Donald Trump’s former ambassador to the European Union says nothing should be off the table when it comes to Canada-U.S. trade discussions and that the U.S. president wants immediate change on his irritants like dairy and auto manufacturing.
“You cannot have fair and multilateral trade by someone saying that something is not up for grabs,” Gordon Sondland said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live on Sunday. “Everything is up for grabs. Everything.”
Sondland referred to Canada’s supply management system — a national policy framework meant to ensure predictable and stable prices by guaranteeing supply-managed dairy farmers a minimum price for their products. Trump has railed against the system for years.
Oh I’m so sorry Canada isn’t even more dependent on U.S. business nor vulnerable to their monopsonistic* agendas. You know what is on the table? Leaving that sheet of paper blank.
All Canada needs is a good deal on sale of the resources they need. 25% tariffs just sweeten any deal with the rest of the free-trade-loving world despite higher transportation overhead. It seems the U.S. doesn’t want to compete using their natural geographic advantage, but rather just find more ways to exploit and abuse its trading partners. And why? Because their oligarchs are getting too fat and hungry for even the most powerful nation in the world to feed. Their looming debt collapse is entirely a demise of their own making. The U.S. has always made helping to feed that beast a cost of doing business. But at some point the cost outweighs the benefit.
And I’m starting to think, with some amazement, that there isn’t just a way to survive these dark times. There’s actually a path forward that could see a brighter, fairer world in our own lifetimes. We just have to starve the beast back into submission. If the U.S. were to outright collapse into a failed, fractured state, the impact on world order would be utterly catastrophic. WW3 is what’s on the table. But there is still a softer landing within reach. If we can manage the transition by limiting it to a manageable pace and building up other friendly military powers, America will have successfully surrendered all of its surplus power and influence to its allies.
As the entire free world pivots away from doing business with the U.S. and instead strengthens ties with each other, there will no longer be one oligarchy in a trench coat dictating the free world’s relationship with capital. Americans still have time to start realizing how utterly fucked they will be in this new isolationist frontier, but good for us if they don’t. Some day we may see free trade deals getting made that require the U.S. to compromise their economic values, and comply with other nations’ standards for tax, IP, and labor law. We could see an end to nations competing via subsidy and tax break (to say nothing of labor exploitation) for private investments.
So let me be among the first to most warmly and joyously welcome Dumpster’s team to take their ball and go home. They can keep their starving oligarchs too.
Is this crazy talk?
*(Oh the irony…my browser’s American English spell check doesn’t think monopsonistic is even a word.)
I don’t think it’s entirely crazy talk, I can also see how this could end up makibg other countries work better together, but the path there is narrow and trump, his adherents, and puppetmasters will be doing everything in their power to stop it happening. At least, everything short of not destroying their allegences and friendships.
I obviously can’t speak for everywhere, but here every Canadian is effectively boycotting us goods. What purpose will it serve to import the incredibly steroid laden, antibiotic stuffed milk that they would try to sell up here?
I grew up on a dairy farm. I’ve railed against our milk mafia for years, but the end result is dairy farmers make enough money to feed their families. If we open up to US milk that effectively nobody will buy, what’s the point?
And while I’m obviously not speaking for everyone, fuck the US. You want to turn your back on your allies, we should stop even pretending like you are one. Tariff everything. Stop exports to them. They want isolation, let the isolate.
That’s how it’s going to have to be until the US administration starts to act reasonably, sorts out it’s agricutural system and generally shows that it’s a beneficial member of the global community for a good long time. I think the rest of us will have moved on by then, realigning alliances and generally making things better without them. The US and Russia will fight that with every dirty trick they have, and as a global community, we’ll have to be ready for that.
These people are such scum.
They don’t get to say jack shit about the way we run things. Just because they ruined everything about their own country, doesn’t mean they get to waddle up here and start taking our shit like they have some kind of right to it. America won’t be happy till they drag everyone down into the dirt with them.
Fucking pathetic.
That means one of the options could be Trump’s resignation. Right? Right?
Resignation. Throw his ass in Gitmo where he’s supposed to be for fuck sakes. It’s the one good use for that place. Let him rot with no media attention to feed his need and no loyalists to kiss his ass.
Dear Mr Sondland,
Go fuck yourself.
Sincerely,
Canada
