The Art of Caving In

Elbows up, everybody!:

Canada is dropping its countertariffs on the American goods that are covered by the free-trade agreement between the two countries, amid the ongoing trade war with the United States, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday.

Carney made the announcement during a news conference Friday, following a virtual meeting of his cabinet, and the day after a discussion with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Canada’s countertariffs on U.S. steel, aluminum, and autos are not changing, Carney said, adding the government’s “focus is squarely on these strategic sectors” going forward.

When asked whether he received assurances from Trump that scrapping some countermeasures will kickstart negotiations on a new trade and security deal, Carney said: “yes.”

Carney said that following his conversation yesterday with Trump, Canada and the U.S. agreed to “intensify” discussions to address trade challenges and “to seize major immediate opportunities, both in trade, investment and security.”

 

Is that why you are still moving Canada towards China and Europe? 

Canada - severely weakened by nearly a decade of the worst governance the country has seen with high taxes, low investment, nil inter-provincial trade - wouldn't have had retaliatory tariffs if the village idiot knew how to negotiate beyond being a sock-wearing whiny b!#ch. He was eventually replaced by the puppet-handler whose credentials but not experience pegged him (in the climate of fear generated by the Liberals) as the man most likely to handle all of this capably.

How did that work out? 

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Some of which we could produce here but don't?:

“It’s orange juice, peanut butter, craft beer, ketchup, coffee pods, refrigerators, washing machines, microwaves, lawn mowers … denim jeans, running shoes, bicycles, lipstick, other cosmetics, toothpaste, paper towels, bed sheets; all of those will at least ease some price pressures on individuals and the businesses in Canada selling them,” Campbell said. 

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Mark Carney — once hailed as the agile economist whose skill as a professional would dance Canada to prosperity — has delivered a performance that looks less like a choreographed waltz and more like the chicken dance. And not even the part where the wings flap in rhythm, but the clumsy bit that’s half shoulder shrug, half existential dread.

(Sidebar: rather, Canadians have come to expect this sort of ineffectiveness and incompetence and refuse to do anything about but continue voting the same way over and over again. As long as the credentials seems impressive like a big shiny thing being waved about.) 

Sadly, that is the state we find ourselves in as Canadians — caught somewhere between a shoulder shrug and existential dread. From trade policy to foreign policy, to immigration, housing, labour policy, justice, the economy, and basic Canadian values, there is not a single thing we can point to as a win in Mr. Carney’s Canada. Instead, we see a series of failed policies, broken promises, and self-inflicted wounds.

This from the man who was sold to us as “elbows up” Carney; the seasoned expert who could deal with President Trump and would take on the world. Well, it has been about 100 days of Mr. Carney’s governance now, and the truth is plain to see. Mr. Carney’s “elbows up” turned out to be the first step in his international chicken dance. ...

The Peter Principle seems to describe Mr. Carney and his government quite accurately. The Peter Principle is the proposition that an employee in a hierarchy tends to rise to the level of his incompetence and stay there. Given what we have and continue to experience with the Liberal government, incompetence is the best word to describe Mr. Carney’s government to date. 

Under Mr. Carney’s leadership, each week brings empty promises and announcements of phantom trade triumphs, while Canadians find their paycheques shrinking amid rising prices and international embarrassment.

Mr. Carney’s latest boast boils down to saying it is an achievement that Mr. Trump spoke with him. This after bungling the trade file once again by tariffing the United States on goods covered by our free trade deal (USMCA). Undoubtedly, this will open the door for Mr. Trump to do who knows what with this critical trade agreement, which is up for renegotiation and renewal next year. Meanwhile, there continue to be higher tariffs on Canadian steel, vehicles, and even maple syrup, among other things.

Reasonable people can disagree on whether reciprocal tariffs make for good policy. They may feel good in the short term by boosting nationalism and Canadian pride, but beyond that, they hurt all Canadians. President Reagan, in discussing how to deal with protectionism, once said that if one is in a boat with another person and they pull out a gun and start firing holes in the bottom of the boat, the wisest move is not to take out another gun and fire along with him. But that is exactly what Mr. Carney did — only he shot himself and the rest of us in the process.

In other words, tariffs being met with tariffs are bad for everyone. The job of the Canadian Prime Minister should have focused on the advantages to the United States from building a North American economic fortress that enforces the rule of law and values we share at home and abroad. It should have focused on working together to reduce costs for all our peoples — for example, by eliminating supply management (assistance to the family farm, to the extent that remains a Canadian priority, can come in a way that does not indirectly tax the poor and working class).

Having bungled the most critical U.S. trade file, the Liberals amazingly also bungled the trade file with the Chinese government. Whoever coined the ancient expression, my enemy’s enemy is my friend, had not met Mr. Carney. For the Carney Liberals have thus far been unable to leverage anything with anyone, friend or foe.

The recently announced Chinese tariffs on Canadian agriculture will hurt many Canadians, especially those in the agricultural sector. Canada should not be losing trade wars with both China and the United States. They are rivals, a fact we should be gently leveraging (whether in the automotive sector or elsewhere) so that the U.S. administration sees the value in favourable trade deals with Canada. ...

(Sidebar: like so.) 

Mr. Carney’s “elbow up” moment turned out to be a ruse. Rather than vision and strength, we have endured approximately 100 days of Mr. Carney leading us along in an awkward, unserious dance that seems oblivious to the unease growing across much of Canada. As Canadians suffer under high tariffs, job insecurity, capital flight, fiscal mismanagement, naïve self-destructive foreign policy, lawlessness, rising social tension, and potential separation issues in Quebec and Alberta, they deserve more than a chicken dance from their leaders.

No nation succeeds by placing its values and future in a blind trust and hoping for the best, or at least avoiding the worst. Canada’s strength has always been built upon respect for the rule of law and a shared civic order. Leadership now means defending the values that once made us the envy of the world.