Trump could be about to take a BAT to Canadian jobs
For every winner, there’s a loser.
The BAT has the backing of two congressmen with the power to do something about it: House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady.
President-elect Trump has not stated a definitive position on it, but it lines up perfectly with his plan to cut imports and boost domestic production. With Republican domination in the House, Senate, and Oval Office, there is a real chance it will happen.
I guess we’ll see.
Yeah, well… Trump is doing exactly what he said: Make America Great. If Canada’s leftard ‘leaders’ don’t co-operate they’ll find themselves sitting in a snowbank playing with themselves. It would be hust rewards for the leftard voters in Ont and Que who voted the idiots into power. Let them drag Eastern Canada’s economy into the gutter then the West can separate and negotiate a better deal with the US.
Fúck the Eastern Bastards, Let Them Freeze in the Dark.
Sounds like Canada will have to adapt its own policies.
Donald Trump realizes the importance of reasonably priced energy. If Ontario did the same?
“It will be hungry and fierce, so we cannot afford to be fat and lazy — or Americans will eat us for lunch.”
One primary characteristic of Americans is that they are fierce competitors. Donald Trump is the quintessential American competitor.
Canada had better learn how to compete at the American level or it can kiss its behind goodbye.
No one yet, in the general public, knows how Trump will be “protectionist”.
My own view is that he will penalize specific corportions that move jobs, or profits, out of the US. This is a smart approach as it does not require renegotiation of trade deals. Any additional financial penalties will only apply to US corps.
Trump isn’t interested in polls or feel good sunny ways, he wants results and he will not suffer fools gladly.
Especially those fools that think emoting word salad and selfies are all that is required for successful negotiations.
I’m finding it hysterical that the Libtards that voted for Chretien because he promised he’d get rid of NAFTA are now in absolute meltdown now that the incoming American President is looking at re-writing North American trade deals. With the Lil Spud in Sussex advocating a reduction in the Oil Sands and Trump asserting American greatness I think we’ll be looking at a fifty cent dollar, and consider ourselves lucky at that.
At least Americans can buy our oil at a discount. I get no sense Trump wants to wall off Canada.
Softwood lumber will no doubt rear its ugly head; not sure how Trump will swing on that.
Is he as smart as he thinks he is, with Canada holding the comparative advantage on softwood?
I think Canada has more to gain than to lose from a Trump presidency.
As long as the tenured technocrats were in charge, we lost; so flip a coin at worst.
I don’t disagree with the comments here thus far, but I’m in two minds about this one. Weighing against imposing BAT is the billions of dollars in product crossing the border each day, and the massive dislocation this would cause to highly integrated manufacturing in both Canada and the US. There will be a lot of vigorous opposition to this from a lot of American manufacturers.
That said, it may well be used as a bargaining chip to leverage other things the Americans really want. This might be one of the things which puts an end to agricultural supply management, for example.
That said, I suspect Antenor and others are right that Little Potato Chip and his gormless crew are completely unprepared for just how far the Americans may push this.
“This might be one of the things which puts an end to agricultural supply management, for example.”
I think this unlikely, as any negotiation on this file especially dairy products would bring up the massive subsidies contained in the US Farm Bill. This congressional pork barreling goes back decades and the amounts are staggering in Canadian terms. These subsidies some of them well hidden are jealously guarded by Congressmen, who would be reluctant to end them.RLDER
The foundation on which a USA combined federal/state VAT sales tax structure
will eventually be built just like those found in almost all reality based places.
About time.
The adults are finally going to take charge.
For the first time in 8 years we have a president amenable to oil from the oil sands and ready to move on Keystone and then Trump hears that PM Selfie is telling the Liberal faithful that we have to phase out oil from the oil sands.
Trump must be wondering WTF.
Good for Trump. Go Trump. I hope he follows through.
I am Canadian, but Canada’s endless stream of utterly useless political leaders along with all the “progressives” that infest this country need a serious kicking in the ass, and perhaps that might pave the pathway for our country to elect some serious leaders.
Keep in mind also that the current toy boy fool we have running our country would not be able to polish Trump’s shoes. He is an infant compared to Trump.
The twerps and leftists and other assorted fascists that currently run our beautiful country better realize damn soon that the US doesn’t need us, we need them. If they are too stupid to see that, then sit back and watch our standard of living drop fast, very fast.
My God but I see history repeating itself here. For example I clearly remember the brain drain out of Canada in high tech very well, and it will happen again given the fools that run our country. There will soon be a giant sucking sound from the south.
Go Trump. I miss Harper.
I you’re interested in a objective take on the news from a Canadian economic perspective, reasonably free of political bias, have a look at On the Money
http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/854705731705
If you want to avoid ‘fake news’ get away from general broadcast TV; it’s mostly propaganda and ads designed to appeal to the half of the population with below average intelligence.
Sorry mates … but nearly forty years after Reagan … our country has FINALLY come to its senses. It’s time to be a little (lot) selfish. But don’t fret ! Just think of all those new green jobs you will create with your new carbon punishment payments ! Make Canada GREEN AGAIN.
Zoolander said at a town hall that he was “Phasing out the Oilsands” I can’t wait until 2019 we get rid of HAVE-NOTley and we become the 51St state..
Trudeau! What a disgrace to Canada!! How can you not despise that man!!
Simple… JT is merely PMButt’s meat puppet.
Le Dauphin Petite Pomme de Terre is a person of no consequence, a figurehead, flack-catcher, ignore him. He exists so that people will focus their energy on personally hating the meat puppet and not question what’s really going on behind the scenes in the PMO.
President Trump suggests that you grab your own pussy …. because nobody else is interested.
Let’s wait and see, Trump hasn’t taken over the Oval Office yet, he will do what’s best for the US of course and that includes trade with Canada. We need to be more concerned what transpires on this side of the border given the incompetent gang we have running this country.
the only thing screwing up the Canadian economy is decades of liberal socialist polices and they are getting worse.
“For every winner, there’s a loser.”
That is commie claptrap, implying that wealth, trade, etc, are zero-sum games.
Generally, when two people or organizations engage in economic activity, both parties win.
Get a grip, lance.
So, bottom line, is this supposed to signify a race between Canadian progressives and the new US administration to see who can eliminate jobs faster?
Most of my ancestors came from the USA. That said the USA poses a challenge to strategic Canadian interests. Fundamentally Canada represents a source of cheap material goods and a buffer from potential military rivals like China and Russia. The funding of eco groups to prevent Canada exporting energy from tidewater is an example of this conflict. USA interests in the Artic are not benign.
The economy of Canada has been based on the extraction of wealth via resources from the beginning. When Britain waved goodbye Central Canada took on that role and have continued to exploit what is a relatively low tech economy. Yes, we are price takers in this world and that is why Trump is a threat to the status quo. Canada has not diversified their customer base to at least maximize the value of raw exports. Perhaps we should have sent our politicos to the Wharton School of Business like Donald Trump did.
A positive projection of this scenario could be that Canada has to grow up as a nation. Economic hard times will expose how this country is ran and who is responsible for current failures. The largest economic initiative in the history of Canada is not the quaint ‘railroad build’ commonly bleated out. It is the industrialization of Ontario with western money being a large part. The Auto Pact is the classic example of this effort. This initiative has been a failure and cost the country untold growth and value. It was an excuse for Ottawa to tax huge amounts of money to fund the effort. A psychology of government intervention primarily by taxation is well established and apparently accepted by most Canadians, particularly those in the east, as it benefits them the most. I suggest this is a weak and complacent approach.
The issue is not whether Ottawa can save its model but what happens when it falls apart. Depending on how quickly and deeply the collapse I suspect the country will not survive and that the West will indeed separate. Perhaps the West can sub-contract the USA-Mexico wall builders to run a line along the Manitoba-Ontario border!
Liz J and old white guy share the bingo this morning.
CT, well said. The idea of a wall along the Manitoba-Ontario border is excellent. The western cow has been milked enough and now they wanted to destroy it.
Good thing we have the carbon tax coming which will lead to huge growth!
well said, I just may steal that “grab your own pussy”:-)))
lance has a good grip, on his own pussy
The whole problem with such protectionism is tit for tat retaliation. Freer trade has hammered the manufacturing sector in both the US and Canada because it has been unfair. The labour law, environmental and regulatory framework only applies to us while foreigners work with slave labour in unconscionable pollution. Things need to be fixed. Canada has reverted to a producer of primary products rapidly being diluted by an increasing immigrant population of 7-11 and McDonalds clerks. Not a great promise for the future. We need to do whatever it takes to get our manufacturing back.
As a much younger man, I worked in the meatpacking business in the summers. Edmonton had 4 large plants each employing maybe 400 to 1,000 people with premium union wages. These were Burns, Canada Packers, Gainers, and Swifts. Today there are no large plants. The unions were broken in the US and Canadian companies couldn’t compete. Peter Pocklington tried to save Gainers by breaking the union and paid a heavy public relations price. After 6 months he won major concessions but the old plant was just too inefficient and shut down. Burns and Canada Packers just shut down. Swifts had already been absorbed by Gainers under the Gainers name. None were left.
Most Northern Alberta animals are now killed in modern plants by immigrant Somalis in Southern Alberta or in the US. We’ve done our bit to increase the Somali and American GNP but nothing to help ours.
Oh come on everybody, no need to be pessimistic about BAT! I’m sure that at this very moment, our Prime Minister is meeting with his top ministers in Ottawa to discuss ways to counter the threat and protect Canadian jobs and …
What? He’s not? Where is he? Let me get this straight – our PM is travelling across Canada, taking selfies and comforting people who are upset about their hydro bills? And he’s going to do this for the next three weeks?
We are so screwed.
LOL.
“… I just may steal that “grab your own pussy”:-)))”
That didn’t take long. 3 minutes! 😀
“The western cow has been milked enough and now they wanted to destroy it.”
I used to gut old Bossie at the packing plant. When the old girl wouldn’t milk any more she was killed and Easterners fed on the corpse.
Trump’s popular brand of protectionism could result in slower economic growth in the long run. By intimidating domestic manufacturers into keeping their manufacturing lines in the US that sells to the US market, he is forcing them to isolate domestic manufacturing to the domestic market. The manufacturing lines aimed at export will therefore potentially go where political uncertainty of whomever resides in the White House has no impact. The US is the third largest exporter on the planet at over 2.35 trillion of goods and services annually. Over 11.7 million people in the U.S. work in export-related industries. And these are higher-paying jobs. These are the folks who could suffer if Trump’s actions trigger international retaliation. If Obama had been politically astute enough to attempt what Trump has, how many Trumpiods at SDA would have become unglued at his “anti-conservative interventionism”. Free trade benefits the majority at the expense of those no longer competitive. The alternative is one where the majority loses while the noncompetitive artificially stay on life support. If you want to see what happens to an economy that once forced all manufacturing to be done domestically, look no further than Argentina.
Don’t think so steakman; Possible in Canada unless the Canada-West dialogue takes over the eixsting Laurentien Elite of the Low-Information/Not-aware electorate. Don’t think this will be possible because of the Cultural Fear inoculated by the Liberal (5-C’s).
However I have great respect for the “We the People” of the Fly-Over part of the North American Continent.
This generational passing on of the “we own the Sovereignity” will remain as strong as the French Revolutionary cultural imperative “we will take to the streets” if you the Elites steal more than We the Revolutionary will deem acceptable.
Possibly this is really the Referendum the Liberal (5-C’s) should put into place. Only make it Canada-Wide. I am with John Galt if the Niagara Region & Northern Ontario can come along.
Something Simple; {Should Canada remain a Province within Canada?} Then let the negotiations begin.
Liz J and old white guy share the bingo this morning.
CT, well said. The idea of a wall along the Manitoba-Ontario border is excellent. The western cow has been milked enough and now they wanted to destroy it.
Wrong. America manufactures more than ever before. There is nothing ‘unfair’ about jurisdictional competition.
Sure. Let’s talk percentage of consumption produced domestically. US population has gone up more than 100 million in my lifetime.
You mean its fair that foreign manufacturers can use slave labour in dangerous plants and pollute? Bullshit!
I will note at this time that while Trump is talking tax cuts and BAT, the Shiny Pony, Rachel Notley and Kathleen Wynne are all talking carbon tax, windmills and pronouns. It is what they ran on, and how they won their elections.
Before anybody says Harper would have done better, I voted for the guy every time and for the most part he did BUPKIS. The government still grew and grew, taxes still went up.
Canadians are a pack if IDIOTS. Collectively we are stupider than Californians.
-We- voted for this crap. This is what -we- thought was important. We deserve everything that happens to this country. If every job here goes off to Ohio and Shanghai, it will serve us right.
I’m buying a tractor. I can probably get by with the land I’m sitting on. The rest of you Liberals out there, don’t come begging to my door.
“The rest of you Liberals out there, don’t come begging to my door.”
Begging? They will send the tax man.
The Shiny Turd we have in Ottawa believes the government owns everything except what they choose to let you keep. Yes, in Ottawa they have successfully polished a turd, Justin Trudeau.
“The funding of eco groups to prevent Canada exporting energy from tidewater is an example of this conflict.”
There will be no such funding by a Trump admin. US charitable foundations were captured by the totalitarian left, long ago, and do most of the funding of tge greens, along with Tom Steyrr and George Soros, billionaires both.
It is important to distinguish between the sources of funding; there is zero interest among Trump’s supporters to hinder oil sands exports. It all comes from the left.
the government owns everything except what they choose to let you keep
well yeah… that’s how it works in a sovereign country of subjects like Canada. There is no Right to private property, we ‘own’ what the ‘Crown’ lets us have. Canada is not a free Republic of citizens like the USofA.
Shamrock – softwood lumber is a sore issue out here in the West. Our take is that the US position is that it should always win. When it doesn’t, it tries all sorts of tricks to manipulate the playing field. At least that’s how it’s worked with the US vis-a-vis Canada. Would love to see Trump take on the Chinese in the same way.
…and it’s our right to expose the diseased slave labor and toxic pollution from the factories that make your products.
UnoMe, it isn’t actually your right to do business with whomever you like. Otherwise child porn, insider trading and drug trafficking wouldn’t land you in jail…
Of course we can impede your right to trade when the products you try to import are toxic or otherwise illegal.
Border hopping Americans may well happen — but considering the socio-political happenings as of late, my guess would be that this will not be going on for long.
Example: the meat packing plants of the U.S. often employ Somalis, and we often get Somali (and other people) border jumpers from Canada who wind up illegally working in those plants (or doing other illegal things). This group have a bit of a reputation in the States for being quite avid supporters of things that go boom (and the others aren’t exactly wonderful either, and often have close associations with the ones that like boomie things). And I’m sure that Trump is looking for some leverage to get Canada to police up its populace (in an actually pragmatic and sensible way, although I think he’ll have better luck with the Mexicans than Trudeau on that personally).
For I don’t think Trump is going to be exclusively focused on the border with Mexico forever (he may not be so even now). At the very least I believe it will become harder to cross the northern border in the next four years (it was already much more difficult 11 years ago, when I last went to Canada, than it had been in my youth). At that time 11 years back people on both sides were complaining about their international shopping and Burger King excursions being seriously curtailed by the increased difficulty; it will likely become moreso, especially if you keep electing people who do not take your economy or your security very seriously (trust me, my country had to learn this the hard way, is learning still, and will unfortunately be doing so for quite some time as the wounds are deep and quite infected).
So you might not want to pin your hopes on a lot of free market economy tourism, as other factors may infringe on such things (there always are, as not everything is about money/economy, no matter how much some like to believe it so). I hope that Canada can get some better leadership soon, as it benefits the U.S., but if you don’t: well, in the end one’s own country must take precedence.