[dutchbookmaker]

The figures I have seen in a trade war with Canada is Canada causes a -.2% hit to US GDP while Canada gets a -2% hit. That is not going to work for Canada.

These aren't abuses of power though. We just largely got use to the president not trying to do all that much.

Obama issued 275 executive orders and Franklin Roosevelt issued 3721. Calvin Coolidge issued 1203. I think all the presidents during my lifetime combined issued less than Woodrow Wilson at 1803.

That is not to say I think a trade war with Canada is a good idea. It really makes no sense to me at all.

[llm_nerd]

>That is not going to work for Canada.

Is it going to shut up shop and close down? What does "not going to work" mean? The US is the one who chose this path, not Canada, and Canada is going to do what needs to be done for the situation the US forced it into. And FWIW, many Americans are a little in denial about how fragile your entire economy and social order is, and how little it takes to topple it. The impact of a trade war is likely to be much more significant than the "well it's just a trillion dollars of exports" rhetoric claims.

Canada has to "retaliate", in that it will adjust economic levers that will force production that currently happens in the US, serving the Canadian market, to adjust to players in Canada. Canada foolishly treated the US as an ally and partner and integrated our economies, so of course there is going to be pain. But to let you in on a little secret, a lot of Canadians have wanted this for a long time: There will be pain for a while, but Canada has increasingly become a branch office of the US. Despite enormous geographical, educational and social benefits it keeps falling behind. Trump is really just looking to MCGA. Next we can punt all of the US corporations out of Canada -- again, the ability for US businesses to operate freely in Canada is courtesy of NAFTA/USMCA. That agreement is defacto shredded now. The Canadian government needs to do everything possible to prevent discretionary dollars from travelling South of the border.

>These aren't abuses of power though.

Claiming a "border security" emergency -- a complete BS lie that only the incredibly stupid take at face value -- to push through an economic plan is absolutely, by every measure, a grotesque abuse of power. Americans are so accustomed to it now that it's just normal. If you think it isn't an abuse for your president to lie to you to have powers that he doesn't have, you have lowered your standards to corrupt banana republic levels.

Again, Canada and the US were operating under the trade agreement Trump forced on us the last time around. I don't see any clean exit of this where things return to normal. Canada must not ever treat the US as a sane, rational, responsible player on the world stage, as it constantly 180s on everything as American voters treat government like some perverse reality show.

[ModernMech]

> If you think it isn't an abuse for your president to lie to you to have powers that he doesn't have, you have lowered your standards to corrupt banana republic levels.

By not prosecuting George W Bush and his lies about WMDs in Iraq as crimes, we set the stage for the lies today about Canada to be excused as business as usual. Which… yeah it kind of is, and that’s what makes USA dangerous.

In fact, many of the people who preached unity and bygones back then are cheer leading the lies against Canada today. So the pst is coming back to haunt us.

[themacguffinman]

It's likely that Canada will target exports from Trump-supporting states, which is a strategy that seems to have worked before. It may not have a large impact on the whole US economy but it can concentrate the pain to optimize the political impact.

[3vidence]

You would have a better point is Trump was only messing with Canada. But they are threatening so many countries at the same time that it's enivitable to start forming free trade agreements outside of America.

That would be seriously destabilising to America for the future.