I’ve said it before, U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra is the most underpaid U.S. emissary sent to a hostile nation and constantly surrounded by threats, bitterness, anger and hatred.

It would be easier to be U.S. ambassador to North Korea.

There is so much nuance inside this interview, it is remarkable.

Ambassador Hoekstra tries in his best diplomatic form to tell the two Canadians Michael LeBlanc and Dr. Sylvain Charlebois about the underlying nature of the U.S-Canada trade conflicts.  However, in typical Canadian fashion both indoctrinated interviewers are curiously stumped by the points Hoekstra presents.  I am prompting this one because you also need to see the body/facial language. WATCH:

[SIDENOTE: The Canadians needed to turn off the comments on YouTube because Canadians are angry, bitter, abusive, vulgar and nasty in every comment section on the subject of U.S-Canada relations.]

Canada’s greatest strategic weakness is what Canadians call their greatest strength, pride.

There is a big difference between being proud and being prideful. The Canadian worldview is based on the latter.

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U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has made it official.  Delivering an official statement today following a discussion between the United States, Mexico and Canada, USTR Jamieson Greer informed the group the USA will not be renewing the USMCA trilateral trade agreement. [SOURCE]

[SOURCE]

Unfortunately, yet predictably given how much false information has been pushed on this issue, the Canadian team will now believe they have a period of ten consecutive years of negotiation before the trade deal is over.  This is structurally and completely false.  The Canadian media will likely continue selling this false hope.

In reality, with the non-renewal announcement now made, President Trump and USTR Greer can now complete the bilateral trade discussions with Mexico (noted in the announcement) and then move to stage two.

Stage two will be the United States announcing a complete withdrawal from the USMCA, which triggers a six-month countdown clock.   The formal notification of withdrawal will likely happen once the U.S. and Mexico complete the bilateral free trade agreement.

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The Canadian dollar is starting to feel the effects of long-term uncertainty. It will get worse.

...”Since the start of June, the currency has weakened 2.9%, which would be its steepest monthly decline since October 2024, as Canadian bond yields fell further below U.S. yields.”… {source}

Now, this is where you really need to pay attention to details.  Remember, the U.K and EU have a vested interest in protecting Canada from economic collapse.

President Trump doesn’t want immediate collapse either -because Xi will move in fast- but Trump is not going to provide the same financial and economic lifelines that the other four-eyes will trigger.

Reuters is reporting that tomorrow the U.S. will formally declare a “non-extension” of the USMCA trade agreement {ARTICLE} and that triggers a 10-year period to decoupling.  It is very important to understand there is a difference between announcing a “non-extension” and announcing a “withdrawal“.  The Canadians are completely confused about what is about to happen.

In a non-extension announcement, the USA is saying they do not want to extend or renew the terms of the agreement beyond the current trade agreement terms.  Yes, this is a 10-year exit.  However, that’s not the part that matters.  Announcing a decision to exit the USMCA (CUSMA), a full withdrawal from the trilateral deal, triggers a six-month countdown to exit.

The deadline to announce the decision to extend is tomorrow, July 1st.  There is no deadline on the timeline to announce an exit or withdrawal from the USMCA. That announcement can happen at any time.

Put simply, announcing a non-renewal is a 10-year exit.  Announcing a withdrawal is a 6-month exit.  The announcement to withdraw can come at any time after the statement of non-renewal.

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What is proposed below is regulatory, lawful and entirely intended to create hardships and burdens.  Thus, a new era in State Department visa requirements respond to newly established guidelines by the Supreme Court.

As a pragmatic and patriotic American I respectfully suggest and recommend the U.S. State Department immediately institute the “Roberts Requirement” following similar visa entry protocols previously used for COVID-19 tests prior to U.S. admittance.

The Roberts Requirement: Each female visa applicant must present a valid negative pregnancy test taken no longer than 10 days prior to travel to the United States.

The certified document, negative pregnancy test, together with all related visa approvals must be presented to Customs and Border Patrol at each port of entry. Failure disqualifies the traveler.

This is the same protocol as COVID-19, only using pregnancy status as the disqualifying health issue. It is a lawful regulation, born from a new standard established by the Supreme Court, that does not need congressional approval.

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You might remember recent reports outlining how the economy of Canada has slipped into a recession, posting two consecutive quarters with a negative GDP outcome.  There are multiple reasons for this shrinkage, but the dominant factor is, well, quite frankly, Canadian politics and economic policy.

Meanwhile, in Mexico the opposite is happening.  Mexico’s economic activity grew 1.2% in April from the prior month, the national statistics agency said, compared with a revised increase of 0.6% in March and beating a forecast of a 0.9% increase in a Reuters poll of analysts. {source}

It is not coincidental to see the Mexican economy performing well, while the Canadian economy is contracting.  Despite their identical proximity to The United States, each nation is currently executing a fundamentally different set of economic policies.

The Canadian government has been exceptionally combative with the U.S.A, leading to friction, tariffs and economic back-and-forth measures between the two nations.

The Mexican government has expressly understood the nature of their dependency, admitted it, taken no action to diminish it, and purposefully set out to align itself with the interests of America.

Canada is combative. Mexico is collaborating.

It seems unlikely that the three nations can agree on major economic policies, as a trilateral partnership would need alignment in core areas like energy policy. Canada’s energy policy is fundamentally separate from those of the U.S. and Mexico, and this is an issue that can’t be resolved through a trade agreement alone.

A large part of Mexico’s economy relies on remittances from Mexican workers in the U.S. sending money back to their families. As long as the U.S. job market stays strong—and it’s only getting stronger in the industries where many Mexicans work—Mexico will continue to benefit from America’s economic growth.

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An interesting article in Japan Times reinforces several insider trade discussions that have been taking place over the past eighteen months.  Essentially, all trade deals with Canada are contingent upon their access to the USA market.  Lose the USMCA trade deal, and any trade terms between Asian and Canadian counterparts are null and void.

This is not the first time this background from key trade nations has been shared with Canada.  Japan told Canada last year that most sector trade, specifically the auto industry, was contingent upon tariff-free access to the U.S. market.  If Canada loses the USMCA, the terms of trade change completely.

This reality is now surfacing in comments directly from the Canadian trade teams and business insiders within Canada.  They are now admitting without the USMCA their leverage for trade with other countries disappears.  This is a considerable admission from within Canada government that has not yet become part of the average Canadian understanding.

If Canada loses their trade agreement with the USA, all other countries will modify their trade agreements with Canada.  Think about the leverage within that reality, overlay the Canadian government’s severe anti-Trump mindset, and you quickly realize just how dangerous Mark Carney is for Canada.

JAPAN TIMES – […] Carney’s push to lessen dependence on the U.S. is colliding with a stubborn reality: access to American markets remains a crucial part of Canada’s appeal to prospective trading partners, according to interviews with a dozen government officials and business leaders.

[…] Canadian officials acknowledge that the main draw for many potential trading partners is the prospect of gaining tariff-free access to the world’s largest market through Canada’s participation in ‌the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade ‌agreement.

Carney regularly touts Canada’s preferential access to the U.S. market, noting that more than 85% of bilateral trade remains tariff-free.

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A rather ironic sequence of events as Canada formally requests to renew the USMCA (CUSMA) trade agreement for 16-years, followed a day later by the U.S. announcing additional tariffs toward 60 countries including Canada.

On Tuesday, Dominic LeBlanc, the trade minister from Canada assigned to USMCA negotiations, traveled to Washington DC for a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

LeBlanc, reflecting the obtuse nature the Canadian trade delegation is now well known for, seemed oblivious to the friction points in the U.S. position and formally requested the trade deal be renewed for another 16 years. {Citation}

LeBlanc called the agreement “highly beneficial” to all three countries. From the Canadian position this may be true, but that’s not even remotely what the U.S. team has presented in private and public comments.

Additionally, over the past two weeks the shift in Canadian strategy has become clearer.   While Carney’s administration previously seemed to be targeting Democrats in the U.S. congress to support retaining a trade agreement with Canada, that approach ended abruptly after several key Democrat senators began taking the position of influential U.S. labor unions who want the deal scrapped.  Canada now seems to be relying on pressure from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and corporate republicans to support their position.

The day after news reports of Dominic LeBlanc’s expressed position, USTR Greer announced a new round of 301 tariffs against 60 countries who participate in third-party trade agreements with countries who use forced labor. {Citation} Suddenly, Canada’s embrace of China becomes even more serious.

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The continual message from President Trump to President Claudia Sheinbaum has been clear, ‘clean it up or possibly we will’, as Trump has publicly and repeatedly said Sheinbaum and the Mexican government were under the control of Mexican cartels.

Following the daring capture of Venezuela dictator Nicholas Maduro, Mexican President Sheinbaum took notice.  In the past few months dozens of government officials and cartel members have been targeted, arrested, indicted, extradited and removed from positions of influence.

Today, Mexican Security Minister Omar García Harfuch announced the arrest of Cuautla Mayor Jesús Corona Damián (pictured left).

(Bloomberg) — Mexican authorities detained the mayor of a historic city near the capital, the latest move designed to show the government is rooting out corrupt politicians from its ranks.

Cuautla Mayor Jesús Corona Damián was arrested Saturday, Security Minister Omar García Harfuch wrote in a post on social media platform X. An arrest warrant had been issued by the general prosecutor’s office on May 20.

Corona was on the run in recent days, after the security ministry announced in May the arrests of other top officials in Morelos State. The moves are part of a broader operation under President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office in 2024 with an anti-corruption message, to nab dozens of politicians taking part in extortion scams and with alleged ties to broader crime rackets.

“With this operation, more than 85 officials and former officials have been detained, including seven mayors currently in office,” García Harfuch said on X. “The government of Mexico maintains a policy of zero impunity regarding any links between authorities and criminal groups.”

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Mike Steger takes less than 20-minutes to walk through a year of President Trump’s multifaceted U.S. manufacturing policy initiatives that have positioned the U.S. economy for a massive surge in growth. Steger recaps several consequential moves by President Trump and his cabinet to fundamentally change economics in the Western Hemisphere. Each point is well delivered and well presented.

Steger then overlays the economic moves with the geopolitical moves in Venezuela (oil), Cuba (communism ended), Mexico (cartels, traffickers and corruption), Canada (globalism confronted) and finally Greenland (a new consulate is created). Put together, Steger notes how all of these move’s work together with a massive surge in energy, technology and productivity to create a hemispheric powerhouse within the United States. WATCH:

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
01:10 Volcker and the Origins of Globalization
02:30 NAFTA and the Collapse of Industrial America
04:05 Liberation Day and the Tariff Battle
05:30 China’s Rare Earth Weapon
06:45 Rebuilding American Industry

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Remember last weekend when we outlined how the sudden sense of urgency from Europe toward a trade agreement with Mexico? that agreement had little to do with purchasing row crops from Mexico, and everything to do with what Europe needs as access to the United States {Go Deep}.

The language being used by the United States trade office is specific. [SEE HERE] The first bilateral round of negotiations between the United States and Mexico for the USMCA free trade agreement has concluded. (Emphasis mine)

PRESS RELEASE – “MEXICO CITY — “Today, the United States and Mexico concluded the first bilateral round related to the Joint Review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The United States concluded discussions with the goals of reducing the trade deficit with Mexico and strengthening American supply chains. During this first round, negotiators discussed priority issues related to automotive rules of origin, steel and aluminum, and economic security.

The United States and Mexico recognize the importance of advancing cooperation to enhance regulatory compatibility to strengthen sectors, including medical devices, pharmaceuticals, cosmetic products, and others.

We will continue advancing these discussions on June 16-17 in Washington, D.C., in addition to agriculture and a level playing field. The third round will be held during the week of July 20 in Mexico City.

The United States continues to emphasize the importance of ensuring the Agreement benefits U.S. manufacturers, farmers, ranchers, workers, service suppliers, and businesses of all sizes, and of addressing free-riding from third countries.” (source)

Currently, European automakers have billions invested in Mexican auto plants.  Much of the component material for those vehicles comes from Europe for assembly in Mexico.  That was the primary focus of the Europeans in their trade agreement with Mexico.

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