Yesterday, on his way to what comedian Bill Mahar calls one of his "Nuremberg Hillbillies Rallies," Donald Trump threatened the "ruination" of Canada. Daniel Dale writes in The Toronto Star:
He told reporters on Air Force One: “Canada has been ripping us off for a long time. Now, they’ve got to treat us fairly.”
“I don’t want to do anything bad to Canada. I can — all I have to do is tax their cars, it would be devastating. If I tax cars coming in from Canada, it would be devastating,” he continued, according to a pool reporter travelling with him.
“Actually, on some countries, including Canada, a tax on cars would be the ruination of the country,” he said. “That’s how big it is. It’d be the ruination of the country. Now, they’ve taken advantage of us for many decades. We can’t let this happen anymore. We have a country to run.”
Trump made clear, as he has before, that he sees the auto tariff threat as an effective tool in trade talks. He claimed that whenever he broaches such tariffs, negotiators from other countries surrender to his desires: “We’ll do it! We’ll do it! We’ll agree! We’ll agree!”
Given the portrait of the man which emerged this week from Bob Woodward's new book and the anonymous editorial in The New York Times, no one should be surprised by Trump's rhetoric. And what Trump's chief economic advisor, Larry Kudlow -- who incidentally has no economics credentials -- said yesterday makes it clear that we have a problem:
“The United States would rather have a trade deal with Canada, but it has to be a good deal, right. And the word that continues to block the deal is M-I-L-K,” Kudlow said on Fox Business. “I’m just saying: let go — milk, dairy, drop the barriers, give our farmers a break, and we can fix some other things.”
Auto tariffs on Canada would primarily hit American manufacturers -- GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler. The fate of Harley Davidson offers a cautionary tale on the subject of Trump's tariffs.
Life is difficult for everyone when the American president is a bonehead who is advised by boneheads.
Image: One News Page
18 comments:
http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/404990-farm-bill-farce-corporate-ag-reports-huge-profits-while-farmers
Even the farmers know what the problem is.
The large corporations must be funding Trump handsomely for him to apply so much pressure upon Canada.
TB
The people behind Trump are the very wealthy, TB. He has given them what they want.
"... give our farmers a break …"
Give me a break. When is somebody in the US going to say it to these guys?
"So some of you slugs hate the NAFTA. That's understandable; we've been taken advantage of for too many decades. We've got an idea you might like. Let's talk about forcing the Canadians to let their slugs buy more of our cheap cheese. That should keep your minds in neutral and off other things."
This bullshit is absolute. And where's Trump's domestic opposition on this? They're not going to call it. It's another one that the Democrats are going to leave sitting there stewing in the pot whether due to their ignorance, laziness, lack of any real concern or simple but thorough gutlessness. Which one will they pick this time?
"Do we really have to? Okay. Where's Al Gore? What's he doing now? Do you think he still has his charts? Maybe we could adapt them to this one. But first we'd have to figure out which way we should go on this one. It's all so tiring and confusing. Never mind. Let's just go on yapping about racists and the Russians. Are the paychecks in yet?"
If the constitutional checks were working -- which is to say, if the people's representatives were performing their constitutional responsibilities -- we wouldn't be where we are, John.
The Insane Clown POSus, Kudlow, Navarro and the other Nazi Scum in the White Supremacy House and on NaziTV,
arn't involved in the NAFTA talks.
And being part of the Russian Commie kakistocracy "running" the US, each one of them has dozens of QAnon-op-ed "zeros" running around frantically stealing papers, forgeing signatures, erasing emails, trying to keep the Reality TV show on script.
NAFTA will eventually be negotiated, as "deadline" after deadline goes whooshing by. It will be taken to the Insane Clown POSus to sign, where a gaggle of ReThug Senators, Representatives and Governors will make the toddler sign,
And of course, weeks later tapes of the toddlers temper tantrums, eyes teared, tiny doll hands clutched and pounding on the floor, while he rolls around screaming, "I do wanna! cofefe!" will leak.
That may, indeed, be the denoument, Jay. I can't see the senators and representatives from the 36 states who do business with Canada letting Trump get his way.
Owen,
The new, new, new drop dead must be met bigly deadline is no longer about the New Mexican Administration changing the deal,
But instead, all the Democrats being seated in the House and Senate in January, 2019.
My bet is no deal until 2020, and no Donnie Dollhands tearing it up either.
That's what happens when 'Murkin's elect a cuck beta snowflake Insane Clown POSus.
No deal would be disruptive, Jay. But any deal signed with Trump could be trashed just as quickly by him. His signature isn't worth the paper he writes it on.
No deal simply means the old NAFTA rules apply.
It's unclear in US Law and Case Law, if a President can tear up a Trade Treaty, as other than an obscure National Security Loophole, which is currently being used for the tariffs,
Trade belongs to the Senate. Tearing up NAFTA's not popular with the ReThug Senate.
The ReThugs might stand up to the Russian Usurper over NAFTA, but then again, maybe not, they are scared to death by the Deplorables, Gullabillies and Nazi's.
Interesting times.
With a thoroughly cowed Republican Congress, we have to accept that our historic relationship with the US may be over even if the Dems do win the House in November. This supposed bond of friendship may have been more imagined than real and very fragile. That, in my view, disposes us to follow America's lead and treat our relationship as both mildly adversarial and primarily transactional.
Anyone in that position would at least canvas the alternatives. Trump has courted our traditional adversaries and alienated our traditional allies. Why not, therefore, pursue stronger ties with those allies including whatever we can build in Asia Pacific? Let's draw closer to Asia and to Europe, at least Western Europe.
This process can open with a relaxation, if not outright withdrawal, from our membership in America's foreign legion. We've done yeoman's service to America's overseas follies for the better part of the past 20 years and we have seen that for all their martial might they haven't managed a single meaningful victory.
We have squandered lives and a great deal of treasure doing America's bidding. Enough. Let us allocate those resources instead on our own defence and bolstering useful alliances. That can begin, as I have suggested some time ago, by rejecting both Boeing and Lockheed to supply our replacement fighter aircraft and going instead with something far less costly and equally suitable to Canada's requirements such as the SAAB Gripen.
One thing Trump has taught us is that we can no longer trust the American presidency or the Congress to maintain the special relationship we so wanted to have with the United States.
That is the central question, Jay. What is the Republican Red Line? When will they say no to Trump? So far, they've given him everything he wants.
There is no escaping your final conclusion, Mound. And our re-evaluation should begin by refusing to buy American military equipment. We have choices beyond the United States.
Nope, they havn't given him everything he's wanted.
No murdering the Assad regime, no lifting of the Russian Sanctions, no money for the Wall, no Immigration Bill, no killing of the ACA, no Venezuelan War, no tearing up of the South Koreatrade deal, no tearing up of NAFTA, and many many more things,
They've given him everything they want.
@
And our re-evaluation should begin by refusing to buy American military equipment. We have choices beyond the United States.
Start by purchasing the Gripen!
Add to our displeasure not offering troops to the command of the USA in it's ventures.
Disentangling ourselves from USA foreign policy should be paramount.
TB
You're right, Jay. He's given them everything they want. It was a classic con -- bait and switch. He ran as an anti-Republican, chanpion of the little man. And then he gave the wealthy everything they were looking for.
It should be clear to all Canadians, TB, that aiding and abetting Donald Trump's foreign policy would be a journey to oblivion.
And everytime he wanted a different outcome on an issue, they either ignored the toddler, distracted the toddler, or told the toddler no.
And he stomped off, Jay, claiming that they were out to get him.
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