Kanada ist bereit, die Handelsgespräche wieder aufzunehmen, wann immer Trump dazu bereit ist: Carney

When I was between the ages of 6 and 8, I “ran away from home” many times for various stupid reasons.

And my parents let me…and calmly said “well we love you and when you want to come home…just ring the doorbell”. Obviously I was usually home within a couple of hours.

I LOVE Carney’s response! This is pretty much my parents response to me at 6 years old. Bonus that he’s saying it as he’s jetting off to China to work on some trade deals! This is what we have to do. This would be like my parents saying “we are interviewing other 6 yr olds to take your place as our child”!

Only difference is Trump not a 6 yr old. He’s a 3 yr old.

We didn’t follow US guidelines on China because they are a communist country. Canadians have never had an issue with Cuba, Vietnam, Laos.

We followed the US because china was demonstrating “world dominance, uncool tactic” stuff to bully the rest of the world. But now that the US is no different, we may as well deal with them over the US if it’s in our interest. It’s just picking which bad actor is in our best interest.

Resume talks to what end? Like many Canadians I am beginning to wonder what is transpiring in these alleged negotiations. It comes down to four scenarios, which are not mutually exclusive.

1. The US is negotiating in bad faith, trying to get Canada to sign a deal that, at best, will force us to give up major sectors of our economy (auto manufacturing and the phase out of steel among others), or, at worse, is laden with so many poison pills that it will cripple our economy and cause some Canadians to view annexation as a preferable option..

2. Canada is negotiating in bad faith, clinging to the idea that the tariffs will magically disappear over time. I do not give a lot of credence to this scenario, but I sometimes get a sense of blissful naivety from the Canadian side.

3. Canada is negotiating, but with a „rag the puck“ strategy in the hopes that something – the Supreme Court decision striking down tariffs, a Democratic Congress after the midterms – will come along to save us. I am not overly hopeful about that. Trump will undoubtedly appeal the Supreme court decision (if it goes against him, which is a big if), or come up with some other legal ruse to maintain the tariffs. As for the Democrats, they have their own problems. I am sure that saving the Canadian economy does not rank high on their list of priorities.

4. The US is not only negotiating in bad faith, it is not negotiating at all. This is the one that worries me the most. Over the summer, around the time Trump last suspended trade talks with Canada over the DST, there was a leaked report that described the tenor of the negotiations. Basically, Nutlick and Co. spent all of their time rehashing their greatest hits list of grievances with Canada – dairy, fentanyl, baking, etc. – not agreeing to any compromises or abruptly changing their minds when it seemed like progress was being made. The goal is placing economic pressure on Canada to concede to greater economic union or even annexation.

I wish I could come up with better scenarios. We are faced with some very hard choices in the years to come.

Good lord I wish we would stop bending over backwards to Trump. I get that being friendly and having free trade is the easiest path for a prosperous Canada for the LPC to take. But this kowtowing is just starting to get kinda embarrassing as we keep capitulating.