Trump being an idiot? Must be a day that starts with a T.

There’s Tuesday and Thursday. Thriday, Thaturday and Thunday. And of course Tonday and Tednesday.

My theory is that we’re in an ‘emperor has no clothes’ situation, where a cult of sycophants has nourished itself on a leader with a genuine case of cognitive decline, and who are too afraid, because of the sunk cost or a fear of banishment or retribution, to point out this flaw or contradict their madman.

You see them parrot his insane talking point with such glee because the madness and fervour are contagions. Within the cult, the insanity is self perpetuating, and the longer you’re in, the crazier you become. 15 or 20 years ago, these same people probably had fairly typical views and opinions and, if confronted by their past self, would now only see a stranger or a traitor. Their past self might look at what they’ve become and wonder, “What did I do to deserve that?!”

What I’m saying is I think Trump might be Cthulu.

We saw the same fervour in the UK with the Brexit vote. Family members and people I personally know, who were vociferously in favour at the time, claim now to have always believed it a bad idea.

There’s the idiom that goes something like “those who stand for nothing will believe in anything.” It always amazes me when people fall for obvious nonsense. Especially otherwise intelligent and thoughtful people.

Huh. TIL. Never heard of it before.

There’s no time like the present!

Believe it or not: straight to jail.

If they keep feeding garbage data to ‘train’ AI were going to end up living in a future ruled by an absolutely deranged train wreck of an intellect.

No changes for the US.

God. A return to the mean for US foreign policy. What will this be? The 10th US invasion of Panama?

I guess we better start taking the Greenland and Canada shit more seriously.

Is Common Dreams reliable? It sounds like something you’d name your high school blog. Any reporting if this elsewhere?

They really should install a McDonalds PlayPlace at the white house. Keep him distracted with nuggies and Melania in a Grimace costume doing the YMCA dance.

And then in 10 years everyone gets to pretend that they were ‘against it the whole time’ like they did with the Iraq War.

They meant a candidate for ‘piece.’ A piece of this country, a piece of that country.

I read somewhere that the US president can only impose tariffs of up to 25% unilaterally and that anything higher requires congressional approval.

Could be that when it’s considered ‘retaliation’ that changes the rules.

I’m expecting something along these lines.

Of course they’re incompetent. Trump is a Russian asset in that he has a Dollarstore intellect and is easy to manipulate. No bribes necessary.

I doubt anything is going to stop Putin in the long run, other than a definitive loss. I’m interested to see how Trump responds when he’s forced to confront the fact that geopolitics is not like demanding a refund at McDonalds because your nuggies are cold.

We may be talking past each other, but in any case, I don’t think that is a useful way of presenting this information.

Gross domestic product calculates only for the net effect of imports and exports. That is to say, the balance of trade.

56% of Canada’s GDP is consumer spending. 19% is investment. 23% is government spending. And 2% is net exports.

That’s the $2.2/2.3 trillion GDP of Canada broken down. Yes, it’s technically true to say that the trade relationship represents a value roughly equivalent to 40% of Canada’s GDP, but I don’t believe that’s very helpful framing.

Using the same method, we might say that the various trade relationships of the US represent a value that is roughly 25% of US GDP.

If Canada’s GDP, an acronym that many people take to be synonymous with ‘economy’, was 40% US trade, we’d be talking about more than a 3% recession.

I can’t help but think of the ‘length of a football field’ or ‘weight of an elephant’ mode of analysis.

Also, your definition of the fallout this could create seems very limited in scope, but I take your point that you are only defining said fallout within the confines of the immediate and specific effects of the tarrifs themselves, and not all the various ripple effects.

Otherwise, we probably agree more than we disagree. Trump’s a cunt is about what it boils down to for me.

Yes, but the $920b you’re quoting is bilateral. That’s the total value of the trade relationship in goods. $450b is the value of Canada’s exports to the US, with the remainder representing US exports to Canada.

I have also seen the 3% figure for Canada, and don’t dispute that. The Atlanta fed is also predicting around the same for the US. Don’t forget, the US is attacking all of its trade partners at once, not just Canada.

You’re not alone! It looks like investors also think they overplayed their hand, judging by the reaction of the markets. Terrible combination of Trumps silky smooth brain and US exceptionalism.

Also, not the first time I’ve seen the 40% GDP figure make an appearance. Must be doing its rounds on US propaganda networks.

While true, the Canadian government has already announced grants and loans to help Canadian companies restructure their supply chains away from the US. It’s a start. While the legal framework exists, Canadian companies haven’t yet had a reason to take advantage of new free trade agreements with the EU and the Asia Pacific. Now they do.

Also, in terms of numbers: about 25% of Canadian GDP is based on US trade; a little lower than the number you quoted, still too high, I’d say. Hopefully, the Canadian economies’ smaller size will prove agile enough for the transition. I’ve also seen it suggested that the hit to the Canadian economy from Trump’s attacks could be offset by removing internal trade barriers so that Canada can trade more efficiently with itself. This has been a huge shot in the arm for that project.

20% of US exports go to the EU, 18% go to Canada, 17% to Mexico, and less than 10% to China. Similarly, about 70% of US imports come from those same markets. This will be devastating for everyone, the US included. It won’t be the ‘short period of transition’ the bloated diet coke goblin imagines. World trade patterns and supply chains will literally be upended.