Canada, Greenland, Mexico, etc - USA Tariffs / Trade War commencing March 2025 #4

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  • #1,281
Yes, apparently Vance repeated criticism and critiques of NATO members and longtime allies. He told them that Denmark has not done a good job by the people of Greenland.

Col Meyers sent her email to all base personnel, including Danes and Greenlanders, saying that all of their flags fly proudly together.

(according to my previously linked article)

Her email was, though, a violation of military member's duty to remain apolitical. An eerie fact that the government is also supposed to recognize and respect.

Sadly, we live in a time when the government of the day happens to also ignore the long-held mantra of not using the military as a political prop for their theatrics.

As a former non-commissioed member, who retired as a commissioned officer, I can tell you that it is 10000% acceptable for military leaders to speak up and out when violations to that Oath they have sworn (in the US' case - a sworn oath to protect the Constitution) take place publicly or put it at risk. True military leaders are quite willing to do the right thing and accept the consequences of their actions. As we call it in the military: "To fall on one's own sword". General Sir Mike Jackson is a famous example from NATO who told his superior commander, General Wesley Clark, "Not happening" and refused to have his troops blockade Prishtina airport.

That is how the prevention of the rise of dictators and their inherent takeover of the 'impartial' military happens.

IE: Dictatorships happen when good men say and do nothing. Not this time - in this case we have a woman. A woman who remembered her Oath. A woman with more gonads that 99% of her current male peers.

IMO.
 
  • #1,282
It’s Mexico turn again. I'm sure Orange Palpatine hasn't heard about the tremendous and continuing drought in northern Mexico

“U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened Mexico with sanctions and tariffs in a dispute over water sharing between the two countries, accusing Mexico of breaking an 81-year-old treaty and "stealing the water from Texas Farmers."
Under the 1944 treaty, Mexico must send 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the U.S. from the Rio Grande through a network of interconnected dams and reservoirs every five years. An acre-foot of water is enough to fill about half an Olympic-sized swimming pool”

 
  • #1,283
If DT falls in a heap and loses his job (be still, my beating heart!) I wonder what career he might take up next. Real estate may be the obvious answer of course, given his vast knowledge and experience. Or he may become a pro golfer, we hear he's pretty good! Perhaps a financial advisor or similar?Any other ideas?

Makeup artist.
 
  • #1,284
If DT falls in a heap and loses his job (be still, my beating heart!) I wonder what career he might take up next. Real estate may be the obvious answer of course, given his vast knowledge and experience. Or he may become a pro golfer, we hear he's pretty good! Perhaps a financial advisor or similar?Any other ideas?
Could do a reboot of these ads:

 
  • #1,285

The US dollar slumped on Friday as waning confidence in the US economy prompted investors to ditch US assets to the benefit of safe havens like the Swiss franc, yen and euro, as well as gold.

The yellow metal recorded a new all-time peak in early Asia trade, and the franc notched a fresh decade high, Reuters reports.

Investors dumped Wall Street stocks overnight, as the powerful rally on Wednesday – when Donald Trump abruptly paused higher tariff rates on dozens of trading partners – reversed course in a 24-hour frenetic period for markets.

Longer-dated US Treasuries are also selling off, putting 10-year yields on course for their biggest weekly jump since 2001.

The Chinese yuan had tumbled to an all-time low in offshore trading on Tuesday, but erased all those losses a day later, surging again on Thursday, and was strengthening in early trading.

Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone, said:


Trump’s 90-day tariff respite – which came despite his insistence for days that his policies would never change – didn’t include China. Instead, he ratcheted up duties on Chinese imports to an effective rate of 145%, further escalating the high-stakes confrontation between the world’s two largest economies.


( as in mostly all crime, in nearly every sort of crime ,, Follow The MONEY )

I've said it before and I'll state it again:

Trump may be able to dictate in the USofA (he was elected), but he doesn't get to dictate to the rest of the world like he believes he can. He simply is 'not the boss of me'.

Partnerships and alliances destroyed. Pillaging & pundering of Americans' livelihoods and 401ks to the benefit of his personal 'allies', friends and family. Signed International agreements by the US (and one by he, himself - the USMCA) ignored, ripped up and tossed into the garbage dumpster on his personal 'whim' irregardless of the consequences of such actions. Yep, a nation now reaping what some voted for.

But for the rest of the world??

Time to move away from the US Dollar as it is not the 'stable' placeholder or safe-haven that it, or it's currency, used to be.

Time for Trump et al to recognize the fact that:

Total World population: 8 216 575 691 BILLION
United States population: 346 866 903 million

Do the math.

IMO.

-
 
  • #1,286
China has indicated it does not intend to go higher than 125%, saying it would be meaningless to engage in further escalation.

“The successive imposition of excessively high tariffs on China by the US has become nothing more than a numbers game, with no real economic significance,” a spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement Friday.

[…]

While China says it “will not engage” in further tariff hikes, it has plenty of other options in its toolbox.

Influential Chinese commentators with links to Beijing have floated a series of possible countermeasures China could take, including suspending cooperation on fentanyl, banning the import of US poultry, limiting market access for services such as legal consultancies and investigating how much American companies earned from their intellectual property in China.


China is right that further hikes would be pointless. Once tariffs get this high, it doesn't matter if they are 100% or 1000%, the effect is the same, in pretty much putting a stop to all trade.
 
  • #1,287

In response to why Beijing is not backing down to Donald Trump on tariffs, the answer is that it doesn't have to.

China's leaders would say that they are not inclined to cave in to a bully – something its government has repeatedly labelled the Trump administration as – but it also has a capacity to do this way beyond any other country on Earth.

Before the tariff war kicked in, China did have a massive volume of sales to the US but, to put it into context, this only amounted to 2% of its GDP.
 
  • #1,288

Some fact checking on Donald's claims in recent weeks.
General takeaway is Donald lies. A lot.

Moo
Fact-checking is a lost concept in the USA. The population generally accepts propaganda as fact, and many in the USA doubt that foreign news outlets are capable of presenting factual, unbiased information.

Meanwhile, CBC, BBC and ABC journalists fact-check to ensure that their listeners have an accurate grasp of reality.

Fact-checking nicely illustrates that everything Trump says to justify is greedy tariff wars is false. Sadly, a majority of USA people don't bother with foreign news, so they are oblivious to the gigantic mistake the president is making.
 
  • #1,289
Fact-checking is a lost concept in the USA. The population generally accepts propaganda as fact, and many in the USA doubt that foreign news outlets are capable of presenting factual, unbiased information.

Meanwhile, CBC, BBC and ABC journalists fact-check to ensure that their listeners have an accurate grasp of reality.

Fact-checking nicely illustrates that everything Trump says to justify is greedy tariff wars is false. Sadly, a majority of USA people don't bother with foreign news, so they are oblivious to the gigantic mistake the president is making.
Often wonder theses days, what will it take for them to see Donald for who he truly is and what he's doing. Then I wonder, how many of them will admit they were wrong to vote for him. I don't remember a time, ever where I blindly believed some buffoon. Rarely believe a politician either.

Good that there's reliable and responsible journalists out there though.

Moo
Ebm
 
  • #1,290
It’s Mexico turn again. I'm sure Orange Palpatine hasn't heard about the tremendous and continuing drought in northern Mexico

“U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened Mexico with sanctions and tariffs in a dispute over water sharing between the two countries, accusing Mexico of breaking an 81-year-old treaty and "stealing the water from Texas Farmers."
Under the 1944 treaty, Mexico must send 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the U.S. from the Rio Grande through a network of interconnected dams and reservoirs every five years. An acre-foot of water is enough to fill about half an Olympic-sized swimming pool”


Meh; Mexico should tell Trump that it is under no obligation to honour International Agreements between Mexico/USofA based on the precedent that Trump determined that he had no obligation to honour International Agreements (USMCA) between USofA/Mexico.

Goose & Ganders all being geese.

IMO.
-
 
  • #1,291
Often wonder theses days, what will it take for them to see Donald for who he truly is and what he's doing. Then I wonder, how many of them will admit they were wrong to vote for him. I don't remember a time, ever where I blindly believed some buffoon. Rarely believe a politician either.

Good that there's reliable and responsible journalists out there though.

Moo
Ebm
Maybe when they turn to the government for relief only to find the relief was cancelled by DOGE.
 
  • #1,292
  • Some travelers are opting for alternative destinations like Canada due to the current political climate and rhetoric.
  • Experts warn that the shift away from the U.S. as a travel destination could have long-term economic consequences.
 
  • #1,293
There are a number of tropical crops which can in theory be grown in the US but not in large scale commercial quantities. Coffee (Hawaii, Puerto Rico and some experimental plantings in California), coconuts and mangos (along the SW Florida coast) for example, but the regions they can be grown in are extremely limited and even then they aren't entirely reliable. Mangos, for example, cannot tolerate cold and we have seen the odd frozen lizard event in Florida over the years which would kill the trees.

I suspect that some additional semi-tropical crops could be grown in California, but is there the water to do so? The water problems seen during the January wildfires in LA suggests otherwise. California agriculture may be at its limit.
cashews have to be peeled and skinned- outer parts are poisonous- it is a labor intensive process I believe....
 
  • #1,294

The you-know-what has finally hit the fan.... Xi has run put of patience and is dealing with this lying tantrum thrower with a bit of discipline .

China raises tariffs on US goods from 84% to 125%, finance ministry says – business live​


BREAKING: China has announced additional tariffs on US goods to 125%, according to Reuters.

That is up from the previous level of 84%.

China’s finance ministry is reported as saying that if the US insists on continuing to infringe upon China’s interest in a substantive way, China will resolutely take countermeasures and fight to the end.


Helen Davidson
China has raised its tariffs on US products to 125% in the latest salvo of the trade dispute with Washington, just hours after Xi Jinping said there were “no winners in a tariff war”.

Xi made the comments during a meeting with the Spanish prime minister in which he invited the EU to work with China to resist “bullying”, part of an apparent campaign to shore up other trading partners.

The Chinese commerce ministry announced on Friday that it was raising the 84% tariffs on all US imports to 125%, again saying that China was ready to “fight to the end”.

The statement also suggested it may be Beijing’s last move in the tit-for-tat tariff raises as “at the current tariff level, there is no market acceptance for US goods exported to China”.

Pedro Sanchez and Xi Jinping.. a formidable combo..

a little picture of the rockstar , Pedro


does anyone remember if Xi and DJT were at each other's throats 5 yrs ago? I do not recall this animosity....
 
  • #1,295
Our world has some real heroes emerging, the above-mentioned lady, Zelensky of course, going back a bit Navalny, who else? (It's my bedtime!) The good people of this world should maybe club together and issue medals to our modern day heroes who are fighting the emerging evil in this world.
Navalny is dead
 
  • #1,296
  • Some travelers are opting for alternative destinations like Canada due to the current political climate and rhetoric.
  • Experts warn that the shift away from the U.S. as a travel destination could have long-term economic consequences.

The FIFA World Cup should be interesting.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 will be hosted by the United States, along with Canada and Mexico. The tournament will be the first in history to be hosted by three countries and will feature an expanded field of 48 teams. The United States will host 60 of the 104 total matches, with Canada and Mexico hosting 10 each.
 
  • #1,297
Her email was, though, a violation of military member's duty to remain apolitical. An eerie fact that the government is also supposed to recognize and respect.

Sadly, we live in a time when the government of the day happens to also ignore the long-held mantra of not using the military as a political prop for their theatrics.

As a former non-commissioed member, who retired as a commissioned officer, I can tell you that it is 10000% acceptable for military leaders to speak up and out when violations to that Oath they have sworn (in the US' case - a sworn oath to protect the Constitution) take place publicly or put it at risk. True military leaders are quite willing to do the right thing and accept the consequences of their actions. As we call it in the military: "To fall on one's own sword". General Sir Mike Jackson is a famous example from NATO who told his superior commander, General Wesley Clark, "Not happening" and refused to have his troops blockade Prishtina airport.

That is how the prevention of the rise of dictators and their inherent takeover of the 'impartial' military happens.

IE: Dictatorships happen when good men say and do nothing. Not this time - in this case we have a woman. A woman who remembered her Oath. A woman with more gonads that 99% of her current male peers.

IMO.
does she just get reassigned, demoted, or actually separated from service?
 
  • #1,298
If DT falls in a heap and loses his job (be still, my beating heart!) I wonder what career he might take up next. Real estate may be the obvious answer of course, given his vast knowledge and experience. Or he may become a pro golfer, we hear he's pretty good! Perhaps a financial advisor or similar?Any other ideas?

Speech writer.
 
  • #1,299
Maybe when they turn to the government for relief only to find the relief was cancelled by DOGE.

The low-income governmental healthcare plan that DOGE and Trump want to get rid of, Medicaid, is a target for serious cutbacks and modifications. I wager a large number of Red State voters rely on Medicaid and think it is their right to have it.

This will affect the low-wage workers and their children, the elderly, and especially the elderly poor who have to rely on Medicaid for their nursing home care.

Dr. Oz will end up in charge of the really minimal care that Medicaid gives these often salt-of-the-earth people who have put their faith in a flim-flam man who cares only about his glory and his riches. Meanwhile, Dr. Oz and RFK Jr will be trying to substitute vitamins and unproven supplements for honest preventative services, nutritional support, vaccinations, and regular encounters with quality healthcare providers.

Those who are under Medicaid will not figure out how much Congress ripped from under their feet until later. The GOP is likely cynically planning their restrictions to go into effect after the mid-term elections in Nov 26, so that their consitutents won't figure it out until it's too late.
 
  • #1,300
does she just get reassigned, demoted, or actually separated from service?

Removal from command is an administrative move, but that does not preclude further administration or disciplinary actions. So - it remains to be seen.
 
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