President Donald Trump talks about placing tariffs on Canadian goods.  Ontario Premier Doug Ford talks about “inflicting as much pain as possible on the American people.”  See the difference?   Tell me again how the term “snowmexicans” is insulting.  I digress.

A few thoughts.  First, apparently Doug Ford doesn’t quite understand that tariffs on steel, aluminum and auto imports are not part of the “reciprocity” tariff regime.  They are an entirely different category classified under national security directives to ensure American industrial capacity.

Second, as Canada moves into the “freedom fries” phase, voices like Doug Ford might want to consider the end of this continuum that finds the word “embargo” in the lingo. Perhaps President Trump would consider elevating the conversation to “reciprocity” in the banking sector.  Again, I digress.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announces the Canadian government intention to “inflict as much pain as possible against the American people.”  WATCH:

Canadians just don’t get it.  Meanwhile, as it was within most of the originating negotiations of the USMCA, Mexico smartly stays quiet as stompy feet Canada draws the attention from President Donald Trump.

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The atomic sledgehammer that President Trump just delivered to the German auto industry simply cannot be overemphasized.  A 25% tariff on imported cars and car parts completely negates hundreds of billions in pre-positioned investment dollars by German auto companies in Mexico.  [Executive Order Here]

[Cliff Notes Here]

To give scale to the impact on Germany, consider that German automakers currently have 330 automotive suppliers in Mexico according to information from VDA.  Audi (a subsidiary of Volkswagen) has no U.S. production sites; every Audi sold in America will be subject to a 25% tariff. The Audi brand access to the U.S. market was/is 100% dependent on Mexico, including for manufacturing the Q5 SUV, its top-selling U.S. model.

According to prior reporting from Politico, “Volkswagen’s most popular model for American consumers is the Tiguan, an SUV that is entirely manufactured in Mexico. The German automaker sold over 30,000 of the vehicles in the final quarter of last year, a nearly 50 percent year-over-year increase.”  But wait, it gets worse….

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During an executive order signing session in the White House today, President Trump announced a major change in tariffs on the auto industry.  [Full Executive Order Here]

The 25% import duty applies on top of any preexisting tariff for cars and light trucks.  The 25% tariff also applies to imported car parts.  The USMCA trade agreement between the U.S. Canada and Mexico still applies.

If the content of a car assembled in Mexico/Canada contains 50 percent component parts from the USA, the 25% tariff only applies to the final value of the imported components. In this example the tariff rate would be 12.5% of the total value.

The tariff applies to all imported cars and light trucks.  Approximately half of all cars sold in the USA are currently American made, the other half are import vehicles from mainly Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Germany.

This is a very big kick in the teeth to Germany.  Previously in a long-term strategy to avoid U.S. tariffs, German automakers invested billions in auto assembly plants in Mexico.  Ex. the BMW parts were shipped from Germany and the cars assembled in Mexico.  Now that investment is worthless as the vehicle will be taxed at a rate of 25% regardless of whether it is assembled in Germany or Mexico.

Ex.2 High end auto Mercedes currently builds SUVs in the USA in order to avoid the previous 25% tariff; however, they still build cars outside the USA and export them into the USA market.  This will likely change quickly, and Mercedes will begin building all cars and SUVs in the USA.

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Interim installed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has confirmed the snap election for Canada is scheduled for April 28, 2025.

Given that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre generally sealed his fate with criticism of President Trump while aligning himself with a surging patriotic-leftist movement, it is now expected that Mark Carney will win the election.

Politico has an article about the dynamic underway, and the following quotes are noteworthy:

CANADA – […] Trump has even taken credit for turning the Liberals’ fortunes around.

“Before I got involved and totally changed the election — which I don’t care about, probably, it’s our advantage, actually — but the Conservative was leading against, I call him Governor Trudeau. The conservative was leading by 35 points,” he said Friday, while exaggerating the polls.

“I think Canada is a place, like a lot of other places, if you have a good candidate, the candidate is going to work,” Trump said.

[…] Canadians have responded to Trump’s intimidation tactics with an outburst of patriotism. They are canceling spring break plans, buying made-in-Canada products, damaging Teslas and booing “The Star Spangled Banner” at professional sporting events.

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While repeating his claim that Canada can easily replace their trade relationship with the USA by seeking larger trade relationship with other countries, specifically the EU, current interim Prime Minister Mark Carney repeats that no contact will be attempted or accepted by the Canadian government until President Donald Trump shows him respect.

This doesn’t portend favorably for U.S-Canada relations; which, to be fair, they would argue have been destroyed by President Donald Trump questioning their sovereignty.  However, here’s the kicker, what Canadians don’t seem to realize is that questioning their sovereignty is simply a strategy by President Trump to eliminate the one-sided trade relationship with Canada.

It is funny to me that Canada just can’t figure this out.

As long as Canada refuses to engage with President Trump due to a perceived lack of respect, President Donald Trump will continue to enhance his disrespect of Canada, because the absence of engagement assists his ‘total trade reset’ objective.  President Trump wants to ¹show, perhaps prove to the Canadian people, how dependent they are on their USA relationship; vis-a-vis they are already not a sovereign, economically independent nation.  WATCH:

¹Somewhere around 80% of Canadians have no concept of how their economy is functioning {GO DEEP}. Most Canadians seem to think they have some form of capitalistic system in operation and tweeking the knobs will fix things; it won’t.

So, from an American political perspective, specifically from the perspective of President Trump – as noted in all of his repeated remarks about the upcoming Canadian election – having Mark Carney carry out his policies and watching the system therein collapse, might break the borg-mindset.  It will be massively painful for Canadians when their currency hits around 0.25¢ to the US dollar.  However, that currency collapse will ¹more than eliminate any Trump tariff impact.

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The example of Canadian ready-to-assemble furniture supplier Prepac is a case study in what Robert Lighthizer was discussing with Tucker Carlson yesterday.

Prepac is a furniture company that creates the pre-fab (particle board) type furniture [company here].  The company was founded and established in Canada and previously opened a second facility for manufacturing and distribution in North Carolina.

The U.S. market is their primary sales market, and facing increased uncertainty about access, tariffs and operations their best play is to close shop in Canada and move all operations to the location of their primary customer base.  Prepac is leaving Canada for North Carolina.

DELTA, British Columbia — Canadian ready-to-assemble furniture supplier Prepac has reportedly shut down its manufacturing operations in Delta, British Columbia, shifting all production to its facility in North Carolina instead.

According to Unifor, the union that represents Prepac’s workers, tariffs are to blame. More than 170 workers will be laid off.

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If you appreciate and understand the background of MAGAnomic endeavor; or if you want to hear the arguments about why trade tariffs are critical to maintain American economic sovereignty; this interview with former United States Trade Representative (USTR) is for you.

USTR Lighthizer walks through the intents and purposes of President Trump’s tariff program. Lighthizer gives a historic review of U.S trade policy and outcomes.  WATCH:

Chapters:
0:00 Why Do We Need to Reinstitute Tariffs?
6:10 The Slow Death of America’s Working Class
13:35 Donald Trump’s Plan to Fix the Economy

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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears on CBS News to outline how the MAGAnomic tariff program immediately creates positive outcomes when President Trump identifies the specific targets.

As Lutnick appropriately notes, the EU has received one-way tariff benefit since the creation of the Marshal Plan in 1945.  President Trump is on track to finally end this exfiltration of American wealth.  Lutnick cuts through the nonsense and delivers a very non-pretending reality as he outlines how Canada doesn’t stop fentanyl, and Mexico doesn’t stop migration caravans.

This is an excellent explanatory outline of how President Trump paints the target, then Commerce Secretary Lutnick supports the targeting, and how foreign nations immediately respond to change their approach. WATCH:

As we notice today, for the first time since last year the Consumer Price Index now shows inflation slowing rapidly [CPI DATA HERE] as basic essential prices on energy and gasoline are dropping quickly and all downstream products start dropping in sequence.

Here is our current status after one month: – mortgage rates are down – egg prices are down – gas prices are down – overall inflation dropping – illegal immigration stopped at the border – wages going up – foreign aid shut down – woke initiatives being removed – massive manufacturing investments ongoing.

Hey, it’s winning folks, and it has only just begun.  Lutnick is absolutely correct.

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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, another deliberate and happy warrior, appears on Face the Nation to deconstruct the narratives presented by NBC and Kirsten Welker.

Starting with the Mexico and Canada tariff issues, Welker incorrectly frames the current issue around economics. Secretary Lutnick presents the issue of the current Mex/Can confrontation for what President Trump has prioritized, the issue of illegal fentanyl smuggling across the border.

100,000+ Americans are killed each year with the intentional and purposeful transportation of Chinese drugs through the U.S. southern border of Mexico and the U.S northern border with Canada.  Both nations could, if they wanted, crack down on the illegal and dangerous drug trade; neither has prioritized the problem. Again, 100,000+ Americans are killed each year.  Think about it.  WATCH: 

“This is the way you run the country,” Lutnick said on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” with Kristen Welker. “You shut the border. You get our neighbors to do their job. It’s not only us who has to do their job. Why are our neighbors, who live and breathe off our economy, not taking care of America?”

“You have to remember this is a drug-related issue,” Lutnick said. “You’ve got fentanyl pouring into this country, killing 75,000 Americans, autopsied. And the president, you know, thinks it’s many, many more, multiples more.”

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Those who followed the details of the U.S, Mexico and Canada trade agreement, can easily see how Chrystia Freeland was never going to be the right person for Canada to have as Finance Minister while they attempt to navigate President Trump’s economic policy again.

In fact, I would not be surprised if someone in Mar-a-Lago told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau he needed to ice her out if Trudeau wanted to stand a chance of a relationship with Donald Trump. As many people noted during her gleeful confiscation of funds from the trucker protests, Deputy Prime Minister/Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is a conniving, scheming, and all-around nasty piece of work.

In a posture akin to that sideways stare from Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction (“I’m not going to be ignored, Justin”) today turned some of that internal spite toward her boss, Justin Trudeau.

[Source]

As noted by the New York Times, “Ms. Freeland, who has helped steer the Trudeau government through many challenges, had been playing a prominent role in forming Canada’s response to the incoming Trump administration, leading a team of government officials preparing for the transition.”  And then there’s the part of her letter which says, “on Friday you told me you no longer wanted me to serve as your finance minister.”

Yep, apparently the Canadian Trade Team walking toward Team America-First just wasn’t going to work again. Or, put more accurately, no one around Trump-47 has time for the childish nonsense that Freeland brings with her everywhere. lolol

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