Here’s the CBC video of Trudeau’s statement about tariffs last night. I’m including Claudia Sheinbaum’s statement at the end of this post, under the break, so you don’t have to go to Twitter to read it.
We’re living in a faster, faster disaster time, so the amount of goodwill that was just destroyed between the US and our closest neighbors is hard to digest. Shortly after 9/11, I had to take a business trip to Toronto. One of the Canadian newspapers had printed a large American flag in one edition. I saw many of those flags taped to windows in Canadian houses. Canadians fought and died for US interests after 9/11. Trudeau’s sadness in the statement is genuine, and I think it reflects a non-partisan strain of Canadian pain over a betrayal that will take time to heal, if it ever does.
Still, don’t miss the hard-edged part of Trudeau’s statement, where he encourages Canadians to buy more Canadian goods, and to cancel planned vacations in the US and travel in Canada instead. These are not the words of someone expecting this to blow over quickly. Playtime is over.
Similarly, Claudia’s statement is blunt, especially when it blames the US for the fentanyl problem, which is the flimsy pretext Trump used to get around the successor of NAFTA, the USMCA. She also demands “above all, respect for sovereignty, which is not negotiable. Coordination, yes; subordination, no.”
To me, this is the root of the whole issue: sovereignty. Trump’s latest lie on Lie Social ends like this: “Canada should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada — AND NO TARIFFS!”
This is such basic politics that it’s astonishing that I need to write this: Most people love their country (and I would argue that Mexicans and Canadians really love their countries — there’s a lot to love!) People will eat fucking beans and rice three times a day, drive a beater wreck of a car, take a pay cut and hunker down if their country is engaged in a righteous war. A recession is, really, nothing, in the face of this kind of obvious bullying. Claudia gets it, Justin gets it, BC Premier David Eby gets it, Ontario Premier Doug Ford gets it.
The person who doesn’t get it is Trump. He and Elon are looting the place while ginning up crisis after crisis in hopes that a media-starved public won’t catch on until it’s too late. They believe that their resentful red state base will believe all the lies Fox tells them about who’s really responsible for the coming shitshow. All I can say to that is: we’ll see.
From Claudia Sheinbaum’s Twitter:
We categorically reject the White House’s slander against the Mexican government of having alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any intention of intervention in our territory.
If such an alliance exists anywhere, it is in the United States armories that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups, as demonstrated by the United States Department of Justice itself in January of this year.
In four months, our government has seized more than 40 tons of drugs, including 20 million doses of fentanyl. It has also arrested more than ten thousand people linked to these groups.
If the United States government and its agencies wanted to address the serious consumption of fentanyl in their country, they could, for example, combat the sale of narcotics on the streets of their main cities, which they do not do, and the money laundering generated by this illegal activity that has done so much harm to their population.
They could also start a massive campaign to prevent the consumption of these drugs and take care of their young people, as we have done in Mexico. Drug consumption and distribution is in their country and that is a public health problem that they have not addressed. In addition, the synthetic opioid epidemic in the United States has its origin in the indiscriminate prescription of drugs of this type, authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as demonstrated by the lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company.
Mexico does not want confrontation. We start from collaboration between neighboring countries. Mexico not only does not want fentanyl to reach the United States, but anywhere. Therefore, if the United States wants to combat criminal groups that traffic drugs and generate violence, we must work together in an integrated manner, but always under the principles of shared responsibility, mutual trust, collaboration and, above all, respect for sovereignty, which is not negotiable. Coordination, yes; subordination, no.
To this end, I propose to President Trump that we establish a working group with our best public health and security teams.
Problems are not resolved by imposing tariffs, but by talking and dialoguing, as we did in recent weeks with your State Department to address the phenomenon of migration; in our case, with respect for human rights.
The graph that President Trump has been posting on social media about the decline in migration was created by my team, which has been in constant communication with his.
I instruct the Secretary of Economy to implement Plan B that we have been working on, which includes tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico’s interests.
Nothing by force; everything by reason and right
trollhattan
I’m convinced now he’s sending the Navy to Panama and “seizing” the canal, whatever that might look like. He’s got Little Marco there pretending to ooga-booga the locals, like that’s going to have an effect, but I think he’s going to do it.
Kay
Agree 100%, mm. The best way for one of these politicians to improve their standing with their own voters is to stand up to the careening, intoxicated bully swaggering around threatening everyone – the US.
Trump voters and US media believe they’re the only people in the world. They’re now finding out that’s not true.
japa21
@trollhattan: Wouldn’t surprise me. The question is, will the military follow his orders? Unfortunately, my guess is yes.
me
I’d boycott US products if I could.
scav
The way Trump is threatening to throw his weight around in California and other blue states, he’s really going to try to sell being a state within this “Union” as a benefit?
Jane2
Here on the Canadian plains, shit just got real. Like lots of folks, I have family and friends who vote various ways – but yesterday, the texts and conversations were pretty much the same – a mix of dread and defiance. My bluesky timeline is the same – I haven’t seen that much praise for Trudeau in years for one hell of a speech. Premiers I have no political use for have been unequivocal in their support for “Team Canada”.
People are cancelling holiday plans, selling their homes, coming home early. Greg Abbott can posture all he wants on Twitter, but the loss of winter Texans and cruise afficionados (not to mention the disappearance of workers who shore up construction, agriculture, etc) will hurt Texas.
The unforgivable part of this is that it will hurt jackals and other folks – Canadian, American, Mexican and indeed others – who had nothing to do with the shitshow in DC.
Xavier
Trump doesn’t get it because he doesn’t love his country, he only loves himself.
sentient ai from the future
let’s dispel with this fiction that the F/Elons don’t know what theyre doing. they know exactly what they’re doing
for Space Karen, driving up the cost of other manufacturer’s autos, including domestic brands, is part of the net benefit to tesla.
for both of them, tariffs and an administrative coup benefit their handler, Putin, because when noone trusts that US Dollars and T-bills are as close to risk-free as it’s possible to get, that will fracture the global economy, which allows Putin and Xi openings in a straightforward divide-and-conquer strategy.
@mistermix.bsky.social
@Jane2: We’ve met so many Canadian snowbirds in our travels. Cancelling vacations, cruises, etc. will do some real harm to the US tourism industry.
kindness
I never thought I would want to see a military coup here in the US but here we are.
trollhattan
@kindness:
They’ll need to wait until the new SecDef is on a blackout bender.
…
I’m being told that’s every second Wednesday.
MomSense
@kindness:
There are games afoot in our military. Officers I know have been meeting since November to plan what they will do WHEN they get orders to kill protesters. They are also meeting to figure out what to do about all the pro-Trump enlisted.
Protests will not be safe. Any organizing needs to be small and analog.
Phylllis
@Jane2: There are a lot of school districts across the country that rely on international teachers to fill positions. The two main visas are J-1, which are ‘cultural exchange’ visas, and the H1B. If I was here on a short-term visa, I think I’d be rethinking my plans.
Starfish (she/her)
@Jane2:
I may have had this conversation with coworkers. I am not sure. “Winter Texans” is the Canadian way of saying snowbirds, and it is great.
The Audacity of Krope
I’ll be calling my rep and senators too. Foremost, I want to know, in detail, what Musk has been empowered to do and see.
ETA: Wrong thread, mayhaps.
jackmac
I just can’t shake the feelings of sadness, anger and worry over what’s happened over the past two weeks. What’s worse is the feeling of powerlessness in the face of what appears to be a fait accompli.
We’re heading into some very bad days.
Anonymous At Work
The Audacity of Krope
@jackmac: Good news is if things fall apart quickly enough, we can get to picking up the pieces quickly and before too much bloodshed. This is assuming an unprecedented backlash. Though, we’re in unprecedented times.
The supply chains are going to be a huge problem, though. Jobs, food, housing security would be the big pain points.
robtrim
The stock market, Trump’s gauge of U.S. success, is going to set off the market circuit breakers tomorrow. Losses will be so extreme that trading will have to stop for periods of time.
You heard it here first.
kalakal
@robtrim:
Crypto seems to be falling off a cliff today if that is any indication of market sentiment
robtrim
@kalakal: Exactly!
trollhattan
@robtrim:
Knew Trump would fvck the stock market high and hard, much as he did in Trump 1.0, but was insufficiently paranoid to envision it happening this fast.
My Q1/25 401(k) statements will arrive in bleeding envelopes.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@robtrim: Bella of the Ranch keeps on pointing out that the Stock Market is the one thing Trump cares about. Musk should since all his money is mostly stock, but I think he’s to high on Ketamine.
NotoriousJRT
@Xavier: This is true, but conservatives I know think they are the only ones who can be patriots, the only ones who can love their country/state/hometown roots. In my experience, they are incredibly casual about expressing contempt and judgement about places in which they have never set a foot. This is an attitude upon which GOP threats to aid for California and similar BS depends – their assessment of their own purity and assumption that great swaths of their fellow citizens not only are not pure but also incapable of any decency. Trump’s braying about Canada becoming a 51st state is simply the new branding for the thinking that sent us into Iraq, IMO. At any rate I am incredibly sad today and send my deepest regrets and abject apologies to Canada, Mexico, and all the other international allies with whom Trump and Musk are trying to screw.
NotoriousJRT
@kalakal: if crypto is going off a cliff, that is exactly where it deserves to go.
Betty
I may be wrong, but I don’t believe the tariff moves are calculated. I think they are the product of mental decline. Obsessing over pet grievances is classic.
Eunicecycle
If anyone is like me and needs a break from the madness, there’s a marathon of “Groundhog Day” on AMC today.
The Audacity of Krope
Ever feel like you’re stuck on repeat?
trollhattan
@Betty:
+1. Always presume a Trump action is foremost the product of a sick and vindictive mind.
He may in fact “care” about the US economy and especially, the US bidnez economy but knows nothing of how it works and has surrounded himself with crackpots and charlatans with magical thinking about One Weird Tricks to make things even better.
IOW abandon hope, all who enter.
sentient ai from the future
@robtrim: australia, which has a better sovereign debt rating than us, opens their markets in just a few hours. then japan and the rest of asia.
by tomorrow morning we will likely have a sense of how fucked we are.
sentient ai from the future
@Betty: i suspect they are ultimately fElon’s work, because tariffs on those two trading partners in particular without carveouts for automotive stuff will do a lot of damage to tesla’s domestic competitors.
watty
Fun times again. Extreme repeat of the “trade imbalance” he cried about to get NAFTA re negotiated 6 or 7 years ago. Result then, really no change except a new name for the pact.
This is just a personal thing for him, just like it was the last time, with a new national security cover story. I agree with some of our pols that we can make a show of increasing border security, … we will need it to cover off all the migrants in the US that will be soon hoping to escape here for a safe haven as his round ups escalate.
I have been writing to our pols with some suggestions about what the retaliation should include. Last round, it specifically included bourbon, with the thought that McConnel would raise a stink to force a resolution. Mitch no longer is listened to by anyone.
since this is just a personal whim, hoping to be bowed down to and gain illegitimate respect I have been advocating personal options (tariff and other) to hit those megadoners that he wants to have sucking up and keeping his bankrupt wealth with lots of cash flow. Start with Musk, 500% tariff on Tesla. small loss, small market here, but will affect stock prices perhaps a lot. Suspend access by us to Starlink and XX, tariffs hard but suspend licence due to nat secure or privacy concerns could long drawn out review to keep it out of work here. Maybe hit Zuck with the same for Facebook. Go after Bezos with a massive new sales tax on each and every Amazon online transaction (lots of that since pandemic) even if the entire transaction is inside Canada. Aside: they just closed all facilities in Quebec since one warehouse voted to unionize. Nail the my pillow guy with recall of all products due to “health and sanitation” concerns. A list of the top say 100 donors and creative actions individually against each will be sure to keep T. Rumps phone ringing non stop.
This is a personal thing for T. Rump so hit him where it hurts personally. shut down all crypto transactions and specifically his. shut down truth social. Put massive fees and taxes on his real estate name brand and mgmt operations (he has a few in Canada)
his own wallet will and must be hurt to force some back down. May not work, but will sure feel good if it happens.
PS I have a gmail account often use, but for now, switching exclusively to my local cable email account for all messaging.
Matt McIrvin
@Jane2: I’m now seeing calls from Americans for a total boycott of all American products.
It’s a hit I can take, I guess.
The Thin Black Duke
@sentient ai from the future: I wouldn’t want to be driving a Tesla right now.
Captain C
@The Thin Black Duke: Especially a Wankpanzer.
Yukoner
@@mistermix.bsky.social: From the US Dept of Commerce I see that in 2022 there were 14.4 million arrivals of Canadians in the US. 28% of the annual total and the top source for visitors.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Captain C: is there a good time to drive a wankpanzer?
Yukoner
For those who really like to dive deep, here is the list of US products subject to 25% retaliatory tariffs on Tuesday, $30 billion worth apparently. Another list will come in to effect in three weeks if the US has not backed down by then.
https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2025/02/list-of-products-from-the-united-states-subject-to-25-per-cent-tariffs-effective-february-4-2025.html
Jane2
@Matt McIrvin: Wow. When I went tariff-hoarding shopping on Thursday, I was pretty surprised at how easy it was to do (save for Fancy Feast – even I am not willing to chance a kitty uprising).
I am shocked (and heartened) by all the “buy Canada” posts I’m seeing today, from all over the political spectrum. Who knew it would take Trump to unite provinces and people who’ve been squabbling forever.
Jane2
@Yukoner: The site is down, no doubt due to traffic. This is all stuff that most of us have never thought about, and it’s going to affect most of us, regardless of where we live.
Thor Heyerdahl
@Jane2: site just loaded fine for me
Captain C
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: No. Never.
Betty Cracker
Damn. Claudia is fantastic.
Llelldorin
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: If you’re living in a dystopian movie with a really shit design aesthetic, maybe? Can’t imagine a real-life case.
Llelldorin
@Matt McIrvin: I’m down for that. I can’t think of anything else likely to actually get Trump voters to notice anything.
way2blue
It’s the same play they ran this week against federal workers. Take away remote duty stations, then offer them back if you agree to resign in 8 months time. Albeit, this play is to implement tariffs & offer to take them away if you annex yourself to Trump’s American project.
[51st state? Does anyone think Trump knows how BIG Canada is?]
lynno
Did ya know Canada contributes 30% of the electricity for the US northwest grid. Did ya know Canada is close to start exporting LNG?
Anonymous At Work
@lynno: LNG would be exported through the US because the shipping port for that is “Houston” (Port Arthur, really) and NW Grid is Seattle + small but very cities. So, I doubt that the travails of Amazon’s home town or Costco’s home town means much.
That said, British Columbia’s Governor has ordered state liquor stores to get rid of alcohol from “red states”. Targeted sanctions will work better.
Jay
@Anonymous At Work:
Both Squamish and Prince George are in the process of building LNG Plants and Ports for export to Asian Markets.
Anonymous At Work
@Jay: I always interpreted those as a threat. Running some dirty crap through the Canadian Rockies and pristine wilderness when you can get American companies to do the same through its own breadbasket and largest inland aquafers?