Live data from Hacker News

Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

bbc.com

211–220 of 1001 posts

Re: Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

#211

[flagged]

Is this some sort of weird AI slop? Like, what even is this nonsense? "~70% of Canadian exports go to the US" If you remove oil[1], Canada has a trade deficit with the US. And strangely the US has never said an iota about tariffing or restricting oil, and on the contrary keeps trying to increase it. Like Trump's big celebration was about hoping to revive a pipeline. The vast majority of Canada's economy is internal,…

[dead]

Re: Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

#212

Huh 30% of our lumber just got 50% more expensive. Good thing we don't have shortages of affordable housing that need new construction to solve. Brilliant stuff Donald. Truly some 4D chess moves.

You still think any of his moves are driven by 'what's good for the US'? I think it's motivated entirely by schemes to stuff his pockets with money.

don’t forget his weak ego

Re: Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

#213
post #97

I think a retaliation for a tariff should be an export tax. Let's say Canada puts a 50% export tax on maple syrup unless the car tariff is withheld

I also had this idea, but it can't be something you can get in another place. But for something like potash it might work. But I think overall it does not really matter. A war is a war, so there will be no real winners. Here we go again.

Québec makes 80% of the world’s maple syrup. You pretty much can’t get it anywhere else.

Re: Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

#214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Though I assume this will cause pain for everyone. Yes, but the pain is likely unavoidable. The alternative is much more pain, but slightly later/more spread out, from repeatedly giving in.

Actually its the opposite. The pain of "giving in" is limited to specific Canadian industries and powerful stakeholders with a LOT of political influence. In the broadest terms, Canada's economy grows rapidly if they give in.

Explain how “Canada’s economy grows rapidly” if we accept a bad deal from a stronger economy. The goal for Canada is a return to the free trade agreement covering ~98% of goods that existed before this chaos, which allowed for close integration and long term planning for businesses on both sides of the border. Rolling over and dying gets us further away from that goal.

Re: Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

#215
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And maybe the US will learn again, that a great deal is something that people can rely on?

Trump believes everything on this planet is zero sum, and the only way you can benefit is if the other party hurts. His entire history on this planet betrays this, where he is an unreliable scumbag to everyone he has ever dealt with, to the point where the guy couldn't find vendors or a bank outside of Russia to deal with him. And then Americans said "this is the guy we should put in charge". It is a particularly int…

Negative sum, not zero sum.

Re: Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

#216
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pushing back against a US that is at this point economically and militarily dominant does nothing. It might push for cooperations outside the US-sphere.

Are they still dominant? They can't even win their war against Iran. And everyone is slowly moving away from the dollar. The US as world hegemon is counting its days.

Hasn’t won against Iran.

Is out of ammo.

Cannot win against Russia in the proxy war with Ukraine.

Cannot match China with their long term energy plans.

Has debt that explodes

Has a president that sells early access to his tweets for 100k$ a year ; insider trading in the open.

The USA are not in a good posture right now.

Re: Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

#217
post #114
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And maybe the US will learn again, that a great deal is something that people can rely on?

The guy still has like ~35% approval ratings according to every poll there is, and that’s after weekly displays of outright corruption from him and his family, and “winning” the same war dozens of times already with no end in sight. The number hardly even budged YTD. You’re telling me that this country is capable of learning?

It is lowest in history in this point of presidency apart from Nixon, who resigned at this point. That 30-35% is the floor, which won’t budge, likely because the hard core Maga Republicans have nowhere to go in US two-party system - which would be not just a surrender of long-held political beliefs, but a complete social death as well. This does not mean that the core Maga is very happy either, but they hope the movement continues after Trump so they can finally get the full Christian Nationalist Fascism they so desire.

I doubt that is going to happen. Trump is going keep the strings behind the party, fucking everybody hard, until finally he dies or otherwise implodes. What is left of American democracy when that happens is a whole another thing.

Re: Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

#218

This is the way. If the US imposes tariffs, impose tariffs on US goods. The US administration twists facts to suit their agenda. For example, they often complain about the trade deficit the US has with other countries. However, that deficit often (depends on the country) only exists if you exclude digital goods (Microsoft, Google, Apple, etc.). If the rest of the world were to restrict the import of those digital goo…

Agreeing with your larger point but on the other hand, Trump-voting districts with older industries probably have trade deficits, both with other American districts and especially internationally.

Re: Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

#219
For some perspective about what’s being negotiated:

“What’s at stake in the Canada-U.S. trade deal? How looming tariffs could cost Canada 90,000 jobs”. Trevor Tombe, professor of economics at the University of Calgary

https://thehub.ca/2026/08/20/whats-at-stake-in-the-canada-u-...

Re: Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

#220
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canada and EU tightening their relation, pretty sure there are a lot agreements in the making. Will be great for both and appreciated by the people living in EU (and surely Canada as well).

A lot of it has been half-hearted. Basically "wait out this loser and everything will go back to the way it was". A lot of Americans are leaning on this as well. Like over the last year we (Canada) should have utterly obliterated the US from any element of the Canadian supply chain. Instead everyone just keeps expecting things to return to normal so no one makes the necessary investments to stop it at the border. Ame…

> Trump, a child-rapist

In 2016, an anonymous woman filed a federal lawsuit alleging that he raped her in 1994 when she was 13 years old. The lawsuit was voluntarily withdrawn that same year, before the allegations were adjudicated. No court found that he committed the alleged assault.

Post reply on HN