When asked about a statement this week where Stelco Holdings Inc. announced they were laying off 500 workers from their steel plant in Hamilton, Ontario, immediately Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney blamed the United States.

He’s lying. It’s ridiculous. However, that’s all Carney can do at this point.

In reality it is (1) Canadian energy, climate and manufacturing policy; in combination with (2) the specific decision to allow the import of cheap steel from China; in combination with the decision to (3) rebuke U.S requests to stop purchasing that Chinese steel; that has driven out Canadian steel manufacturing.

(1) Canada carbon emission policy changes steel manufacturing. (2) Canada admits to lying about the import of Chinese Steel. (3) Canadian steel manufacturers warn Canada of pending exit. Mark Carney denied all three points. The receipts are in the links right there.

WATCH Prime Minister Carney blatantly lie on camera:

This announcement by Stelco happened on the exact same day that President Trump announced a new $18billion investment in U.S. steel manufacturing in Iowa. {SOURCE}

In fact, in a world full of irony, during a media segment discussing the closure of the Canadian steel plant, CBC cut away to live feed of President Trump who was making the Iowa steel plant announcement.  The timing was rather remarkable.

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Tomorrow, September 29th, the U.S. ban on most Canadian alcohol imports begins. [XO Link]

Last year most Canadian provinces banned U.S. alcohol imports as part of the “Elbow-up” program triggered by Prime Minister Mark Carney in response to U.S. baseline tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos.  In early September of this year, the White House and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer responded with an import ban on Canadian alcohol that begins tomorrow.

The Crown Royal brand of Canadian Whiskey will not be impacted as it is shipped in bulk raw liquid to the U.S. where it is bottled, packaged and distributed.  Diageo Inc proactively saw something coming in 2025 and shifted its supply chain to avoid the conflict.  However, most Canadian brands of alcohol are not as fortunate.  [SEE BAN SECTOR LIST]

The Supreme Court ruled last year that while tariffs against products can -under certain conditions- be subjected to congressional approval, but when it comes to trade friction – bans of products outright are legally within the power of the President.  This ban on Canadian alcohol will impact approximately $854 million (usd) in imports. (SEE STORY).

It will be interesting to see if any last-minute intervention takes place.

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The state visit by Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping in combination with USTR Jamieson Greer’s responsibilities within the U.S-China trade program, meant that Greer had to defer a visit to Mexico to work on the USMCA replacement.  However, bilateral trade agreement discussions at a technical level remained on track and progressing during Xi’s visit.

The U.S. and Mexico delegations have now expanded the bilateral topics from 54 sections to 90 sections.  This indicates significant agreement on the major components of the framework and now the smaller overlapping topics that enmesh with the bigger topics are brought in.

Greer shifted focus toward the Chinese trade aspects due to the timing of the Xi-Trump summit.  USTR Jamieson Greer is expected to be returning to the Mexico trade talks in about a week.

For the interests of the Mexican side, the main focus is seeking favorable reductions in the section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles.  However, the digital platform section and intellectual property is also a priority being negotiated by team USA.

MEXICO CITY, Sept 23 (Reuters) – The fourth round of trade talks between Mexico and the United States will not take place next week and could instead be held in October, a senior Mexican official said on Wednesday, as the two countries juggle a shifting diplomatic calendar.

Luis Rosendo Gutierrez, Mexico’s deputy economy minister for foreign trade, said the delay was due to scheduling conflicts, including Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States and the upcoming G20 summit. Despite the pause in formal rounds, Gutierrez said technical coordination with the US Trade Representative’s Office (USTR) remains a “daily” occurrence.

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Promethean Action’s Susan Kokinda gives a good recap of Chinese Chairman Xi’s state visit, including the nuanced respect and policy alignment visible between President Trump and Chairman Xi.

In essence, the comments by Marco Rubio about putting USA sovereign policy ahead of prior USA multilateral global policy, are a baseline for Chairman Xi to pivot his own interpretations of Trump’s policy objective.  With U.S policy focused on America’s interests and Beijing policy focused on China’s interests, there is no room for conflict, only terms.

This episode argues that media outrage over a White House “autopen” joke and criticism of Trump’s summit with Xi Jinping obscures a deeper shift: Trump is dismantling a 50-year geopolitical framework associated with Henry Kissinger. It contrasts Chatham House’s “China Rising, America in Decline?” panel and its Thucydides Trap framing—linked to Graham Allison—with Xi’s evolution from posing the trap as an open question to asserting it “can be overcome” after Trump’s UN speech and claimed actions in Iran, Venezuela, the Shield of America, and the Greenland Treaty, alongside a push for reindustrialization.

The script also highlights a UN Board of Peace session on Gaza focused on reconstruction led by Gazans and a new security structure involving Muslim-country troops, presenting it as ending “outside forces” control. It notes Rubio’s permanent dual role as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor and frames his stance as reversing Kissinger’s legacy.  WATCH:

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Terms of Greenland Deal Here

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney left the United Nations General Assembly and went directly to the New York Times for a pre-scheduled interview with fellow leftist travelers intent on influencing the U.S midterm election.

Carney having previously appointed Clinton/Obama Democratic operative Maia Johnson as his Chief Operating Officer within his office, obviously had one agenda in mind as he strolled into the Times office for his pre-planned operation.

Within the hour-long conversation, the Canadian Prime Minister had several key points of emphasis in his objective. The top-line hook to draw in the audience was his first statement about having prepared for military combat operations against the United States.  [ARTICLE HERE] Key points below:

(1) Carney developed contingency plans to use military combat operations against the United States.  Yes, it is transparently obvious this is a political statement.  His mentioning of this is meant to create the traditional leftist victimhood position used in all psychological operations.  Carney follows this outlandish statement by saying these military plans are no longer needed because he now feels he has “a good relationship” with President Trump.

[…] “Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada said that he had prepared over the past year for the “extreme tail risk” that President Trump might order military action against Canada but disclosed that the two men have spoken “frequently,” even since trade talks collapsed last month, describing a tense, evolving relationship.

Mr. Carney suggested that he had carefully examined the possibility of U.S.-led military action, but declined to discuss in detail what that involved. “I think you have a responsibility in these roles to look at extreme tail risk,” said Mr. Carney, a former central banker for Britain and Canada. … “That’s just risk management. That’s not a base case, but it would be irresponsible not to” prepare.”

(2) Carney outlines how he intends to build a closer economic relationship with China as a hedge against Canadian dependency on the United States.  Given the statements made by Carney in Beijing, this does not come as a surprise; however, it is the expressed open intent to further attach Canada to China that should raise eyebrows.

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President Trump has drawn attention to this segment by Victor Davis Hanson outlining the status of the Canadian position thanks to Prime Minister Mark Carney.  Why? Because VDH is the type of American that Canadians actually listen to.

VDH apparently talks in the tones and constructs that appeal to Canadians, therefore his remarks on how Mark Carney is manipulating Canada hit more directly than when other pundits do it.  VDH has seen a remarkable uptick in the size of his audience ever since he started talking about Canada, because his new audience is almost exclusively Canadian.

Hanson speaks about the Canadian dynamic below.  It’s monotone, but the “elbows crew’ like it.  WATCH (prompted):

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Prime Minister Carney asks why Victor Davis Hanson is doing this to him.

I’m not a big fan of Canadians switching positions and suddenly wanting to accept trade terms.  CTH would prefer that we sever all ties with Canada, terminate the USMCA and watch them slowly spiral for a year or two.  Carney Inc deserves it.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio talks to the assembled press pool following extensive conversations with various foreign ministers, including discussions today with Russian Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Questions to Rubio surrounded the Iran conflict, the status of Venezuela, the discussions between the U.S., Russia and Ukraine, the status of Cuba and beyond.  Secretary Rubio gives direct, honest and substantive responses to each of the regional questions asked.  Exceptional press conference. WATCH:

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joins CNBC ‘Squawk Box’ this morning to discuss his 12-hour meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.  Within the interview Bessent details the ‘U.S.-China AI Dialogue’, the calls for a slowdown in AI development and whether regulation is needed.

Secretary Bessent notes President Trump is not going to deliver liability immunity to AI frontier labs and existing legal frameworks within the U.S. will remain as protective pathways as development moves from AI labs into engineering outcomes.

This is the core of the issue. The investors that poured money into the AI labs, now support immunity from legal liability that doesn’t exist in any other sector other than Big Pharma. AI wants the same protection as Big Pharma, and President Trump is not going to allow the shift in responsibility from AI developers to government. WATCH:

Also below is the full debriefing from Secretary Bessent and USTR Jamieson Greer that followed the Sunday meeting between the U.S. and Chinese counterparts.

As CTH has noted, the pace of these critical economic developments is going to speed up over the next several days and weeks.  It becomes increasingly important to stay tuned-in to the granular issues as they unfold in order to fully appreciate the landscape that surrounds us.   It can be challenging to absorb information as the pace increases, yet it is critical to remain aware so that each building block in the nationalist policy making remains in context.

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I suspect we will see similar realignment continues as the globalists like Canada and the EU try to oppose President Trump and U.S. best interests.

Belarus stands in ideological opposition to the globalists in Europe and President Alexander Lukashenko is an ally of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin.  This announcement is a smack back against the leverage Canada claims to carry.  Again, creating more distance between the USA and the Snow Mexicans.

[SOURCE]

Watch the interview with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to understand exactly where this is going.  The United States is systematically decoupling from Canada.  When we cut the economic lifeline represented by the USMCA, Canada will be adrift.

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Perhaps due to timing, or maybe content combined with the pragmatic answers dropping all pretense; or maybe, it’s just the two interviewers representing the globalist opposition and Greer facing them both down with easy dispatch. I’m not sure why, but this is one of the best discussions/interviews with USTR Jamieson Greer ever.

Soup to nuts Greer explains the policy, issues, friction points and pragmatic approaches that apply to economic adversaries like China.  Greer just cuts to the chase, you cannot truly negotiate with China because nothing about them is going to change, ever.  So, you manage your relationship with them, limit your exposure and limit as much risk as possible. Greer is exactly correct and makes no excuses. Pure economic pragmatism.

The same outlook applies to Canada.  Again, Greer isn’t playing the pretending game, and the panelist inquisitors are left jaw-agape while trying to frame a headline capture.  Listen to the conflict issues as outlined by Greer.  Canada is “doubling down on globalism”, the USA is not. That means we can never reach agreement, period – full stop, end of it!

Greer comes back to this point several times, including at the end when he outlines all the reasons why President Trump will terminate the USMCA trade pact.   This is a must watch interview:    

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This interview is like kryptonite to Canadians who are so caught up in their pontificating arrogance (Bloomberg) that they just cannot fathom the weakness of their position.  Canadian’s have bought the lies and nonsense from Carney, and it is very challenging to remain respectful of the Canadian position.

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