Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko freed 123 prisoners on Saturday, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava, after two days of talks with an envoy for U.S. President Donald Trump, an American statement said.
In return, the United States agreed to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash. Potash is a key component in fertilizers, and the former Soviet state is a leading global producer.
Thanks to Carney, Canada will be stuck up to its elbows with oil, and potash.
Until he makes a fire sale deal with his buddies in China….
I didn’t vote Liberal, but I can’t blame Carney for Trump’s actions.
And Canada is pretty much forced to deal with China. It’s an inevitible (and forseeable) consequence of America’s current trade policies.
“I didn’t vote Liberal”
No, you voted NDP or Green.
Go get buggered, Fred. No one wants to listen to your vacuous insults.
“Go get buggered, Fred. No one wants to listen to your vacuous insults.”
But we just can’t wait for your next self-righteous spew of TDS all over our screens, right? Pavlov’s dogs have nothing on you.
Get help.
You really turn ugly when someone disagrees with you.
Well, I just stay ugly all the time. And I like to listen to vacuous insults! Hey, you can’t even clean carpets competently! Is that a vacuous insult, or what?
FYI, the US does not have tariffs on USMCA-compliant potash from Canada, which is virtually all of it.
So the treaty with the mad dictator is pointless like much of which Trump does. Maybe Don or Eric or Krooked Kushner have their hands out while waiting to feed off the corpse of Ukraine.
Who’s pitching and who’s catching? Donnie Boy loves his brutal dictators.
He should love Carney then.
And yet, he’s still the best president of the USA since Ronald Reagan. Poor little scar… it must gall you to see a man you so despise rise above your heroes.
Not hard to rise above a bunch of effeminate beta cucks like Carney and the Turd.
“Who’s pitching and who’s catching? ”
He would bend you over in two seconds.
The Art of the Deal. Quid pro Quo. Sayyyyyy? How’s that Canada negotiations coming along, Mssr. Carney?
In a related story … babbling, drooling Biden doesn’t even know what Potash is, or why it’s important. But he braved his cancer treatment [sic] to shout like an angry old man about the 2sLGBTQueer-mutants+IA … and why Americans MUST respect the queers.
Just think about it elbows up crowd, once the US can access the natural resources alternatively on the globe that Canada has in abundance, Trump has leverage as CUSMA expires in 26.
Trump is predictable, it’s Carney that escapes me as to what it is he is trying to achieve. I’ve read his book.
Here let me attempt to explain what Carney is about.
He took the job of PM to enrich himself and he did so under the condition he not have to actually manage anything.
All decisions are made by the clerk of the privy council bypassing the ministers directing the deputy ministers.
FYI
His book was written to convince the grifters he was one of them.
He doesn’t give a whiff what the scam is as long as he gets a cut.
In about two years, if he’s still PM, he will announce his retirement plans and set the stage for Bubbles to take his place.
That’s my theory
“That’s my theory”
In the absence of anything better, it’s not a bad one. That or mental illness.
Recent actions by Marx Carnage point to him getting Kanada admitted as a non-European member of the EU. The EU is simultaneously making itself vulnerable to economic takeover by the CCP. The whole scheme sets us up for Red Chinese dominance. Carnage must believe he will get to retain his wealth and influence once it all comes to fruition.
“once the US can access the natural resources alternatively on the globe that Canada has in abundance, Trump has leverage as CUSMA expires in 26.”
Even more leverage than he already had, yes. He is already talking about separate deals with Canada and Mexico, which will be bad for both countries but good for the USA.
“Trump is predictable, it’s Carney that escapes me as to what it is he is trying to achieve.”
It really does seem insane to be deliberately antagonizing the Americans when they hold almost all the cards here….Canada is not in any position to do so, and Carney knows it. He’s not hoping that the EU or China will somehow jump to Canada’s defence, is he? Because that’s not how it works; nations don’t have friends, they have interests.
Libs run scare campaigns.
Harper is scary, just like Bush, will ban abortion, destroy the climate and cut social programs.
Scheer is scary, just like Trump, will ban abortion, destroy the climate and cut social programs.
OToole is scary, just like Trump, will ban abortion, destroy the climate and cut social programs.
Pierre is scary, just like Trump, will ban abortion, destroy the climate and cut social programs. Trump is coming for us, elbows up!
So lets assume Carney is planning on running against Trump again and is being an irritant to draw Trump’s ire no matter what it costs the country. Damage doesn’t matter if the Libs win another election.
This is more critical than people realize.
Belarus is a vassal state of Russia. I wouldn’t think they could so much as fart without Putin’s permission. And yet they are negotiating an independent trade treaty with the US. Is this being done with Putin’s approval, or is Belarus attempting to weaken its ties with Russia?
Trump is currently threatening to impose tariffs on Canadian fertilizer, while negotiating to remove tariffs on Belarus potash. That’s like having one foot on the gas and one on the brake. It would also jeopardize America’s fertlizer security. It makes one wonder what Trump’s real priorities are in this matter.
His priorities are to improve the lot of America and Americans, duh.
Explain how importing potash from Belarus rather than Canada achieves that.
It’s not importing potash from Belarus that achieves anything. It’s trying to weaken your opponent’s hand (aka Canada) before you restart negotiations. But I think something else is at play, not just a better trade agreement. I think Trump is trying to realign Canada and its partners.
That’s the sort of thing I suspect as well, which is why I was wondering what Trump’s real motives are.
But other possibilties exist.
Carney and Trump are playing the same game, like it or not. Carney is trying to find other buyers for product that normally goes to the US, Trump is trying to find other sellers for product that normally comes from Canada. Both are trying to reduce the other’s leverage.
Someone mentioned that countries don’t have friends, they have interests. That was Canada’s mistake. Ever since Reagan, Canada has been assuming that we are “friends” with the US, and allowed ourselves to become vulnerable to them. Trump just brutally reminded us that assumption just isn’t true and we need to protect ourselves from American avarice or we’ll end off worse off than Puerto Rico.
“Explain how importing potash from Belarus rather than Canada achieves that.”
You have to ask Trump that, I only said what his priorities are, something he has repeatedly stated, in short MAGA.
Trump is there for America and only America. If he screws over Canada, including Alberta, he won’t care.
Here we have a case of Trump doing something that appears on the surface to NOT help the American people — namely sourcing potash from Belarus rather than Saskatchewan.
Rather than blindly trusting that Trump has some brilliant plan, we should be trying to understand the full reasoning behind it. It’s particularly vital for Canadians to do so.
KM, striking a potash deal with Belarus doesn’t necessarily exclude imports from Saskatchewan. Trump wants all sectors of the US economy to grow, including agriculture.
You’re too quick to draw conclusions and find some way to slam Trump for his policies and actions.
No it doesn’t, but doing so when openly threatening tariffs on Canadian fertilizer is bizarre. As I said, one foot on the gas and one on the brake.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/economics/2025/12/09/the-daily-chase-trump-threatens-fresh-tariffs-on-canadian-fertilizer/
You’re too quick to believe in everything Trump does, and too slow to question his actions when they don’t make sense.
KM, I don’t believe in everything Trump does and never have, I just don’t waste brain energy trying to analize and speculate on the reasons for every last thing he comes out with.
As for whether his actions make sense, I’ll let time be the judge.
I don’t analyze everything Trump does. I keep to certain narrow topics, particularly ones of vital importance like trade and health policy. And sometimes I give Trump credit.
But the only reason you’re making a fuss here is because you don’t like anyone criticizing Trump. We both know it.
KM, you’re the one making a fuss, starting at 1:41 pm and continuing below.
Lupus, I don’t have to explain why, on a post about Trump’s trade negotiations over potash, why I might want to offer an opinion on Trump’s trade negotiations over potash.
Keep to the subject matter. No more personal attacks.
Poor KM, a combination of a hyper-sensitive soul and a Karen issuing orders.
Below you don’t shy away from making personal attacks, so FU pantywaist.
I only make personal attacks when someone does the same to me. You don’t like it, don’t start it.
He said you were making a fuss. That’s a personal attack? Did they personally attack the Bismarck by declaring that she was making a fuss? I thought they had to use cannon.
Our National Security plan clearly states that we wish to stabilize relations with Russia (and Belarus is very connected to Russia, another country that does produce potash).
We also seek to create the best deals for ourselves, which of course means trade that favors us.
This potash deal with Belarus could do both, could it not?
National security is probably not improved by coming to depend on a Russian vassal state for a critical mineral.
And if Trump was interested in the best deal for American farmers, he would not now be considering tariffs on Canadian fertilizer.
So by letting Belarus market access it would put more supply on the market, meaning the farmers pay less for fertilizer.
This would have eventually happened and the fact that we didn’t have a government that capitalized on the situation by broadcasting we had a secure supply to sell the world market means they were stupid or they did do intentionally.
Which brings up one of Trump’s refrains about “51st” , how it would be easier for Canada than going head to head, and how he wanted Carney to be PM because it would make achieving his goal so easy.
Now what would make the western provinces want remain in Canada under these circumstances?
That Trump is considering tariffs against Canadian fertilizer to compel parts of Canada to join the US is something I considered. It fits in well with his current 10% tariffs on Canadian oil. Basically anything coming out of Alberta or Saskatchewan.
I’m not sure that’s in the best interests of the United States. It’s definitely in the interests of Trump’s legacy.
I don’t think the US would want the western provinces in the union. I think the American government would rather have an easy to control vassal state or two on their northern border. It’s the best of both worlds for them, a piece of land they can exploit without the locals having any say in congress.
You may well have a point. Trump, though, does not seem to see it that way.
Everyone assumes the US would welcome Canada as an official “state.”
No one considers the possibility (likelihood) that a US territory of “Canada” would have no representation in Congress .
Like Puerto Rico, DC, or Guam.
How’s Carney’s negotiations with Communist China coming along about their refusal to buy Canadian canola? All because Canada has placed huge tariffs on cheap Chinese EV’s? Has Carney got the worlds WORST Dictator pacified yet?
Take it up with Carney. I don’t carry water for him, although I do sympathize with his predicament.
But … you claim Trump uniquely negotiates with Dictators? SMH
Kenji makes up shit again.
Belarus is a vassal state of Russia. I wouldn’t think they could so much as fart without Putin’s permission. And yet they are negotiating an independent trade treaty with the US. Is this being done with Putin’s approval, or is Belarus attempting to weaken its ties with Russia?
Hence Trump is negotiating with Dictators, eh?
Once again, you forget the shit you spew.
Every world leader has to negotiate with dictators from time to time. No one used the word “uniquely”.
unKILLER S
Why don’t you change yer moniker to Jessica the Colon, it will fit you perfectly!
NME666
Why don’t you change your moniker to “Trump’s Fart Catcher”. It would suit you to a tee.
Canada has been diversifying away from China, just like they have been diversifying away from the US for some products. Canada now sells more canola to Japan, UE, South Korea, and UAE than they did last year, reducing China’s trade leverage against us. BTW, the US is the biggest buyer of Canadian canola.
Killer Marmot comments up to the time of this comment = 17.
Registration was a great idea.
Limiting a registrant’s number of comments on a single thread would be another great idea.
And of course there’s that phrase from the digital olden daze “don’t feed the troll”
18, actually.
The reason is that many posters here can’t stand anything even vaguely resembling a criticism of Trump’s policies. So they respond to my comments, sometimes with on-topic points, and if they can’t think of anything constructive, with insults and personal remarks.
Pssst … no one has a problem with criticism. However you have a strong aversion to well-founded arguments to the contrary. We engage in Free Speech … which you attempt to shout down with irrelevant commentary.
Don’t give me your hypocritical crap, Kenji.
Indeed. Make him pay a price for it.