Summary

In a virtual speech at the World Economic Forum, Trump suggested Canada could become a U.S. state to avoid his proposed tariffs on imports.

The remark elicited gasps from the audience.

Trump claimed the U.S. does not need Canadian lumber, energy, or vehicles, vastly overstating the trade deficit between the two nations.

He reiterated his intention to impose tariffs, potentially as high as 25%, on imports from Canada and Mexico starting February 1.

Economists warn such tariffs would raise prices for U.S. consumers.

  • vastard@lemmynsfw.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    4 hours ago

    Please let this be the trigger for free trade with Europe and all that lovely meat and cheese.

      • vastard@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        28 minutes ago

        I’m down with that. I love Canada but I’d Euro it up to avoid seeing Charles on my currency.

  • r0ertel@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    71
    ·
    8 hours ago

    I’m going to keep posting this every time I see a reference to US tariffs against Canada.

    https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/15/beauty-eh/

    The TL;DR is that tariffs would violate the NAFTA / USMCA treaty in which Canada agreed to respect US copyright law in exchange for free trade. No free trade? Canada doesn’t need to respect US copyright any longer and can become a flourishing economy of products to compete with US products that are massively overpriced. Think printer ink and other stuff.

      • r0ertel@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 hours ago

        I was thinking to host pirate sites of US movies, software, etc. Get the US companies to tell the orange buffoon to behave or better yet, move the companies to Canada.

        I really like the article’s reference to manufacturing US DMCA-breaking technologies and forcing devices to host app stores in Canada where the government can declare the 30% Apple tax illegal.

      • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        5 hours ago

        Idk if it’s just for individuals, but our ISPs generally don’t care about pirating already. I use a VPN to pirate here but just set to another city in Canada. I only even do that because I run jellyfin and have terabytes of downloads a month.

        Worst case scenario is the ISP sends you a notice that the media companies are mad, but that’s the end of it. They won’t pursue anything further because they don’t care

        • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          5 hours ago

          It’s not illegal to download something, it’s illegal to host something (seeding)

          ISPs are compelled to notify you of copyright notices but they can’t hand your information over so you can only get caught if you respond

          • lazylion_ca@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            4 hours ago

            And even if you are dumb enough to respond to one of those emails, the liability is limited to something $50 per title. So it’s not worth the money to pay a lawyer to go after anyone. They will however try to trick you into a private settlement.

  • Yerbouti
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    7 hours ago

    I’m willing to die not to join the US.

  • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    7 hours ago

    I still remember fondly the Trump speech at the UN when the whole assembly laughed at him.

    I suspect that there’s going to be a lot more of that to come.

  • notsoshaihulud@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    33
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    9 hours ago

    Besides this being a distraction, it’s more likely that in this case Canada would end up politically annexing the USA:

    • The 2 Senators and 50 something electoral votes for “Canada State” would mean that Canadians would end up controlling US politics. :D

    Of course if one assumes that elections remain binding in the Turd Reich.

  • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    8 hours ago

    Reminder that Tariffs dont work as a threat to other nations.

    The selling price is the same for the seller, they already give the lowest price they can profit from because the modern era allows international distributors to find a demand anywhere, the buyers are the ones paying the import tax for the same goods.

    If you were selling and then the buyer had a tariff you wouldn’t just agree to take less money as a result.

    • kerrigan778@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      3 hours ago

      That’s not strictly true, they don’t “pay the tariff” obviously but they do have to balance profit margin and lost sales. Tariffs are likely to decrease number of sales which does hurt their bottom line, the question then is if they just take a loss in sales, cut into their profit margins trying to lower the price to the US (very unlikely the margins are nearly enough for this to be viable let alone preferable) or increase prices further to offset the lower sales. Probably will be mostly the former with raw material type goods and mostly the latter with high end finished goods.

      • Victor@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 hours ago

        Right, that’s what I was thinking. Surely it hurts the seller. But it also hurts the buyer, so it’s like 🙄 well done, Trump…

    • Victor@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      7 hours ago

      Isn’t the point to make the domestic customers choose products from other nations? Why wouldn’t that be a threat to the nation that is selling?

      • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 hour ago

        I think it’s a “threat” but not a very good one.

        There might be 3 brands of toothbrush available to buy in the US but maybe all of them are manufactured in China. If you just tariff everything from China then US consumers will just pay more because there’s no incentive for manufacturers to absorb the tariff.

        It’s a threat to Chinese toothbrush manufacturers because it creates an incentive for other manufacturers to pop up elsewhere, maybe someone will start manufacturing toothbrushes in the US. These toothbrushes would be cheaper than the tariffed ones for consumers to buy, but obviously more expensive than toothbrushes used to be before the tariffs.

        In summary, because consumers are unlikely to buy less toothbrushes, they just end up paying more.

  • Zier@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    76
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    13 hours ago

    Here’s the plan. The Northern US states all join Canada. The Southern Half of US states join Mexico. The US is gone. Canada & Mexico join to become 1 huge nation. (putin shits himself!) And then we deport ALL the conservatives out of North America, and live happily ever after. Problem solved. You’re Welcome.

  • Cassa@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    63
    ·
    15 hours ago

    Remember when he said he was gonna end the war in gaza and ukraine?

    Or cut the prices on gas and food?

    Yea, this is abuse of the news cycle. It’s just manipulation of news cycle so you don’t think about any losses, mistakes or other shit.

  • pixxelkick@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    91
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    16 hours ago

    So many people are extremely missing the point here

    Trump is purposefully threatening Canada to give his canadian conservative buddy Poilievre something to “fight” against, to make him look good

    “Wow Poilievre is standing up against Trump, I’m gonna vote for him!”

    That’s the game plan, in reality the two dipshits are best buds and can collude together to fuck over both countries extra hard, after conservatives get a majority over here.

    It’s a stunt to get conservatives in charge over here “against” Trump, which is so fucking stupid and yet it’s probably gonna work cuz so many people are gonna fall for it.

    I don’t think the liberal party has a good play against it, other than if our new liberal leader challenges Trump and musk to a boxing match and literally bears the shit out of them on live television

    I unironically think the Lincoln “I’ll fight you let’s go right now” leader who seriously fucks up Musk or Zuckerberg or any of those dipshits on live television would actually win by a landslide here

    It’s fuckin stupid but that’s what works apparently…

    • Someone@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      4 hours ago

      I don’t think the liberal party has a good play against it, other than if our new liberal leader challenges Trump and musk to a boxing match and literally bears the shit out of them on live television

      Ahh, well that’s not good. Love him or hate him, I think one thing everyone could agree on about Trudeau is that he’d do pretty well in a politician boxing league.

    • nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 hours ago

      Trump is purposefully threatening Canada to give his canadian conservative buddy Poilievre something to “fight” against, to make him look good

      This theory is predicated on 1) Trump remembering who PP is, 2) caring enough about who is running Canada to have it drive policy.

      I don’t think either of these things are true.

      • pixxelkick@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        6 hours ago

        They literally have meetings, and Trump obviously cares about conservatives willing to help him grift being in charge…

    • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      39
      ·
      15 hours ago

      The Conservative Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, is already doing that. I’ve heard his ads on the radio calling for Ontarioans to give him a majority government so he “can stand up to Trump”. The guy spent his time as Premier standing up to nurses and bike lanes. This new stand up against Trump shtick is just more faux populism.

        • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          5 hours ago

          The centre to left is against it as much if not more than the conservatives. If anything, PP has been awfully silent on the whole thing. And don’t even look up how Danielle Smith (conservative premier of Alberta) is responding

        • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          9 hours ago

          Sides. But try not to get caught up in the us vs them drama.

          The key point is that Mr Ford is using populism to promote populism, with no actual history where he stands up to bullies as much as he stands up to caregivers and citizens; and populism is the schtick of his party and the national cons, but isn’t a common thread in other parties as they campaign on rights and consolidated services instead.

    • 6gybf
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      9 hours ago

      He’s looking for more bribes. ‘Pay me, or else.’

  • ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    186
    ·
    edit-2
    18 hours ago

    The US consumers voted for Trump to lower the price of eggs.

    The price of eggs is soaring today. Why? Because bird flu is killing chicken.

    So what does Trump do? He cancels research on bird flu. Surely the irony won’t be missed on the magats who voted him in.

    And now this: aggression against allied nations that will result in more price hikes. More irony for the maga morons to enjoy.

    It’s only been 4 days. It’s gonna be a long 4 years…

  • atzanteol
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    96
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    18 hours ago

    Why the fuck is this asshole fighting with fucking Canada? Goddamn I can’t wait until he dies.

    • xenomor@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      36
      ·
      edit-2
      16 hours ago

      I want to piss on his grave. Seriously, they better have that shit locked down or at the top of a mausoleum or something. Otherwise, I want to try and make it a national pastime.

      • Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        11 minutes ago

        That’s the only feasible reason I can see to ever give my tourist money to the USA ever again.

      • Skates@feddit.nl
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        edit-2
        13 hours ago

        I actually thought about this a while ago. Surely there are many hated people in the world, but some world leaders take the cake. I would pay to piss on Putin’s grave for example. So… Why isn’t there a business opportunity here? Buy the graveyard holding them, sell tickets to piss on Putin/Trump/Kimjong/Xi/whoever. You can make it into a holiday - 1000 euro for a weekend in a Moscow hotel, you visit the Kremlin, you piss on Putin’s grave, you go home with a shirt that says “I literally pissed on Putin and all I got was this lousy Polonium-engraved t-shirt”. I almost bought pissonputinsgrave.com when I thought about this, but I lack the funds to actually buy their graveyards.

        Surely there’s something here for our society, right? We’re all tired of oppression at the hands of a few power-hungry old fucks and are just waiting for them to die so that we can finally release our common prostate. Or is it just me and you that would love the satisfaction of defiling the corpses of these cunt dictators?

        • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          10 hours ago

          If only Saddam and the other fuckface hadn’t been wasted like that! They just got removed, one sunk into the ocean, the other hung and buried. We…err…the world could have made millions, even to this very day. Like if you hung a drape and told people Saddam was on the other side, they would pay you good money to punch the drape for a chance to actually punch Saddam. But to make this more accessible and make more money efficiently, pee is the key! Its universally understood. It would be a huge 2 floor shrine. You create a transparent fishtanks musuleum on the first floor, and toss the evil in there. People park, pay the entrance fee (which includes a large drink), and they make a line to go see the assholes decomposing. In due time, they need to pee so they head upstairs where urinals and restrooms are all setup accordingly. Then all that flows down and pours over the evil before heading to the general drainage. Done? Head back down and you can pay extra for a remote controlled super soaker fed with pee that you can use to shoot the poop off with. You may pay extra for the 3rd floor which offers a direct line of sight opportunity for you to personally peen on the evil. Everyone would enjoy this! And we can keep tossing in more evil as they fuck up and find out. A few decades later we would have bones for sale by the piece at auction. All clearly marked so you know which evil you are peeing on. And all this would be perfectly sanitary and safe and good smelling. Good for the environment too if we treat the swage correctly.

      • Roflmasterbigpimp@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        8 hours ago

        I live in Germany but I’m more than willing to send a stool and urine Sample via overnight express to the USA as soon as this sack of human-goo and spray tan gets put in the ground.

  • Hegar@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    82
    ·
    18 hours ago

    Putin hired him to start pointless nonsensical arguments with our nearest and most vital allies and that’s what he’s gonna do.

      • grue@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        edit-2
        15 hours ago

        Nobody would give a fuck about pee tapes. Cee-pee tapes, maybe, but even then it might still not be enough to bring him down at this point.

        Otherwise, it’s 100% clear Trump is doing this shit because he’s a Putin fanboi and fascist true believer, not because he’s somehow being coerced. Stop giving him the benefit of the doubt.

      • boredtortoise@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        27
        ·
        18 hours ago

        Any taped content wouldn’t sway his cult of loonies. The guy rapes and fantasizes about shooting people on the street. Could be just psycho machismo why they’re colluding

      • 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        17 hours ago

        I’d like to see MAGA’s cognitive dissonance in trying to conceptualize Trump getting peed on as a power move of his