US-Canada tariffs paused after negotiations

[Economy 52,895]

1 hour ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

I don’t really see how they caved, given that they essentially offered no meaningful or new concessions. 

To me this is another situation of Trump making a huge storm to be able to claim a "win" to take back to his base even when in reality its something relatively trivial.

 

I mean they catch 19kg of fentenol across the border annually. Thats 19kg too many but a tiny number like that cant be what really works him up (even if the real number is 20X what they catch). He needed some kind of pretense.

 

But im still unsure if he genuinely believes in tarrifs or just pertends he does to use them as negotiation

 

That i still dont fully know

[Morphine Prince 109,711]

2 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

I don’t really see how they caved, given that they essentially offered no meaningful or new concessions. 

In the public eye they caved. Obviously they just gave Trump what he wanted, which is good optics. Now a lot of people will believe he actually did something. 

 

[Economy 52,895]

On 2/3/2025 at 10:58 PM, Morphine Prince said:

In the public eye they caved. Obviously they just gave Trump what he wanted, which is good optics. Now a lot of people will believe he actually did something. 

 

Regardless, "kind of" doing what Trump wants, or at least enough for him to be able to call a "win" to his base withoutus having to make very big concessions is kind of the best Mexico and Canada can hope for anyway

 

Trump does not care about people, he cares about his ego. That makes him dangerous because it means he will be willing to do things that are not good for America just to be able to flex his muscles to prove hes big and powerful (and that America is big an powerful)

 

Under a normal and rational President we wouldnt have to worry. The US being powerful doesnt usually matter because trade wars still hurt the US (admitedly less so than Canada and Mexico), less damage is still damage and most Presidents have no reason to compel them to do this

 

But because Trump does not care if he hurts Americans and is more concerned with his own ego, we cant really be rational. We have to play politics and walk on egg shells and see how we minimize damage as much as possible. And that means sometimes to dodge the bullet we do things that arent of real substance but we know Trump can use it to brag to his base

 

Its a very open secret to Canadians and I suspect most Democrats in the US understand thats the game were playing too