Canada - USA Trade War commencing March 2025 #3

[otto]

MSN

Trump weighs in on report King Charles will offer U.S. membership to British Commonwealth: ‘Sounds good!’​

That must be a joke. The USA cannot qualify as a Commonwealth Nation for several reasons: punitive tariffs on international trade, initiating war against Canada, threatening sovereignty of Greenland (Denmark; royal family), promoting injustice, using coercion as an instrument of policy (false information about tariff quotas), silencing scientists, and so much more.

The USA cannot be approved as a Commonwealth Nation at this time. Whoever is behind this is trying to portray King Charles as supporting erratic USA gov't decisions.

Declaration of Commonwealth Principles (partial)

"To this end our aim is to achieve the freest possible flow of international trade on terms fair and equitable to all, taking into account the special requirements of the developing countries, and to encourage the flow of adequate resources, including governmental and private resources, to the developing countries, bearing in mind the importance of doing this in a true spirit of partnership and of establishing for this purpose in the developing countries conditions which are conducive to sustained investment and growth.

We believe that international co-operation is essential to remove the causes of war, promote tolerance, combat injustice, and secure development among the peoples of the world; we are convinced that the Commonwealth is one of the most fruitful associations for these purposes.
...

In rejecting coercion as an instrument of policy they recognise that the security of each member state from external aggression is a matter of concern to all members. It provides many channels for continuing exchanges of knowledge and views on professional, cultural, economic, legal and political issues among the member states.

Declaration of Commonwealth Principles, 1971

Proclaimed that expanded human understanding and understanding among nations will help the elimination of discrimination based on differences of race, colour or creed.

thecommonwealth.org

• "an applicant country must demonstrate commitment to: democracy and democratic processes, including free and fair elections and representative legislatures; the rule of law and independence of the judiciary; good governance, including a well-trained public service and transparent public accounts; and protection of human rights, freedom of expression, and equality of opportunity"

Joining the Commonwealth

Joining the Commonwealth

thecommonwealth.org

 

[otto]

Canada needs to bring in more immigrants. People carp about housing shortages, but who do they think is going to be building houses if we don't bring in enough labourers?

Canada has big problems with shortage of housing, hospitals, schools and social programs to accommodate immigration. Too many people were admitted to Canada without consideration for social needs and now the country is trying to catch up.

"Immigration levels, with the exception of skilled workers and trades, must come down quickly before Canada can meet housing demand"

March, 2025

Opinion: Why Canada’s housing crunch isn’t going away

Immigration levels, with the exception of skilled workers and trades, must come down quickly before Canada can meet housing demand

nationalpost.com

 

[LovesPeace2]

Saw something today that kinda makes sense and kinda makes chuckle.Trumps causing issues between men transitioning into women to keep the people from seeing USA transitioning into Russians moo

 

[LovesPeace2]

But he allows musk into meeting

Trump revokes security clearance for Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton and others

The US president also confirmed he was revoking the security clearance of Joe Biden and "any other member" of the Biden family.

www.bbc.com

US President Donald Trump revoked security clearances from his previously defeated Democratic election rivals, Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton, as well as a number of other former officials and critics.

 

[otto]

Interesting analysis of Trump and USA gov't foreign policy. Rumours about art of the deal were vastly overblown. Based on current analysis of an ineffective instant-gratification man and his absence of credibility due to unpredictability, my impression is that the best policy is to wait him out because he will quickly get bored and move on.

"... Trump's almost single-minded focus on scoring quick wins at the expense of the harder work ... "He's imposing timelines that are unrealistic and he's also imposing terms that are not going to be adhered to," ... "He's sort of an 'instant gratification president' — he doesn't have the patience to do the work that diplomacy requires,"
...

"That's probably one of the reasons why [Trump] has been so ineffective, is that those party to the conflicts know that he doesn't have the resilience, the staying power, or the focus to keep at something that's not going well," Blais said. Other analysts say Trump's strongman act may be useful for breaking stalemates or relaunching stagnant talks, but the gains from such displays of bravado can be fleeting.
...

A recent article in Foreign Affairs defined "madman theory" as a leader who, by acting in a highly volatile way, believes they can frighten opponents into making concessions.

"Leaders with a reputation for unpredictability — or who encourage the perception that they might do almost anything regardless of the consequences — often struggle to make credible guarantees." And while such a leadership style may be popular with dictators and strongmen, the article notes, it also rarely works.
...

"It's very hard to be a dealmaker, a peacemaker, a negotiator or a diplomat when [being a bully] is your international reputation as an individual — and also as a state."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-foreign-policy-1.7489555

 

[LovesPeace2]

The mayor of Blaine Washington the as put this together at peace arch park for today

Peace, Love and a Handshake · Mobilize

American and Canadian citizens coming together in peace, love and support of one another. There's honor in a handshake amongst long standing FRIENDS and SOVEREIGN ALLIES. Flags and messages of SOLIDARITY are welcome.

www.mobilize.us

Saturday, March 22
10am – 12pm PDT



Peace Arch Park
Blaine, WA 98231
Map

 

[musicaljoke]

Canada has big problems with shortage of housing, hospitals, schools and social programs to accommodate immigration. Too many people were admitted to Canada without consideration for social needs and now the country is trying to catch up.

"Immigration levels, with the exception of skilled workers and trades, must come down quickly before Canada can meet housing demand"

March, 2025

Opinion: Why Canada’s housing crunch isn’t going away

Immigration levels, with the exception of skilled workers and trades, must come down quickly before Canada can meet housing demand

nationalpost.com

I don't agree. Immigrants that come to Canada are skilled professional workers. We aren't going to be able to replace the retiring population with the people who we have in the country right now. Every year we will have fewer construction workers, fewer doctors, nurses and specialists, fewer nursing home workers, fewer income tax payers, etc. unless we maintain a robust immigration program. Housing is definitely a problem, but the solution isn't to restrict immigrants. There are fixable reasons why housing is a problem.

 

[Yellowbelly]

That must be a joke. The USA cannot qualify as a Commonwealth Nation for several reasons: punitive tariffs on international trade, initiating war against Canada, threatening sovereignty of Greenland (Denmark; royal family), promoting injustice, using coercion as an instrument of policy (false information about tariff quotas), silencing scientists, and so much more.

The USA cannot be approved as a Commonwealth Nation at this time. Whoever is behind this is trying to portray King Charles as supporting erratic USA gov't decisions.

Declaration of Commonwealth Principles (partial)

"To this end our aim is to achieve the freest possible flow of international trade on terms fair and equitable to all, taking into account the special requirements of the developing countries, and to encourage the flow of adequate resources, including governmental and private resources, to the developing countries, bearing in mind the importance of doing this in a true spirit of partnership and of establishing for this purpose in the developing countries conditions which are conducive to sustained investment and growth.

We believe that international co-operation is essential to remove the causes of war, promote tolerance, combat injustice, and secure development among the peoples of the world; we are convinced that the Commonwealth is one of the most fruitful associations for these purposes.
...

In rejecting coercion as an instrument of policy they recognise that the security of each member state from external aggression is a matter of concern to all members. It provides many channels for continuing exchanges of knowledge and views on professional, cultural, economic, legal and political issues among the member states.

Declaration of Commonwealth Principles, 1971

Proclaimed that expanded human understanding and understanding among nations will help the elimination of discrimination based on differences of race, colour or creed.

thecommonwealth.org

• "an applicant country must demonstrate commitment to: democracy and democratic processes, including free and fair elections and representative legislatures; the rule of law and independence of the judiciary; good governance, including a well-trained public service and transparent public accounts; and protection of human rights, freedom of expression, and equality of opportunity"

Joining the Commonwealth

Joining the Commonwealth

thecommonwealth.org

Some thoughts on all this. Firstly, the reputation of the Commonwealth over here is that it's a totally meaningless talking shop, and that the only reason it exists at all is that it was the late Queen's baby and nobody wanted to upset QEII by putting it out of its misery. In that sense it looks like another bauble with which to distract Trump.

"Donald, no other American President has been offered membership of the Commonwealth"

Our way of dealing with Trump is similar to how Mr Collins deals with Lady Catherine de Burgh!

Next, the King is king of a number of independant states known as the Commonwealth Realms. Each has a Prime Minister who has the exclusive right to advise the King on political matters with regards to that realm. So Sir Keir Starmer cannot advise the King on political matters related to Canada, or Mark Carney advise the King on political matters related to the UK. But what if the King gets conflicting advise from his Prime Ministers? What if Starmer was to advise the King that it was in Britain's interest to offer the Americans membership of the Commonwealth, and Carney was to advise that under no circumstances were the Americans to be offered membership? My understanding of how these things work is that the Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth realms go out of their way to make sure that the King doesn't get conflicting advise that leads the King to have to make a choice of what to do, because the PM whose advice wasn't followed is then supposed to resign! If KCIII has been advised to offer Commonwealth membership to Trump, then I think we'll find that the Canadian government has been sounded out.

The thing is, though, is that the King might have the title 'Head of the Commonwealth', but he has no more actually power with regards to the Commonwealth as he does in any of his realms. He's just a figurehead and membership isn't actually in his gift. All countries that want membership have to apply and their applications are decided upon by all the Commonwealth Heads of Government. I don't think Trump would have the power to apply off his own bat, either. Wouldn't the whole thing need to be ratified by Congress?

Finally, the other thing to bare in mind is Trump's unlikely, but apparently genuine friendship with King Charles. It makes no sense to me as you couldn't wish to find too more different characters, but it does seem to be true. Perhaps that's our real secret weapon when it comes to dealing with Trump.

"Now Donald, you wouldn't want to upset the King, would you"

King Charles to be deployed on 'charm offensive' to the US

The King and Queen are set to visit America in a so-called 'charm offensive' in their biggest royal tour yet to help smooth over diplomatic relations with Donald Trump.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[musicaljoke]

The mayor of Blaine Washington the as put this together at peace arch park for today

Peace, Love and a Handshake · Mobilize

American and Canadian citizens coming together in peace, love and support of one another. There's honor in a handshake amongst long standing FRIENDS and SOVEREIGN ALLIES. Flags and messages of SOLIDARITY are welcome.

www.mobilize.us

Saturday, March 22
10am – 12pm PDT



Peace Arch Park
Blaine, WA 98231
Map

He's a wise man. I don't think that the way many Canadians are pulling away from Americans is helpful, although I completely understand why it is happening. Instead, we should be reminding one other why we have been faithful friends for so long and why we need to continue our cross border friendship based on mutual respect.

 

[otto]

I don't agree. Immigrants that come to Canada are skilled professional workers. We aren't going to be able to replace the retiring population with the people who we have in the country right now. Every year we will have fewer construction workers, fewer doctors, nurses and specialists, fewer nursing home workers, fewer income tax payers, etc. unless we maintain a robust immigration program. Housing is definitely a problem, but the solution isn't to restrict immigrants. There are fixable reasons why housing is a problem.

Canada has always had rules regarding immigration - Canada has to need what immigrants have to offer. Refugees are different. They need a safe country and Canada offers them that safety.

Skilled trades-people and doctors are needed in Canada. Doctors have to complete medical certifications in Canada to ensure that they meet Canadian standards.

Canada even has refugees from the USA!

Claims by Country of Alleged Persecution - 2024 - Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

www.irb-cisr.gc.ca

 

[otto]

He's a wise man. I don't think that the way many Canadians are pulling away from Americans is helpful, although I completely understand why it is happening. Instead, we should be reminding one other why we have been faithful friends for so long and why we need to continue our cross border friendship based on mutual respect.

I don't know that Canadians are pulling away from people South of the border, but there is a war. The USA gov't declared war on Canada with explicit goals to impoverish the country in order to steal or destroy Canada's land, resources, quality of life, societal values and Constitution. Indigenous Peoples will lose all rights if the USA gov't gains control of Canada.

Canadians have a responsibility to do their best to avoid any act that contributes to strengthening the USA economy, as that simultaneously weakens Canada's economy. Person to person, I doubt anything has changed, nor should it.

 

[musicaljoke]

I don't know that Canadians are pulling away from people South of the border, but there is a war. The USA gov't declared war on Canada with explicit goals to impoverish the country in order to steal or destroy Canada's land, resources, quality of life, societal values and Constitution. Indigenous Peoples will lose all rights if the USA gov't gains control of Canada.

Canadians have a responsibility to do their best to avoid any act that contributes to strengthening the USA economy, as that simultaneously weakens Canada's economy. Person to person, I doubt anything has changed, nor should it.

Absolutely.

BTW, yesterday I picked up some clear plastic garbage bags at the dollar store. They were a good price. But when I got home, I was kicking myself for not first checking where they were made.

No worries! They were made in Newfoundland! Who knew!

 

[Herat]

Interesting analysis of Trump and USA gov't foreign policy. Rumours about art of the deal were vastly overblown. Based on current analysis of an ineffective instant-gratification man and his absence of credibility due to unpredictability, my impression is that the best policy is to wait him out because he will quickly get bored and move on.

"... Trump's almost single-minded focus on scoring quick wins at the expense of the harder work ... "He's imposing timelines that are unrealistic and he's also imposing terms that are not going to be adhered to," ... "He's sort of an 'instant gratification president' — he doesn't have the patience to do the work that diplomacy requires,"
...

"That's probably one of the reasons why [Trump] has been so ineffective, is that those party to the conflicts know that he doesn't have the resilience, the staying power, or the focus to keep at something that's not going well," Blais said. Other analysts say Trump's strongman act may be useful for breaking stalemates or relaunching stagnant talks, but the gains from such displays of bravado can be fleeting.
...

A recent article in Foreign Affairs defined "madman theory" as a leader who, by acting in a highly volatile way, believes they can frighten opponents into making concessions.

"Leaders with a reputation for unpredictability — or who encourage the perception that they might do almost anything regardless of the consequences — often struggle to make credible guarantees." And while such a leadership style may be popular with dictators and strongmen, the article notes, it also rarely works.
...

"It's very hard to be a dealmaker, a peacemaker, a negotiator or a diplomat when [being a bully] is your international reputation as an individual — and also as a state."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-foreign-policy-1.7489555

Thank you for posting this, otto.

It gives me something sane to read in these head-spinning times.

 

[otto]

Absolutely.

BTW, yesterday I picked up some clear plastic garbage bags at the dollar store. They were a good price. But when I got home, I was kicking myself for not first checking where they were made.

No worries! They were made in Newfoundland! Who knew!

My son told me that everything at SaveonFoods stores is from the USA. I'm not sure that's true, but there are no signs anywhere identifying where food originates. Safeway has many signs - and has frozen Atlantic Lobster.

 

[otto]

Thank you for posting this, otto.

It gives me something sane to read in these head-spinning times.

It explains Trump's behaviour with Gaza and Ukraine. He goes to the meeting expecting that he is the saviour with the genius idea that everyone should be thankful to hear. For example, displace everyone in Gaza and build a Trump resort, or Ukraine hand re-construction to USA without restriction regarding giving that control to Russia. When his genius ideas are rejected he gets angry, then bored, then moves on to something else.

It seems to be in his nature to act as the "mad man", constantly lurching and changing his mind. On the one had, it does keep other world leaders unsure of his goals. On the other hand, he loses all credibility.

It sounds like the easiest option is to wait him out; wait for him to find some other shiny thing to obsess about.

 

[LoveyG]

That must be a joke. The USA cannot qualify as a Commonwealth Nation for several reasons: punitive tariffs on international trade, initiating war against Canada, threatening sovereignty of Greenland (Denmark; royal family), promoting injustice, using coercion as an instrument of policy (false information about tariff quotas), silencing scientists, and so much more.

The USA cannot be approved as a Commonwealth Nation at this time. Whoever is behind this is trying to portray King Charles as supporting erratic USA gov't decisions.

Declaration of Commonwealth Principles (partial)

"To this end our aim is to achieve the freest possible flow of international trade on terms fair and equitable to all, taking into account the special requirements of the developing countries, and to encourage the flow of adequate resources, including governmental and private resources, to the developing countries, bearing in mind the importance of doing this in a true spirit of partnership and of establishing for this purpose in the developing countries conditions which are conducive to sustained investment and growth.

We believe that international co-operation is essential to remove the causes of war, promote tolerance, combat injustice, and secure development among the peoples of the world; we are convinced that the Commonwealth is one of the most fruitful associations for these purposes.
...

In rejecting coercion as an instrument of policy they recognise that the security of each member state from external aggression is a matter of concern to all members. It provides many channels for continuing exchanges of knowledge and views on professional, cultural, economic, legal and political issues among the member states.

Declaration of Commonwealth Principles, 1971

Proclaimed that expanded human understanding and understanding among nations will help the elimination of discrimination based on differences of race, colour or creed.

thecommonwealth.org

• "an applicant country must demonstrate commitment to: democracy and democratic processes, including free and fair elections and representative legislatures; the rule of law and independence of the judiciary; good governance, including a well-trained public service and transparent public accounts; and protection of human rights, freedom of expression, and equality of opportunity"

Joining the Commonwealth

Joining the Commonwealth

thecommonwealth.org

Perhaps it was suggested by the people providing psychological profiling for them regarding Trump. I don't know that there are such people but really there must be.

 

[otto]

Perhaps it was suggested by the people providing psychological profiling for them regarding Trump. I don't know that there are such people but really there must be.

News outlets that released Trump's statement about joining the Commonwealth need to publish the Commonwealth Principles alongside facts where the USA violates those principles. Readers can decide the truth on that basis.

 

[Herat]

So DJT is going to waste more fossil fuel by importing eggs from South Korea and Turkey to the US, and has approached Poland and Lithuania for eggs, too?

Meanwhile <modsnip> Secretary of Health and Human Services, RFK, wants the entire US poultry, beef and dairy industry to just implode from naturally transmitted Avian Influenza without letting scientists so the virology and epidemiology work that is necessary to understand the outbreaks, while the population at risk is told to take vitamins and cod liver oil.

This is so stupid.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c743g135vj9

 

[mmeynstyn]

It explains Trump's behaviour with Gaza and Ukraine. He goes to the meeting expecting that he is the saviour with the genius idea that everyone should be thankful to hear. For example, displace everyone in Gaza and build a Trump resort, or Ukraine hand re-construction to USA without restriction regarding giving that control to Russia. When his genius ideas are rejected he gets angry, then bored, then moves on to something else.

It seems to be in his nature to act as the "mad man", constantly lurching and changing his mind. On the one had, it does keep other world leaders unsure of his goals. On the other hand, he loses all credibility.

It sounds like the easiest option is to wait him out; wait for him to find some other shiny thing to obsess about.

Yes, thank you for your posts and insight.

I am a US citizen. I am so sad, mad, frustrated, etc. by all this down-right weird, bullying behavior. I really enjoy going to Canada as I live in a border state, and Canadian whiskey is my drink of choice. There is so much misinformation in the US news, it is refreshing to read something that isn't trumped up BS.

 

[acutename]

My son told me that everything at SaveonFoods stores is from the USA. I'm not sure that's true, but there are no signs anywhere identifying where food originates. Safeway has many signs - and has frozen Atlantic Lobster.

spinach is my US grocery is still from Canada- (thanks)- hopefully the grocery geniuses have figured ways to keep trade in tact