61 Replies to “Elbows Up!”

  1. I forget where I read it – it was linked here – but the article claimed that all of Trump’s bombast and tariffs towards Canada over the past year has just been rustling our jimmies while he waits for the USMCA to expire. Allegedly he wants a free trade deal with Canada separate from the one with Mexico and until the expiry doesn’t really care about trade with us. This seems to align with that.

    1. Unfortunately Trump has become a Mafia Don. His definition of free trade is our stuff for free.

      1. I disagree.
        I think he’s being quite forthright.
        If anyone wants our stuff for free, its the Chicoms.

      2. “Unfortunately Trump has become a Mafia Don. His definition of free trade is our stuff for free.”

        How would that ever happen?

    2. “but the article claimed that all of Trump’s bombast and tariffs towards Canada over the past year has just been rustling our jimmies while he waits for the USMCA to expire. ”

      I would have no trouble believing that, since Donald Trump seemingly loves winding people up before he negotiates with them. It’s in his books, even.

  2. Gotta love the Donald. A ‘politician’ who looks out for his country and constituents, even if they’re Democrats!

    1. Trump said we used to make cars in Canada … but we don’t NEED to make cars in Canada … so we’re making them in the USA.

      There’s your “trade negotiation” Carney. Ouch.

      And let me clarify. I feel sorry for my Canadian friends. I am highly uncomfortable at the thought of severing the relationship between our nations. I wish your PM and your proud elbow thrashers had behaved more intelligently.

      1. Please don’t feel sorry for us, we are the authors of our misfortune. The biggest favour Trump can do is turn the screws tighter and end this failing shithole sooner, rather than dragging out the inevitable. Nothing in Canada works anymore, healthcare is a disaster, the roads are shit, education is a joke, we have no military. End. It. Now. Shithole.

        1. Excuse me. Many of us were NOT the “authors”, but just a small fringe minority of unwilling characters.
          If some of us could be writing the script, it would be a far different damn story.
          End It Now Shithole…your defeatist, tiresome mantra. Have you considered Maid?

          1. Defeatist?
            More like realist.
            Please tell me what you propose?
            You gonna start a revolution?
            That’s the only (illegal) script that will change the story’s ending.
            And the “consider MAID” comment is as profound as the people who say/write “Don’t like it? Then leave!” while turning their heads to reality.
            The small fringe minority can not change a fcking thing.

        2. I just spent the last 2.5 weeks driving on US Interstate Highways. (Lowest outside California gas was $1.73 / Gallon) I went into Mexico 1 day and it reminded me of Saskatchewan Roads with speed bumps.
          Getting back to Canada with our snarly customs agents and our non limited access pot holed highways is always such a let down. After 2300 beautiful traffic light free km’s of 70 to 80 mph Interstate 15 to grind at traffic lights through Lethbridge, Nanton and Claresholm. Old number Alberta 2 is supposed to be the crown jewel North South highway of Alberta with traffic lights and cars scurrying to turn across traffic and whatever mess Deerfoot Trail is sure makes you realize how our roads suck balls.

  3. His daddy obviously bought him an economics degree from U.Penn. There is no need to have an absolute advantage in trade. There is this thing called comparative advantage where both parties benefit by each doing what they do well and importing what they don’t do well.

    1. A concept that has been badly distorted by globalists. I doubt you understand economics….which, by the way is not a science.

      2. “not a science”

        I took economics about 50-55 years ago. The intro was more or less descriptive. The intermediate had a whack of math. My 5th and 6th courses were Canadian Economics which was again mostly descriptive. Because it is very much predictive I would call it a science although maybe not an exact science.

    2. Comparative advantage is a simple mathematical model of a complex issue. It is useful to describe and potentially explain certain patterns of behavior. However, opportunity cost is frequently forgotten.

      For example, if our population is better at mining potash, and China’s population is better at making cheap plastic tat, it makes sense to mine potash here and purchase tat from China. However, doing so will displace the people who used to make that tat here. They will displace their way through the employment market until several people with the cheapest labour rates are now unemployed.

      And who now looks after them? There is no job here so low paid that it is worth employing them. Do we allow them to starve? No, we pay more taxes or donate more in charity and feed them.

      There is always a few people at the marginal end of the employment market who get priced out when we make them compete with slaves and robots. Which means they need to get fed somehow.

      So, either pay a little more for plastic tat, or pay a little more in taxes, but you are going to pay something. Opportunity costs are very real and comparative advantage does not address this. It is a very simple mathematical model, used to explain a very small aspect of a much more complex system, in an accessible manner. There are also emotional aspects such as the effect of gainful employment vs welfare on a persons well being but these are difficult to explain using a simple mathematical model.

      Personally, I prefer to not make my somewhat less talented friends and neighbors compete with slaves and robots in a race to the bottom for the cheapest plastic tat possible.

      1. You used China as an example. In case you missed it, China cheats. China has no free market. China uses predatory pricing to dominate.

        1. Quite so. But they all do. Canada has (or would have if it were not for bleeding liberals) abundant and inexpensive energy, giving us a natural advantage in aluminium production, even minus the bauxite. In fact, it gives us an enormous global advantage, so why does Trump slap a tariff on it? Just asking, it’s rhetorical; it is also not smart to make an enemy of EVERYONE else in the world. He’s behaving internationally as a mafioso.

          1. America has many problems. You can count Trump as one of them if you must. I see him more a symptom of a problem. America is a big consumer and it prints the world’s reserve currency. This works well (importing things in exchange for the dollar) until the rest of the world catches up. And then it doesn’t. Trump doesn’t have the greatest cards. China does because they’ve been playing this game for a long time. But China will have its day when it wants to consume more than produce and some other country will rise to occasion. Canada’s cards are worse than America’s. We’re about to find how bad our hand is. And it’s bad.

          2. “In fact, it gives us an enormous global advantage, so why does Trump slap a tariff on it? Just asking, it’s rhetorical; ”

            Well, if you are one of those people who believe that Canada wasn’t rebranding and dumping cheap Chinese steel on the US market then I suppose the only remaining answer would be “to encourage regrowth of the American aluminum and steel producers” (as with almost all of his tariffs).

            A shorter answer would be “because he is President of the United States, not Canada”, so he does things that will benefit *his* nation, not ours.

  4. Carney and the Liberal Party will f-around till they blow the negotiations completely.
    Carney Liberals won’t give up “marketing boards” even if it costs Canada the USMCA.
    Let that sink in………..
    How insane is it, that you can’t close a deal with the most affluent country in the world, your neighbor that boarders you, because,,, you insist on protecting marketing boards for a few who have realized windfall gains, due to a government allowed monopoly.
    Instead, he rather cut a deal with the ChiComs, and have more chinese junk sent here, to fill our landfills.
    And have everything else, shipped here over the span of oceans. I’m sure that’ll make it less expensive!

    2. As others have pointed ouit, Trump doesn’t want a trade deal with Canada. He wants Canada.

      1. “As others have pointed ouit, Trump doesn’t want a trade deal with Canada. He wants Canada.”

        Please, Robert….you’re better than that. I expect that kind of ‘reasoning’ from KM or Dennis, not you…

    3. Marketing Cartels, “Protecting” the RoBeluS monopsony in telecommunications, the “Big Five” banks (even if several of them are deeply involved in money laundering), and harming the Oil and gas industry with ridiculous regulations.

      Almost forgot, also protecting the pet projects of moronic “leaders” like DoFo, like the LCBO

  5. Juan Peron has been reincarnated as a loose cannon populist POTUS. Build everything in the US at any cost. That’s as economically ignorant as Canada’s supply management.

    2. Perhaps he has good reason for the U.S. to be as self-reliant and insulated from foreign powers in the future as it can be?
      Security is worth more than business to the U.S. — paraphrasing a former president that you Canadians thought was just awesome. Perhaps the current President of my country took that seriously.
      You have allowed Chinese troops and Chinese spies rather free rein in your country, not to mention Chinese gangs and Chinese drugs, and let’s not get started on your foreign and domestic terrorists that cross over into my country from yours.
      (did you know that the lamentable Ms. Good and her ‘wife’ spent time in Canada before going to Minnesota? she did — whatever was she doing there, I wonder? what with Canadian antifa groups calling for violence in America, and even that stupid Planet D couple calling for Canadians to ‘liberate’ America)

      Perhaps it just doesn’t make sense to trade with you as much.

        1. “But you like the raw resources.”

          And we like access to the biggest market in the world.

      2. Ms. Good and her wife spent time in Canada spreading hate about America and when we didn’t listen she buggered on off to Minnesota (an international shithole if I’ve ever seen one) because they hate America too. Don’t blame Canada. Clean up your own crap.

    3. John Chickenshit
      Did you bang your head on the way to your key board.
      Russia, Canada, Australia, and maybe Brazil , can all pretty much close their boarders and survive economically , with out outside contact.
      You see the political/social mess they got south of the boarder, and come to a mess near you?
      Grow up already, we don’t need another Jessica the Colon on board in here.
      Killer unMe has that covered!

      1. Survive maybe. Prosper no. I doubt any country — including the US and China — can have a thriving prosperous economy with closed borders.

        1. Trump isn’t proposing a closed bordered USA, he’s proposing global rapine by the USA. Nice resource you got there, hand it over. Buy our products or else.

  6. Of course he’s going to say that before a negotiation. Some people argue that Trump is after resources in Venezuela and Greeenland. Maybe because he said so himself. And he doesn’t care about the wealth of resources Canada has right next door? Is he going to let Chyna have them? Does he want to get his Uranium from Kazakhstan or Saskatchewan? He’ll just let “Trump whisperer” Carney stew a bit, so he can appreciate how isolated we are getting and that China is no friend of our. Carney is going to get a dose of reality when he comes back from his fluffing trip to Xi. Trump is in no hurry because Canada isn’t going anywhere and the current politicians are not serious about developing this country. All spin and no steak.

    2. “Of course he’s going to say that before a negotiation. ”

      Naturally. That has always been his style: say outrageous things, wind people up, THEN start to negotiate. It has served him well in the past…why would he change now?

  7. Any significant changes to the USMCA will have to be implemented through legislation in the US.

    This greatly limits Trump’s negotiating power. He can not insist on draconian new trade barriers, as Congress will likey not go for it. The Republicans have only a slim majority in the House, and some Republicans, especially those on the northern border, support open borders withe Canada. Republican congressmen have so far remained loyal to Trump, but this would test that.

    This is particulalry true with midterm elections coming up. Republican congressmen know that Trump’s trade policies are not popular with most voters:

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/23/new-poll-economy-congress-gallup/87895624007/

    This leaves me puzzled as to how Trump will approach these negotiations. He obviously prefers to operate with carte blanche to do as he pleases, and this isn’t one of those situations.

    1. USA Today … Gallup push polling …
      Good luck with that. Oh! And Hillary had a 98% chance of winning and Kamalala was WAY ahead of Trump on Election Day. Keep believing the disbelievers.

      1. Okay, show me your polls on Trump’s economic policies. You want to rebut, present evidence.

        1. You want to rebut, present evidence.

          I would consider any USA Today poll something short of actual evidence.

    2. Congressmen will be going into the midterms, and the public may want it — at least in a majority of states.

    3. That’s not necessarily true. The law is somewhat vague on whether the President can unilaterally dissolve the USMCA without Congressional intervention. It would, most likely, end up being a Supreme Court case. The area of unclarity arrives from the President holding foreign relations powers, while the Congress holds trade regulation authority. And, of course, the USMCA was established the enactment of the USMCA through law.

      I wouldn’t bet on Trump being able to unilaterally dissolve the USMCA. BUT, it is far from a confirmed fact.

      1. There is a mechanism that allows the president to fully withdraw from the agreement with six months notice. He does not, however, have the power to drastically MODIFY the agreement without congressional approval, as the agreement is enacted through statute. The USMCA is Trump’s baby so threatening full withdrawal seems like a drastic step. It would make a mockery of any future agreement that he declares to be the “best ever.” But who knows?

        1. Very difficult for either one of us to read the tea leaves without all the details behind the scenes. That said, I do recall a quote from Trump that sort of telegraphs his way forward:

          “The ONLY good thing about the USMCA is that it is not NAFTA”.

          Personally, I think he dissolves it and does separate trade agreements with Canada and Mexico.

          2. He doesn’t need to withdraw. He just needs to do nothing.

            Then things stay the same as they are. USMCA is still in force.

    4. At best, he will pretend to negotiate, EFF around and do nothing. As to the mid-terms, it will be interesting. The Dems would have to show that increased prices are due to tariffs, bread and butter issues. But they have gone far-left and will turn many off.

  9. L – Will an elbows up political meme mind virus lead Canada to a tit’s up country?

    Globalists like Mark Carnage and Trudeau, would burn a country to the ground. Just so the could rule over the ashes?

    Trump’s victories internationally are adding up. If Iran’s Islamic jihad regime falls, too. U.S. Pax Americana(hegemony) will be the theme of Pres. Trump’s speech at the upcoming W.E.F. DAVOS
    Conclave.

    As for Canada, a Canada First movement in Toronto just had their first victory. Add in the Alberta and Saskatchewan Prosperity Project fuelled by P.M. Carnage’s servile service to China. The question of how much Canadian farmland has been purchased by China from PE.I. and across Canada isn’t going away, anytime soon. Carpetbagger Carney may end up leaving as quickly as he was directed by W.E.F. to arrive? I predict the W.E.F. Is due for a shake-up, as political chaos spreads across the U.K. and Europe. There is a something in the wind.

    2026 is shaping up to be one heck of a rodeo …

  10. My thoughts on Trump and CUSMA. If it wan’t advantageous for the US to trade with Canada CUSMA would have never been signed. Supply management is a red herring designed to pit east against west and put pressure on the federal government. Trump wasn’t elected to care about Canada, he was elected to “Make America Great Again.” Any negotiation is going to be based on tilting the table towards US interests, if Canada ends up becoming “Puerto Rico without a passport”, Trump won’t care.

    I think Trump thinks he is working in America’s best interests. He’s not stupid, and he is a master negotiator. Trump is also human. That means sometimes he’ll hit it out of the park, and other times he’ll swing and miss. He’s spent the last few months setting the table for negotiations. This report is more of the same.

    Canada has also been setting the table. That’s why we keep hearing about new trade deals with other middle powers. It’s also why we see trade with the US decreasing and trade with other countries increasing. Both sides are squaring off. It will be interesting.

  11. If Canada snuggles up to closely to China, the US will have to spend more time and effort monitoring that relationship. It has only been recently that the US has adjusted it’s stare towards the northern border in a meaningful manner. The US will use any means possible to halt the takeover of Canada by the chinese. Based on their current actions in Venesuela and the tougue lashing given Mexico and Cuba, would anyone believe intervention elsewhere is not on the table. Europe is toast and the idea that closer ties will happen anytime soon is laughable. The EU is not only fighting the raveges of immigration but also the “Far-Right”….
    There will be but one winner.

  12. None of this will affect the elbows up boomer. In fact a declining economy in Canada is very good for them which is the whole idea here.

  13. Starving and freezing amidst plenty..Can Ahh Duh!.
    President Trump acts in the best interests of the USA,as he sees those interests.
    What has the Canadian Government been doing?
    For long before President Trump became a thing?
    Consistently acting against every venture,every resource development that would have made all Canadians much richer.
    Consistently punishing those who work and those who make.
    Consistent in their actions to reward,with other peoples money,generations of freeloaders,thieves and bandits.
    Consistent in their corruption.
    The Canadian Kleptocracy is in its end stage..
    The O.P.M has run out.

    We are a nation of losers..by popular vote.
    65% vote to steal from the makers to reward the takers.
    Note the tone of the Emoticons,the very same language toward the USA as they use toward Alberta and Saskatchewan..The same attitude they have for any successful citizen.
    These are the politics of Envy,Greed and Sloth.
    A truly Canadian set of “values”.

    Why would Trump care about a trade deal with Canada?
    Canada has chosen.
    All the USA has to do is wait.
    Bankrupt Canada is so broken that the USA will pick up the pieces and people it wants,in the rapidly upcoming fire sale.
    We owe more than we will ever be allowed to earn,onto the 5th generation.
    This is treason.
    And no voting in a different wing of our Uni-Party will change it.
    Canadians will never grow up,so the petulant temper tantrums will never cease..
    After Saskatchewan and Alberta leave Can Ahh Duh,there will still be “Experts” in Ottawa telling the Eastern Urbanites how rich they all are and “Orange Man Bad”..

    Trump has an opportunity to join Western Canada to the USA as genuine allies,something Canada has not been for decades.
    To the betterment of all involved.
    Whether as new States or as an independent new nation,Westerners will still be better off than the current deal.

    And this new nation will be very well placed to acquire the lands of the bankrupt Kleptocracy,in its unavoidable fiscal collapse.
    Cause them “Elbows Up Chicken dancers will never be reasoned with..Not until they have suffered enough consequence from their own actions.

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