A rather remarkable statement from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick puts the Canadian government on notice.  If Lutnick is accurately outlining what took place, there’s no way Trump is going to give them a trade deal.

When he is questioned about the U.S-Canada trade agreement collapse, Secretary Lutnick quotes the Canadian govt officials.  “I said to him, are you trying to blow this up? and he said, and I quote, “I’m not allowed to say that.“” Lutnick then encapsulates what that response meant.

“They decided for political reasons, domestically, domestic Canada, they’d rather fight with Donald Trump; even if it’s bad for the economy of Canada, for their political ambition to get a certain election,” Lutnick noted.  He continued, “now remember, Quebec has the sovereign party was in the lead, so that’s why they came up with this French nonsense. You think the American side talked about how people speak in Quebec? We have a deal with France, we have a deal with Italy, we have a deal with Germany, we don’t care about their language; none of that was true.”   WATCH (prompted):

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Canada is drowning in the Sea of China. The USA is the rescue swimmer.  When we reach the victim they thrash, try to climb on our back and pull us under. Survival for both now requires us to punch them in the face, back away and ask them if they prefer to drown. If not, listen to instructions.

The USMCA or CUSMA needs to be terminated!  That’s the punch in the nose.

Then a bilateral trade agreement can be negotiated.  That’s the swimmer giving the victim instructions.

If Canada chooses to drown in the Sea of China, so be it.

Then we build a regulatory wall against all Canadian products, banning the entry of Chinese component parts in EVERYTHING!

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Within 12 hours of the Friday announcement that Canada had walked away from trade discussions with the U.S, we were able to piece together what the four points were.  Several people disagreed and claimed something else was involved.  Today, Prime Minister Mark Carney affirmed specifically the accuracy of those four points.

While Prime Minister Carney used his verbose gaslighting to describe them, you can listen for yourself.  It boiled down to four issues: [1] U.S. streaming services writing code for “search engines” in the French language (cultural issue). [2] The U.S. having a right to reject a trade deal made by Canada with a non-market economy, ie. CHINA. [3] Removal of tariffs on Canadian assembled heavy trucks, semi-trucks and industrial trucks (not in the auto sector). [4] Canada demanding 5% of gross revenues from U.S. tech platforms, with an attitude that U.S. controls North American trade.

You can listen to his own words describing these issues.  WATCH:

The United States must, as a matter of U.S. national security and survival, immediately cut all trade ties with Canada completely.  I’ll explain why this is so critical and important.

The most appropriate metaphor is the drowning victim (Canada) with an intentionally placed anchor on its foot (China), now becoming a threat to the rescue swimmer (USA).   If we don’t cut ties, we risk our own livelihood.

Here’s the four counterpoints:

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On the sidelines of the Asheville, North Carolina, G20 meeting of global finance ministers, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent holds a fireside chat to discuss current geopolitical events and economic conditions.

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There was a reason why CTH focused on the Leipzig-Halle Airport “drone attack” in Germany on August 5th. {GO DEEP}  There have been numerous indications the EU-NATO members, driven by Germany, France and the U.K. have been increasingly trying to expand the Ukraine war effort and pull in direct military engagement against Russia.

The Leipzig-Halle airport drone held all of the conspicuous indications of a false flag attack that did not stem from Russia.  The quadcopter drone was a limited range battery powered small drone carrying a rudimentary IED type explosive.  It needed to be operated and controlled by someone very close to the area, and the cargo area of the airport is a closed-loop security zone.

Nothing about the method, timing or location of the “drone attack” spoke to any value or importance for Russian interests in the Ukraine conflict. However, for expanding the war propaganda purposes the created narrative holds value.  The Leipzig-Halle drone operation was more than likely carried out by the same country who bombed the Nordstream pipeline. That was Ukraine.

Today, using the airport “drone attack” as a justification, Germany is accusing Russia of expanding a hybrid war against NATO and Germany is testing whether the full NATO alliance is willing to join them in military combat operations against Russia.  “German defense entrepreneur Stefan Thumann argued sabotage operations carried out by Moscow against his country are an “act of war … controlled and coordinated here by the Russian armed forces.” {source}

European NATO allies were quick to pick up the catchphrase “hybrid war” with statements from NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte, EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen, Finland President Alexander Stubb, Italian President Giorgia Meloni and many more.  Coordinated and timed to happen in unison, the EU-NATO nations now align to expand their war footing against Russia.  All of this was/is easily predictable.  This is by design.

Simultaneous with this announcement and statements from within Germany, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy now threatens all airline travel in Russia, in an obvious attempt to influence airline insurance carriers and shut down Russian civilian airspace.  However, if you have followed the pattern with us over the past several years, what should be expected next is alarming.

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Somehow Chief Justice John Roberts found that a single person who walks past the White House every month and doesn’t like the proposed appearance of the ballroom has some standing to sue and block construction. Go figure. Roberts also decided that the Obamacare mandate wasn’t a tax.

Roberts joined with the minority DEI judges in his position [RULING HERE]. However, the majority decision was against the woman having standing to sue. Therefore, the lawsuit was dispatched and the building can continue.

SCOTUS BLOG – […] On Monday, a divided court granted the government’s request for a stay, permitting construction to move forward while the litigation continues in the lower court. The majority’s opinion focused primarily on its conclusion that the National Trust likely does not have standing to challenge the project. The trust had submitted a declaration from Alison Hoagland, a member who lives in Washington, D.C., and said that she visits the area where the White House is located approximately once per month. Hoagland, who has “expertise in historic architecture,” claimed that the project caused “‘injuries’ to her ‘aesthetic, cultural, and historical interests’ because she finds the ‘scale,’ ‘height,’ and ‘massing’ of the government’s design distasteful.” But those are not the kind of “concrete” and specific injuries required to bring a lawsuit, the majority explained.

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What Barbara Boyd describes in this video about the ideological differences in the G20 reminds me of the long battles around MAGAnomics.

One mindset is based on despair, the scarcity mentality, and says there is a limited amount of economic pie, and it must be divided by government to ensure equitable distribution (Europe/Obama).  The other mindset is based on faith, an abundance mentality, and says we should create, innovate, build and expand economic activity to create more pies (MAGA/Trump).

In this Wednesday update, Barbara Boyd previews the G20 meeting in Asheville, framing it as a clash between an agenda centered on physical economic growth—advanced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent—and what she calls the G20/EU’s long-running Malthusian, “green” framework that followed the 2008 financial collapse, bank bailouts, and a shift toward climate policies.

The episode contrasts Trump-era priorities—domestic manufacturing, supply-chain self-sufficiency, critical minerals, energy expansion, workforce upskilling, and new nuclear plans for shipping outlined by Energy Secretary Chris Wright—with European leaders’ efforts to build a “middle powers” bloc and “redirect” citizens’ savings into EU-directed investment. Boyd argues EU priorities include Ukraine war funding, the green transition, and open borders/free trade, and says the outcome of this fight will shape the future ahead of the midterms.

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Earlier this afternoon President Trump held an oval office event with several leaders in the pharmaceutical and medical sector, to discuss the latest developments in the reduction of prescription drug prices.

White House – President Donald J. Trump announced nine new agreements with pharmaceutical manufacturers to lower prescription drug prices for Americans in line with the lowest prices paid by other developed nations (known as the most-favored-nation, or MFN, price). The agreements bring the total number of pharmaceutical manufacturers with MFN deals to 26, covering 89% of the branded drug market.

[…] These nine pharmaceutical manufacturers committed to invest at least $19.6 billion collectively in U.S. manufacturing in the near term. Additionally, as part of the MFN agreements, several companies are donating active pharmaceutical ingredients for key products to the Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Reserve (SAPIR) to reduce reliance on foreign nations and ensure the United States has an adequate supply of such products in the event of an emergency. {source}

The media questions begin at 35:00 of the video:

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CTH continues to get considerable questioning about how the U.S-Canada fracture will take place, what it means for the Canadian dollar (CAD) and when the issues can be expected to apex.  It appears that part of the reasoned disconnect people are struggling with is directly related to the messaging from the Canadian government in combination with the financial media.

In short, despite the increased trade friction, a decoupling of the U.S. economy from the Canadian economy just seems unfathomable to most observers. The main question we receive is ‘when will things happen‘?  Meaning when will financial markets react?  The most obvious answer to that question is, when the USA announces the termination of the USMCA (CUSMA) trilateral.

If you hold the opinion that all of these trade friction points will be resolved within the margins of the USMCA, then it is correct to predict that no significant material impact will be felt north of the border.  If, however, you hold the opinion that the USMCA will be terminated because the core of the issues between the two countries are irreconcilable, then the material impact will come as soon as that announcement is made.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, the only Canadian government official to attend President Trump’s inauguration, appears on Fox Business. Like all other Canadian officials, she cannot contemplate the elimination of CUSMA/NAFTA.  Such an outcome is simply beyond her comprehension. WATCH:

In previous interviews and broadcasts, Mrs Smith claimed if Canada was to introduce an export tax the USA would respond accordingly.  This is not accurate.  The U.S. has no mechanism to place a tax on exports.

Additionally, inside Canada the structure is provincial.  That means each province taxes each other province for goods and services.  In the USA we have state sales taxes, but those taxes are applied across all goods sold to/inside an individual state.  Ex. Florida does not tax Texas.  Florida has one sales tax for all goods regardless of their origin.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio has quietly been the lead on this initiative.  The discussions with Venezuela were working along slowly in the background as the negotiations with Canada on trade were proceeding.  Today, Canadian oil is replaced.

BREAKING NEWS: The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY! At my direction, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, working closely with Highly Respected Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, and, through a partnership with private business, have secured majority U.S. control of more than 65 BILLION BARRELS of proven Oil Reserves in Venezuela, at no cost to the American Taxpayer.

This Historic Transaction MORE THAN DOUBLES American Oil Reserves, greatly increases our Oil Supply, and will substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future, while helping to continue to set Venezuela on a course toward Tremendous Success and Great Prosperity. This Transaction will greatly strengthen the already growing relationship between Venezuela and the United States! Thank you for your attention to this groundbreaking matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

~President DONALD J. TRUMP

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