Summary

Canada launched an ad campaign in the U.S. denouncing Trump’s tariffs as a “tax on hardworking Americans.”

Billboards in 12 states, including key Republican areas, urge Americans to oppose the tariffs, which could cost households over $1,200 annually.

Polls show most Americans fear economic harm from the tariffs, despite Trump’s claim they are a “tax cut.”

Canada is also preparing retaliatory tariffs while rejecting Trump’s repeated calls to annex Canada as the 51st U.S. state. Officials labeled the annexation rhetoric “absurd.”

    • Hideakikarate
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      3 days ago

      It really is telling that Canada seems to care more about the U.S. people than our own government.

      • skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de
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        3 days ago

        It stagnated for too long and now dumb goons are in charge. Go figure. People like Boobert get into politics when they should have gone on reality tv. Never taking the job seriously.

  • aramis87@fedia.io
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    3 days ago

    I really wish the signs didn’t say “paid for by Canada” on them, or at least not so prominently. Because I just know some people are going to read it as “tariffs are a tax on Americans paid for by Canada”.

    • pivot_root@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      I also wish it didn’t say that, but for entirely different reasons.

      It’s an ad. Paid for by a foreign government. MAGA morons aren’t going to do much other than interpret it as Canada being scared and spreading lies, which obviously means it’s working and Trump is doing a tremendous bigly job making Canada “pay” the tariffs.

      It might get some Republican Trump voters to actually attempt to understand the consequences of tariffs, but it’s going to empower the vocal cultists that live in disinformation la-la land.

  • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    The sad thing is this is only further driving inequality. Not only will private businesses struggle and get purchased by private equity, once prices go up, they won’t come back down. When the tariff tantrums eventually end, corporations will have a newly increased margin. We already witnessed that after recovering from covid supply chain constraints.

  • tal@lemmy.today
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    4 days ago

    More-specifically, a regressive tax, one which hits the poor harder.

    • ohulancutash@feddit.uk
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      3 days ago

      Yup. I can’t remember if it was Aston-Martin, Rolls-Royce or Ferrari, but they raised their prices by a lot on a whim at some point, and sales actually increased because the price tag was part of the brag.

      • Timecircleline
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        3 days ago

        I think it’s Jaguar. They’re doing a bonkers rebranding right now where you can’t tell what the ads are trying to sell.

        • Nangijala@feddit.dk
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          3 days ago

          I miss what the world looked like when that lame ad was all the rage online. I know it was only months ago, but it feels like a decade.

  • mctoasterson@reddthat.com
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    2 days ago

    I mean, people already know. A tariff is literally a tax that artificially bouys one domestic industry or class of product, at the expense of all others who participate in the market.

    I’ve never seen or heard of any point in history where the apparent “desired effect” is achieved and all manufacturing production is magically reshored resulting in prosperity. The actual result is Joe Consumer having fewer choices or buying a Chevy he didn’t want vs. a Toyota he did want.

    … and while we are at it, what is an “American” car these days? Any company that was started or Headquartered here? Anything that undergoes final assembly here? The Ford I used to drive had parts and assemblies from Japan, Turkey, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, and probably China.

    • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      Service guarantees citizenship :)

      ^(I hope this is the route we go if the US gets even more serious about invading)^