Absolutely a significant part of this is hegemony, although I also believe Trump actually is trade stupid and thinks general tariffs are sound economics versus free trade.On a more serious note though, the key dropout that I've taken away from events of the past few days was something J.D. Vance said:
"And the whole point of this is to change Canada's behaviour"
Vance weighs in on Jivani trade advocacy and how Carney tried to 'out-tough' Trump
WASHINGTON — U.S. Vice-President JD Vance weighed in on the latest trade deal with Canada at a fundraising event Wednesday, saying Prime Minister Mark Carney tried to "out-tough" President Donald Trump while crediting his longtime friend Conservative MP Jamil Jivani as a helpful advocate for Canada.montreal.citynews.ca
This entire spat is about Hegemony. The current U.S. administration and a substantial portion of the American population, don't like the direction Canada has taken. Everything from immigration, cozzying up to China, digital taxes, protectionism, lack of investment in defence and security, environmental policy differences, etc...
There is decades of material on this very site that warned that this would eventually come to pass if our trajectory didn't change. Well, that moment is finally here.
The only way you can shape and change behavior? Apply consequences.
Funnily enough, the Trump Administration's tariffs are being felt very unevenly across the Country:
View attachment 101877
US Tariffs Impact on CDNEcon Exports | Trevor Tombe posted on the topic | LinkedIn
There's a lot of variation across #cdnecon in exposure to the new 50% U.S. tariffs (on August 19). Here's a preliminary estimate of the share of exports affected (based on HS6, so a slight over-estimate). BC/ON/QC most exposed. Others far less so. | 16 comments on LinkedInwww.linkedin.com
It's almost like they are designed to attack the current Canadian Govt's support base and also separate the Provinces and create disunity. Will be interesting to watch with the Alberta referendum 60 days away:
The Canadian province set to vote on becoming a breakaway country
Alberta's separatist movement is exposing deep fractures inside one of the world's most stable federations and shares striking similarities with WA's historical secession attempts. An upcoming referendum will test its support.www.abc.net.au
It's being talked about elsewhere, but not here
The U.S. is adopting a modernized Monroe Doctrine and asserting a hegemonic right to dominate the Americas. They still have a serious Manifest Destiny hangover. They can hardly hope to be taken seriously in this if they can’t break and dominate Canada. They’re increasingly tipping their hand that they don’t want us to have our own sovereign foreign and trade policy. Canadian sovereignty means little to them; our assertion of it is an impediment to their goals.
They are hypocrites in most of their criticisms of our domestic economic and trade policy, but that and a couple of bucks will buy you a coffee. They won’t be shamed or cajoled by their own hypocrisy, so it’s only a useful indicator of bad faith.
Trump has unleashed this but he is not the sole owner, else it probably would have bankrupted already. We need to be prepared for the very real possibility that this is America going forward.
