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So, can the US be named a Banana Republic now?
CAN-USA Tariff Strife (split from various pol threads)
- Thread starter Remius
- Start date
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What's alarming is that such behavior is completely legal.
GK .Dundas
Army.ca Veteran
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Well at least we now know what the going rate is .
The real question is is there any sort of tax advantage to leasing a President as opposed to buying one ?
The real question is is there any sort of tax advantage to leasing a President as opposed to buying one ?
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Foreign Preferred rate (Russia, Israel, Board of Peace members, et al) or Foreign Nasty Nations?
Compared to what’s happening today, the Teapot Dome Scandal of the 1920s seems rather trivial.
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Follow the money. PACs and foundations. Not hard; they're right out in the open.
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If the average American who actually votes clearly understood their entire voting system - from PACs/Foundations to voter registration to compensation to lobbyists, I think that there would be alot of people put against the wall and shot.
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Figuratively, they are. The insurgency is upon them already. Problem is, the insurgent faction is led by Trump.
Relevant news of the moment: McConnell (definitely part of the old establishment) is preventing the SAVE Act (voter registration and identification) from getting to the Senate floor for a vote.
McG
Army.ca Legend
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Trump's Global Tariffs were never about Canada. So Trump's Global Tariff Tantrum will not be about Canada either.
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If the average voter actually understood their own system, 'figuratively' would translate into literally.
Right from the horse’s mouth. There is no advantageous trade deal to be had.
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Who does he think exactly pays the tariffs? I'm sure American manufacturers that use things like Canadian aluminium and steel are really happy they are going to pay a surcharge on materials they need to make stuff, decreasing their competiveness even further.
HavokFour
Army.ca Veteran
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There are degrees of advantage.
The greatest simple economic advantage should lie with untrammeled trade. Almost no country (maybe actually no country?) occupies this position.
If the utility of protecting selected domestic producers is sufficient, a situation of mostly free trade with some protectionism could theoretically yield greater overall utility (for the protectionist). Often (usually) protectionism is pure domestic politics elevated to international effect, irrespective of the fact that it's a net loss (eg. more losers-consumers than winners-producers) for the protectionist. Whatever the measure of utility, most countries (including Canada, and usually the US) occupy this position.
Clearly the administration believes the US should be able to charge a premium for access to its market. That sets it in a new position, but they're directly charging that premium to their own people in the beliefs that foreign exporters will absorb some of the cost and that substitution will stoke US productivity. They also want to claim revenues raised as a success, but the more substitution of domestic output occurs, the more those revenues will drop. They of course ignore the detrimental effects on themselves (eg. protection of domestic US steel production costs steel users more than the producers gain).
What confounds the expectations that depend on the conventional belief that import tariffs are sub-optimal is that the US is such a ridiculously economically productive country - it can mostly afford the cost. Add in the domestic gains, and an explanation emerges as to why the administration's policies have not created as much domestic dissatisfaction as expected/predicted/hoped by opponents.
The unpalatable truth might be that the administration can make its demands without dashing electoral prospects if the costs do not sufficiently outweigh the benefits in the reckoning of voters. There are other factors in play that may be elevating overall economic performance: drop in federal government employment (on the order of 10%); deportation (mostly self-deportation) of enough people in the country illegally for replacement by US citizens at slightly higher wages to be making positive differences in employment and productivity numbers.
That puts Canada in the unwanted/unfair position of having to decide how much it should concede to maximize access to a large proximate wealthy market, while leaving Canadian exporters to figure out how to compete there.
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Here it is plainly laid out to us from the Japanese Ambassador to Canada. It refreshing to see this sort of honesty coming from a politician.
CUSMA a ‘critical condition’ for increased Japanese auto manufacturing in Canada: Ambassador
“Canada is, of course, a G7 country. Your GDP is one of the top ten countries — $2.5 trillion. But you know the size of the U.S. market? $30 trillion.”
“All those cars made in Canada, of course sold in Canada, but at the same time, exported to the U.S market,” added Yamanouchi. “(For) private companies, that means they have to calculate to increase profit. So CUSMA is a very important part of the calculation.”
Japanese Ambassador to Canada Kanji Yamanouchi says continued access to the U.S. market, as provided for under CUSMA, is essential for current and potential increased Japanese investment in auto manufacturing in Canada.
Honda and Toyota have manufactured vehicles in Canada for decades, and while overall auto production in Canada has declined in the last ten years, these two companies are now consistently outproducing their American rivals.
In 2024 and 2025, Honda and Toyota each assembled more vehicles in Canada than Ford, General Motors and Stellantis combined.....
Employment trends are also following production trends, with Japanese automakers employing more than 60 per cent of all automotive assembly workers in Ontario in 2024 versus just 38 per cent by American companies.
Yamanouchi said the opening of LNG Canada’s export terminal last year was a “very, very important historical event,” as it opened markets in Asia, including Japan.
The Japanese ambassador said there is more appetite for Canadian LNG in his country, and he pointed to the yet-to-be approved Phase 2 of LNG Canada — which would double the export terminal’s export capacity — as an important future project.
“That (expansion) would make LNG Canada facility the second largest in the world and Asian countries, especially Japan, are very much interested,” Yamanouchi said, pointing to the 10-day shipping time and relative geopolitical safety of the marine route.
“This is a very, very important project for us.”
CUSMA a ‘critical condition’ for increased Japanese auto manufacturing in Canada: Ambassador
CUSMA a ‘critical condition’ for increased Japanese auto manufacturing in Canada: Ambassador
“Canada is, of course, a G7 country. Your GDP is one of the top ten countries — $2.5 trillion. But you know the size of the U.S. market? $30 trillion.”
“All those cars made in Canada, of course sold in Canada, but at the same time, exported to the U.S market,” added Yamanouchi. “(For) private companies, that means they have to calculate to increase profit. So CUSMA is a very important part of the calculation.”
Japanese Ambassador to Canada Kanji Yamanouchi says continued access to the U.S. market, as provided for under CUSMA, is essential for current and potential increased Japanese investment in auto manufacturing in Canada.
Honda and Toyota have manufactured vehicles in Canada for decades, and while overall auto production in Canada has declined in the last ten years, these two companies are now consistently outproducing their American rivals.
In 2024 and 2025, Honda and Toyota each assembled more vehicles in Canada than Ford, General Motors and Stellantis combined.....
Employment trends are also following production trends, with Japanese automakers employing more than 60 per cent of all automotive assembly workers in Ontario in 2024 versus just 38 per cent by American companies.
Japan wants more Canadian LNG: Ambassador
Energy security, specifically access to liquefied natural gas (LNG), is of particular importance to Japan.Yamanouchi said the opening of LNG Canada’s export terminal last year was a “very, very important historical event,” as it opened markets in Asia, including Japan.
The Japanese ambassador said there is more appetite for Canadian LNG in his country, and he pointed to the yet-to-be approved Phase 2 of LNG Canada — which would double the export terminal’s export capacity — as an important future project.
“That (expansion) would make LNG Canada facility the second largest in the world and Asian countries, especially Japan, are very much interested,” Yamanouchi said, pointing to the 10-day shipping time and relative geopolitical safety of the marine route.
“This is a very, very important project for us.”
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Yeah because they realized it would hurt republicans a lot more than democrats. Most republicans don’t have passports.
It’s like Texas gerrymandering, yeah you basically guaranteed another 5 republican seats, however you put 10 safe seats at risk. Just very short sighted poorly thought through actions.
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The act would require proof of citizenship to vote. Proof of citizenship is needed to get a passport. If anyone is claiming that's the reason, they either haven't thought it through or they're just trying excuses out for size.
The objection advanced by most of the conservatives who are opposed to the act is simply that they don't favour any federal involvement in elections, and prefer it be left as much as possible to states.
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Go look it up. It would require a passport or birth certificate. There is a lot less republicans than democrats with passports. It would literally disenfranchise many more republicans.
The formal reason they provide isn’t going to be our base that wants this is going to be the ones effected by this. They are going to come up with whatever excuse they can to avoid destroying themselves come voting time.
- ‘Approximately 146 million American citizens do not possess a valid passport—for context, 153 million Americans voted in the 2024 presidential general election:
- High rates of passport ownership are overwhelmingly concentrated in blue states, while low rates are concentrated in red states.
- In seven states, less than one-third of citizens have a valid passport: West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.
- Only in four states do more than two-thirds of citizens have a valid passport: New York, Massachusetts, California, and New Jersey.’
The SAVE Act: Overview and Facts
The SAVE Act would require all Americans to prove their citizenship with documentation unavailable to millions and upend the way every American citizen registers to vote.
www.americanprogress.org
Tons of other sources out there too if you do a quick bit of googling. Another example of poorly thought out Republican legislation that sounded good to them before they actually looked at the consequences.
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Sounds like a clear case of leaping before looking.Go look it up. It would require a passport or birth certificate. There is a lot less republicans than democrats with passports. It would literally disenfranchise many more republicans.
The formal reason they provide isn’t going to be our base that wants this is going to be the ones effected by this. They are going to come up with whatever excuse they can to avoid destroying themselves come voting time.
- ‘Approximately 146 million American citizens do not possess a valid passport—for context, 153 million Americans voted in the 2024 presidential general election:
- High rates of passport ownership are overwhelmingly concentrated in blue states, while low rates are concentrated in red states.
- In seven states, less than one-third of citizens have a valid passport: West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.
- Only in four states do more than two-thirds of citizens have a valid passport: New York, Massachusetts, California, and New Jersey.’
The SAVE Act: Overview and Facts
The SAVE Act would require all Americans to prove their citizenship with documentation unavailable to millions and upend the way every American citizen registers to vote.
Tons of other sources out there too if you do a quick bit of googling. Another example of poorly thought out Republican legislation that sounded good to them before they actually looked at the consequences.
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"or birth certificate". Not much point going on and on about passports when the fundamental document is there, too.
If someone loses a birth certificate, it can be replaced. If a voter lost all acceptable ID before an election and showing ID were required, there are processes for replacing those, too.
Providing proof of citizenship to register, and proof of identity at a polling place, are not horrible bars for voters to clear. I'm curious why it's such a bad policy for the US, but perfectly acceptable in many other countries.
