US imposes new 50% tariffs on some Canadian products • Hacker News Board

Re: US imposes new 50% tariffs on some Canadian products

#11

Post by JumpCrisscross » Tue, Jul 21, 2026, 12:37 AM UTC

jleyank wrote: post #8

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> just makes the U.S. look even more unreliable and incapable of meeting it's signed commitments The EU is trying to captain the sinking ship of the international system of laws. China (UNCLOS), Russia (Geneva, Budapest) and now America (Geneva, Budapest, every trade agreement) have explicitly and materially violated their signed agreements in massive ways. The only charge America hasn't joined the party on is annexi…

There's a whole lot of middle-level countries that can/should act like the Internet and route around damage. With motivations on both sides, trade agreements can be reached more quickly. And there's trade to/from the US that has to be replaced.

> There's a whole lot of middle-level countries that can/should act like the Internet and route around damage

Carney has the right idea here. The problem is you can't just ignore the large powers–that's trying to construct a prisoner's dilemma cartel.

Re: US imposes new 50% tariffs on some Canadian products

#12

Post by JumpCrisscross » Tue, Jul 21, 2026, 12:37 AM UTC

zhoBEENG wrote: post #10

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> just makes the U.S. look even more unreliable and incapable of meeting it's signed commitments The EU is trying to captain the sinking ship of the international system of laws. China (UNCLOS), Russia (Geneva, Budapest) and now America (Geneva, Budapest, every trade agreement) have explicitly and materially violated their signed agreements in massive ways. The only charge America hasn't joined the party on is annexi…

If there is no international police, there is no international law.

> If there is no international police, there is no international law

That was the Pax Americana. The problem is the same people complaining about countries blatantly breaking contracts now were whining about imperialism before.

Re: US imposes new 50% tariffs on some Canadian products

#13

Post by gucci-on-fleek » Tue, Jul 21, 2026, 8:03 AM UTC

ChrisArchitect wrote: post #4

Canada-side coverage: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-canada-us-trade-tariffs-... ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48984932 )

Reuters is Canadian, so the OP is already Canada-side coverage (but the additional links are still appreciated)

Re: US imposes new 50% tariffs on some Canadian products

#14

Post by kashunstva » Tue, Jul 21, 2026, 8:36 AM UTC

beloch wrote: post #5

These new tariff's explicitly violate CUSMA/USMCA, which Trump personally signed. That treaty does include a clause for pulling out, but that isn't being properly exercised here. Failing to use the proper termination clause for the trade deal just makes the U.S. look even more unreliable and incapable of meeting it's signed commitments. It's now clear that trade deals with the U.S. will not be honoured, so why should…

> These new tariff's explicitly violate CUSMA/USMCA, which Trump personally signed.

Just like in 2017, Trudeau and Trump agreed to support the expeditious completion of the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Trump 1.0 even listed it as a priority infrastructure project. But Trump 2.0 has held up the opening of the bridge for months based on profound misunderstandings of how the project was funded and completed. And of course the influence of the Moroun family.

The repeated capriciousness of this U.S. administration is undoing any sense of trust and cooperation. Everything to Trump is an all-or-nothing battle to be won. In 80 years on this earth, the man has not learned that mutual benefit is a thing.