[BartSimpson]

peck420 peck420:

How are you three (PA9, Martin, Bart) not Oilers fans?

A very serious question?

I don't care to watch most team sports. Especially sports where people get injured and sometimes even killed for the purpose of getting a puck or a ball to someplace on a playing field.

After seeing too many men get injured and killed for meaningful reasons I've little interest in seeing them get injured or killed for trivial reasons.

[Zipperfish]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

We'll run things our way, thank you very much.

And we'll do the same, thank you very much. Feel free to sell your goods to countries that protect their markets every bit as aggressively as you do.

Oh, and prepare to pay tariffs on the oil and agricultural goods that you export to South America via the ports on the US Gulf coast...because they're going to be hit, too.

^^^^^^^

Read that last bit carefully because it also means we'll be imposing tariffs on the oil that you send to us to refine and then reship back to Canada. You might want to build some more refineries ASAP.

Then we'll build refineries. You go ahead and drink the Kool-Aid, like a good little pawn of the propaganda machine.

[Robair]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

But...he did make clear to everyone at the G7 that if they want to go with a regime of no tariffs and no subsidies then he'll reciprocate.

It also casts everyone who won't give up THEIR tariffs as hypocrites when they object to American tariffs.

It's all bullshit.

The reason Canada needs supply management and needed the wheat board, is it can't match the agricultural subsidies the US and Europe dish out.

There is no way America is going to suddenly drop AG subsidies. So it's more than a little unfair to ask Canada to stop supply management.

[BartSimpson]

Robair Robair:

There is no way America is going to suddenly drop AG subsidies.

Funny thing is if our markets end up being effectively closed to imports then the argument for subsidies dies and Congress will be under considerable pressure from both sides of the political spectrum to end the subsidies.

[Robair]

Won't happen.

Too many big AG campaign contributions. Only some of that money actually gets to farmers. Most pays for vacation homes for execs at Monsanto etc.

Anyway, there's a reason supply management for Canadian dairy was left out of original NAFTA deal. And the reason is still there.

Trump is a douche looking to score political soundbites off allies instead of actually taking on opponents.

[llama66]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

We'll run things our way, thank you very much.

And we'll do the same, thank you very much. Feel free to sell your goods to countries that protect their markets every bit as aggressively as you do.

Oh, and prepare to pay tariffs on the oil and agricultural goods that you export to South America via the ports on the US Gulf coast...because they're going to be hit, too.

^^^^^^^

Read that last bit carefully because it also means we'll be imposing tariffs on the oil that you send to us to refine and then reship back to Canada. You might want to build some more refineries ASAP.

That would lead to a Pyrrhic victory for the US at best. You buy Canadian Oil at discount, and you buy Canadian electricity for that matter, were you to tariff the incoming oil, I'm sure that discount would end and you'd pay full price.

This is the danger of a symbiotic system like ours, we could stop sending electricity south, and it would put a huge strain on the power grid. Think 2003. Its not worth it. For either side.

What needs to happen is both countries need to put the childishness aside and sit down and come up with a way to end this stupidity.

Whether its Bi-Lateral agreements, NAFTA 2.0 or a Tariff Armageddon, so be it. But Trade needs to be dealt with so both countries can move on.

[peck420]

Bart,

I was more making fun of you guys waving the flags of support while the loss column continues to grow.

Or, as we call it here, being an Oilers fan.

[Sunnyways]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

That means if you truly want free trade then you lower your barriers to trade and we lower ours. But you don't get to make claims about how your socialized market control programs are so important that you get to justify 270% tariffs because your government has so fucked up your dairy industry that it would die on the vine without protections.

Here's a radical suggestion: Mirror our regulations on the dairy industry to reduce costs to your own so they're competitive with ours. Then they won't need to be protected.

You are aware that the US levies massive tariffs on foreign tobacco and peanuts? Trump would never dare to agree to a deal to bring in zero tariffs on agricultural goods.

[Coach85]

This sums it up perfectly.

[Thanos]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

We'll run things our way, thank you very much.

And we'll do the same, thank you very much. Feel free to sell your goods to countries that protect their markets every bit as aggressively as you do.

Oh, and prepare to pay tariffs on the oil and agricultural goods that you export to South America via the ports on the US Gulf coast...because they're going to be hit, too.

^^^^^^^

Read that last bit carefully because it also means we'll be imposing tariffs on the oil that you send to us to refine and then reship back to Canada. You might want to build some more refineries ASAP.

Then we'll build refineries. You go ahead and drink the Kool-Aid, like a good little pawn of the propaganda machine.

Shut off every fucking border-crossing pipeline too. Make the fuckers squirm with no more American oil going to Quebec or the Maritimes, and especially with that propane line going from Chicago to Edmonton, which makes us the biggest customer for the Americans of that product.

They are no longer our friends. That much should be obvious to even the dullest conservative America-worshipper. If this means the beginning of a cross-spectrum rebuild of the entire Canadian economy to separate ourselves in any manner possible from American interference and contamination then so be it.

[Sunnyways]

Even Harper is expressing surprise at the Bash Canada campaign:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/579586938400 ... show-clips

[llama66]

In the words of the west...

[BartSimpson]

https://apnews.com/a2be8832bbe7437cb0be ... g'-Trudeau

$1:

Trump’s tweets slam Canada and Trudeau anew from Singapore


By ROB GILLIES, KEN THOMAS and CATHERINE LUCEY

QUEBEC CITY (AP) — President Donald Trump took more swipes at Canada and its prime minister over trade issues as he settled in for a summit with North Korea in Singapore, contending that “Fair Trade is now to be called Fool Trade if it is not Reciprocal.”

Trump roiled the Group of Seven meeting in Canada by first agreeing to a group statement on trade only to withdraw from it while complaining that he had been blindsided by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s criticism of Trump’s tariff threats at a summit-ending news conference. As he flew from Canada to Singapore Saturday night, Trump displayed his ire via Twitter, which he also employed to insult Trudeau as “dishonest” and “weak.”

The attack on a longtime ally and its leader drew sharp criticism. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who also attended the summit, told German public television that she found Trump’s tweet disavowing the G-7 statement “sobering” and “a little depressing.” Merkel also said the European Union would “act” against the U.S. trade measures.

Unbowed, Trump tweeted anew Monday morning from Singapore: “Fair Trade is now to be called Fool Trade if it is not Reciprocal. According to a Canada release, they make almost 100 Billion Dollars in Trade with U.S. (guess they were bragging and got caught!). Minimum is 17B. Tax Dairy from us at 270%. Then Justin acts hurt when called out!”

He added: “Why should I, as President of the United States, allow countries to continue to make Massive Trade Surpluses, as they have for decades, while our Farmers, Workers & Taxpayers have such a big and unfair price to pay? Not fair to the PEOPLE of America! $800 Billion Trade Deficit...And add to that the fact that the U.S. pays close to the entire cost of NATO-protecting many of these same countries that rip us off on Trade (they pay only a fraction of the cost-and laugh!). The European Union had a $151 Billion Surplus-should pay much more for Military!”

And he brought in Merkel’s government: ....Germany pays 1% (slowly) of GDP towards NATO, while we pay 4% of a MUCH larger GDP. Does anybody believe that makes sense? We protect Europe (which is good) at great financial loss, and then get unfairly clobbered on Trade. Change is coming!”

Earlier, the White House escalated the initial tirade and leveled more withering and unprecedented criticism against Trudeau, branding him a back-stabber unworthy of Trump’s time.

“There’s a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door,” Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro said in an interview nationally broadcast Sunday in the United States.

Canada’s foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, said her country “does not conduct its diplomacy through ad hominem attacks.”

The verbal volleys by Navarro and Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, picked up where Trump had left off Saturday evening. Kudlow suggested Trump saw Trudeau as trying to weaken his hand before that meeting, saying the president won’t “let a Canadian prime minister push him around. ... Kim must not see American weakness.” Kudlow was referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trudeau, who had said at the news conference that Canada would retaliate for new U.S. tariffs, didn’t respond to questions about Trump when the prime minister arrived at a Quebec City hotel Sunday for meetings with other world leaders. Freeland later told reporters that “we don’t think that’s a useful or productive way to do business.”

A Trudeau spokesman, Cameron Ahmad, said Saturday night that Trudeau “said nothing he hasn’t said before — both in public and in private conversations” with Trump.

And Roland Paris, a former foreign policy adviser to Trudeau, jabbed at Trump on Twitter: “Big tough guy once he’s back on his airplane. Can’t do it in person. ... He’s a pathetic little man-child.”

Trudeau said he had reiterated to Trump, who left the G-7 meeting before it ended, that tariffs would harm industries and workers on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. Trudeau told reporters that imposing retaliatory measures “is not something I relish doing” but that he wouldn’t hesitate to do so because “I will always protect Canadian workers and Canadian interests.”

Navarro, the Trump trade adviser, said his harsh assessment of what “bad faith” Trudeau did with “that stunt press conference” on Saturday “comes right from Air Force One.”

He said Trump “did the courtesy to Justin Trudeau to travel up to Quebec for that summit. He had other things, bigger things, on his plate in Singapore. ... He did him a favor and he was even willing to sign that socialist communique. And what did Trudeau do as soon as the plane took off from Canadian airspace? Trudeau stuck our president in the back. That will not stand.”

Kudlow, in a separate TV appearance, said Trudeau was “polarizing” and “really kind of stabbed us in the back.” The Canadian leader pulled a “sophomoric political stunt for domestic consumption,” Kudlow said, that amounted to “a betrayal.”

“Don’t blame Trump. It was Trudeau who started blasting Trump after he left, after the deals had been made.” Kudlow said Trump won’t let people “take pot shots at him” and that Trudeau “should’ve known better.”

But the criticism left a former Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, stumped. “I don’t understand the obsession with trade relations with Canada,” he said, given that Canada is the biggest single buyer of American goods and services in the world. From promoting democracy and to fighting terrorism, “we’re on the same page. We’re the closest partners in the world and you don’t want to see a dispute over one particular issue poison everything.”

Trudeau had said Canadians “are polite, we’re reasonable, but also we will not be pushed around.” He described all seven leaders coming together to sign the joint declaration despite having “some strong, firm conversations on trade, and specifically on American tariffs.”

In the air by then, Trump tweeted: “Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!”

He followed up by tweeting: “PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, “US Tariffs were kind of insulting” and he “will not be pushed around.” Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!”

Navarro appeared on “Fox News Sunday,” and Kudlow was on CNN’s “State of the Union” and CBS’ “Face the Nation” and Harper spoke on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

[BartSimpson]

In the unconfirmed chatter department a group of my West Point friends on Saturday said that they were going to be taking Polish language classes. One of them made the informed speculation that several US bases in Germany and also in Turkey were likely going to be repositioned to Poland, Hungary, and Romania. Possibly as soon as 2024.

[Sunnyways]

The Trump Team hysteria about Trudeau’s mild comments augurs ill for the future. We must diversify our markets.

Simple question: does the US not have sky-high tariffs on some agricultural products?