge on electricity for now.

A sliver of hope, I'll take it. Thanks wolf.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Also to prevent dairy products that have horrific standards in terms of what they actually contain from being sold alongside Canadian products that require producers to actually meet reasonable health and safety requirements.

Basically, no, we will not allow you to sell your "Malk" up here, no matter how much vitamin R you say it contains.

Ya, we don't allow a growth hormone or something they use down there, so that could be an easy block.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by kermitology

Dairy tariffs are in place due to supply management. It's there to protect Canadian production, maintain healthy farming practices, and to ensure we don't have wild price fluctuations.

Understood I just see the US POV on it. If I was them, it’d be annoying as well. Same as Canadas slow playing / reluctance to spend to the 2% GDP military thing. Nobody can answer (very well) why Canada has to take 10 yrs to get to a commitment it made several years ago. I believe that Canadas position on this is weak. “It takes a long time for procurement or this or that” are very Canadian “we can’t do anything anymore” replies (kinda our motto over the last few years). For example- if I was the US I’d be like okay fine, then pay us the delta to keep us whole on your spending if you can’t actually spend in a military sense to your commitment.

Anyway, maybe the answer is that it doesn’t make sense to produce endless amounts of milk / dairy just to dump most of it out and waste it. Maybe a better use of those farmers / people’s time is to go off and harvest other more in demand resources rather than artificially create a supply / demand imbalance just to keep a few farmers that vote for you employed. If the issue is these people need jobs / businesses / livelihoods I completely understand that but last I checked Quebec has a ####load of other resources and things to go do from an economic perspective.

The above is the same argument lefties made for coal and oil and gas workers as they were thinking we should just phase out energy jobs.m due to climate change. The difference being these jobs we’re supplying an in demand product as evidenced by price not artificially wasting oil and gas or coal to prop up price.

Sorry maybe I don’t understand the situation very well as admittedly I’m not overly familiar on the dairy subject this is just my 2c interpretation of it from a high level.

[direwolf]

Originally Posted by chummer

A sliver of hope, I'll take it. Thanks wolf.

Yea, hopefully this might be a light at the end of this ridiculous dark tunnel. I wonder if Carney might be the mastermind behind this development? CBC did say that he spoke to Ford on the phone earlier today, knowing that Lutnick was going to be calling him.

Trump also apparently met with American business leaders today, and I imagine they gave him an earful about the damage that the tariffs are doing.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Ya, we don't allow a growth hormone or something they use down there, so that could be an easy block.

It's the same thing as the banks. Yes, if you want to do business in Canada, you have to follow Canadian banking regulations. Trump complains we don't allow US banks to do business in Canada - yes, we do, and they DO do business in Canada, but shock of all shocks, you have to obey the law here. In his world, US law is the only valid law.

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Same as Canadas slow playing / reluctance to spend to the 2% GDP military thing. Nobody can answer (very well) why Canada has to take 10 yrs to get to a commitment it made several years ago. I believe that Canadas position on this is weak. “It takes a long time for procurement or this or that” are very Canadian “we can’t do anything anymore” replies (kinda our motto over the last few years). For example- if I was the US I’d be like okay fine, then pay us the delta to keep us whole on your spending if you can’t actually spend in a military sense to your commitment.

What they'll actually do, it seems to me, is say, "OK, as long as your spending to meet that commitment is procured from US companies, you have until X date. What a coincidence, X date is how long it will take for those companies to fulfill your order."

[spetch]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Understood I just see the US POV on it. If I was them, it’d be annoying as well. Same as Canadas slow playing / reluctance to spend to the 2% GDP military thing. Nobody can answer (very well) why Canada has to take 10 yrs to get to a commitment it made several years ago. I believe that Canadas position on this is weak. “It takes a long time for procurement or this or that” are very Canadian “we can’t do anything anymore” replies (kinda our motto over the last few years). For example- if I was the US I’d be like okay fine, then pay us the delta to keep us whole on your spending if you can’t actually spend in a military sense to your commitment.

Anyway, maybe the answer is that it doesn’t make sense to produce endless amounts of milk / dairy just to dump most of it out and waste it. Maybe a better use of those farmers / people’s time is to go off and harvest other more in demand resources rather than artificially create a supply / demand imbalance just to keep a few farmers that vote for you employed. If the issue is these people need jobs / businesses / livelihoods I completely understand that but last I checked Quebec has a ####load of other resources and things to go do from an economic perspective.

The above is the same argument lefties made for coal and oil and gas workers as they were thinking we should just phase out energy jobs.m due to climate change. The difference being these jobs we’re supplying an in demand product as evidenced by price not artificially wasting oil and gas or coal to prop up price.

Sorry maybe I don’t understand the situation very well as admittedly I’m not overly familiar on the dairy subject this is just my 2c interpretation of it from a high level.

The USA has access with their dairy to our market tariff free up to a set amount. This amount they have never even hit.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/10/polit...eck/index.html

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Understood I just see the US POV on it. If I was them, it’d be annoying as well. Same as Canadas slow playing / reluctance to spend to the 2% GDP military thing. Nobody can answer (very well) why Canada has to take 10 yrs to get to a commitment it made several years ago. I believe that Canadas position on this is weak. “It takes a long time for procurement or this or that” are very Canadian “we can’t do anything anymore” replies (kinda our motto over the last few years). For example- if I was the US I’d be like okay fine, then pay us the delta to keep us whole on your spending if you can’t actually spend in a military sense to your commitment.

I mean, they could throw money away. But if you want to spend it intelligently, it takes time. Look at the F35s. The process to buy them started 15 years ago, and it's going to be over a decade from signing the purchase agreement to having the fleet be fully operational.

Military spending-to-GDP has increased by 40% in the last decade after it was gutted in the 2000s and early 2010s. That represents the biggest increase in military spending post WWII.

Anyway, maybe the answer is that it doesn’t make sense to produce endless amounts of milk / dairy just to dump most of it out and waste it. Maybe a better use of those farmers / people’s time is to go off and harvest other more in demand resources rather than artificially create a supply / demand imbalance just to keep a few farmers that vote for you employed. If the issue is these people need jobs / businesses / livelihoods I completely understand that but last I checked Quebec has a ####load of other resources and things to go do from an economic perspective.

Where do you get the idea that Canada produces endless amounts of dairy and then just dumps it? The whole point of supply management is to have production roughly match the demand, while ensuring that we maintain the ability to produce dairy for national security reasons.

The alternative is to do what other countries do and subsidize dairy production, and that may bring in some efficiencies. But the cost of that is raising taxes to fund dairy costs instead of having consumers pay for it.

[Torture]

Originally Posted by spetch

The USA has access with their dairy to our market tariff free up to a set amount. This amount they have never even hit.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/10/polit...eck/index.html

Didn't know this - thanks.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Just breaking from CBC:

Ford and Lutnick spoke on the phone today and just released a joint statement saying they had a "productive discussion" about the close trade relationship between the two countries and agreed to meet with both Ford and Canadian trade minister Leblanc in DC on Thursday in regards to potential renegotiation of USMCA.

Not sure whether to take this seriously yet, knowing these clowns in the WH. But Ford has agreed to suspend the 25% surcharge on electricity for now.

I'm sorry but what business does Ford have in being involved in any sort of potential renegotiation of USMCA?

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I'm sorry but what business does Ford have in being involved in any sort of potential renegotiation of USMCA?

None, he’s a loud mouth idiot.

[LanceUppercut]

But he's our loudmouth idiot. We have to have one to shout down theirs.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I'm sorry but what business does Ford have in being involved in any sort of potential renegotiation of USMCA?

The only big leverage we have is plunging homes into darkness. Only two provinces can do this, and Ford is the leader of one of them

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by opendoor

I mean, they could throw money away. But if you want to spend it intelligently, it takes time. Look at the F35s. The process to buy them started 15 years ago, and it's going to be over a decade from signing the purchase agreement to having the fleet be fully operational.

Military spending-to-GDP has increased by 40% in the last decade after it was gutted in the 2000s and early 2010s. That represents the biggest increase in military spending post WWII.

There's a good argument to be made for effective procurement and to not piss away money for the sake of reaching a target. That said it's not reasonable in the current environment we live in to accept that things take that long. The F35s took that long because Military spending in Canada has continued to be deprioritized relative to other budgetary goals. Why not when living adjacent to the largest world power who happens to be your #1 ally . . . . . . . . .

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

None, he’s a loud mouth idiot.

Ford is the only useful one we have with the leverage we need, since Smith is as useless as tits on a bus.

[MegaErtz]

It didn't take Ford very long to back down on his electricity threat, did it?