Summary
Canada is preparing to retaliate against Donald Trump’s proposed 25% tariffs on Canadian imports, which could trigger the largest trade war between the nations in decades.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised counter-tariffs worth $37 billion, with potential for further measures, depending on Trump’s final order.
Canadian officials warn the tariffs could harm both economies, disrupting key sectors like automotive, energy, and agriculture.
Labor leaders expressed concerns over job losses and urged collaboration. Canada hopes to avoid tariffs by highlighting their mutual economic impact to U.S. lawmakers.
I love long-discredited economic ideas making a comeback. As someone who studied Econ, it’s just peachy seeing people vote to be poorer because no one remembers the last 50 times this was tried and didn’t work.
Please, everyone read about the 1800s. I’m not completely hostile to crypto but so many crypto people are like, “What if we had a ‘free banking’ era? Surely, there’s no downside.” And you just slam your fist on the table and say “Please read one AP American history book. An actual textbook, not a YouTube video. I’m not a particle physicist because I watch PBS Space Time.”
Could you give me a quick summation of why a free banking era is a bad thing and how it relates to the 1800s?
Not trying to start an argument, just genuinely curious
So, essentially, every bank was issuing its own currency. But banks fail all the time. And no one knew what was real money. I’m saying this on Lemmy so I’m clearly for distributed things but cash money needs a central bank, for trust reasons. Gold is a stable element so it was that for centuries but it also led to horrible things. Like an entire hemisphere dying of smallpox.
So, long story short, after WWII. we settled on the U.S. dollar, which was then pegged to gold. Eventually, Nixon decided to unpeg it from gold. Which was fine because gold was arbitrary. We could have pegged it to any element on the periodic table. Bretton Woods is what to google to read more.
So, what is the dollar backed by now? Mostly the U.S. Navy and trust built over time. It’s not perfect. America has never defaulted on its debts and you can exchange dollars for local currency at any airport. The independence of the U.S. central bank is a big reason. But if you’re writing a contract for a global deal, you use dollars. If Argentina wants to buy something from Vietnam, the contract uses dollars.
In the 1800’s, there was no agreed upon currency. Banks made their own currencies. And it was a catastrophe.
Basically, if you go buy dope, the dope man isn’t taking foreign currency except maybe U.S. dollars. Euros are probably fine but the dope man isn’t taking shit that can’t be changed into local currency. He’s got bills to pay too.
American dollars have value for irrational reasons but they have proved the test of time.
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I feel like in every field right now, experts are facepalming all the ignorant decisions being made.
They need to YouTube a few meditation videos so they can become experts in mindfulness and not worry about all that /s
the principal hypothesis of the bitcoin experiment is that a central ledger and issuer is not actually necessary, and it’s still going strong
central banks are a hell of a lot better than the hodgepodge that arose in the 1800s, but it’s not proven that they will outlast an adequately designed decentralized implementation (whether it’s bitcoin or something else)
there are plenty of problems down the road for bitcoin, but there are arguably more for central banks. can a centralized currency survive the failure of its backing empire?
If central banks are gone, you can probably assume the data centers are too. Crypto relies on a stable society far more than dollars.
As an American, I want the world to punish us for our bullshit.
As an American, I really want to get the fuck out of here.
As a non-american, you’re doing about okay as everyone else.
For real. There is no escape unless you got a passport to a Scandinavian country. And then, it’s temporary. American nonsense is pervasive, it comes for everyone!
I’d say it’s time to leave the planet but I’m not a billionaire so… fuck me I guess.
as an american - yall need some laws against tech bullshit if you want to stop this
Do get out. I’m an Italian living in the UK and while no country is perfect, any first-world country is better than the US right now to live in. I can’t fathom the idea of dying for a miscarriage, or being forced to have a pregnancy I don’t want, or having my kids go through regular mass-shooting drills and actual mass shootings, or having to ration insulin, or going bankrupt for a cancer, or being shot by a neighbour, or having trials based on theatrics rather than law, or having for-profit prisons and for-profit hospitals, or not trusting our cops, or religious zealots making religion-based laws for everyone, or not having social services, sock leave, maternity and paternity leave, and so on and so on. Honestly our very imperfect countries are a social paradise compared to the USA.
That was my reaction exactly. “Good. Fuck us.”
Same
Take it all please, leave the rest of us able to fix what needs fixing.
Spank us, daddy! We’ve been so naughty…
name checks out
As another American, most of us want you to leave.
Repeated prisoners’ dilemma. They have to threaten and they have to add tariffs if the US does, anything else would be bad strategy
It’s not helped by the fact that Trump is corrupt and might have different winning conditions like “make Putin happy”, but that doesn’t change what Canada has to do.
Trump doesn’t understand that tarrifs go both ways.
It’s kind of amazing that his first priorty upon entering office is getting revenge and starting wars. What an incredible person and even more than that, an incredible leader. Amazing.
He doesn’t care if Americans get hurt or suffer his batshit policies. His moronic base will support him even if they’re suffering; they’ll blame it on the brown people.
Watching the US dollar
Grabs popcorn
Watching the already shit Canadian dollar…
looks up best noose rope
rope prices too high
Just in case…
Nah it’s joke.
I hope I live long enough to see the petrodollar die.
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That still doesn’t mean that what Trump is doing isn’t a dumb mistake
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Have you traveled much?
*was a world currency
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Well yea, the clowns aren’t in charge yet. It won’t survive defaulting on our debt and systematically alienating all our allies.
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The Orange Numbnuts will turn the USD into the worthless Ruble.
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My bad, I did not read your “edit” and I changed my response. All is good, carry on.
Gold, local currency, you dont need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out.
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Comical.
groceries
Maybe for Americans where groceries are highly highly processed let alone majority imported.
Grabs locally grown whole foods including popcorn and gets healthier
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Better start prepping then so you don’t starve
You’ll think back at this moment when you’ve got a full stomach.
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Good, Do it. Every country should do it. Make it fucking hurt.
I can’t wait to not be able to afford diapers since racist rednecks elected a clown. It’s like being held hostage on a train that’s headed for a brick wall. Trying to raise a family through this is so hard.
Make smuggling contraband across the great lakes great again.
god imagine how much worse the gang violence will get when the canuck mafia starts mowing down border patrol agents.
Canadian Mafioso: “sorry” machine gun noises, screams
I’ve said this before, the EU should just invite Canada into the Union.
Canada would have to switch to European standards instead of US ones. Their companies wouldn’t be happy.
How do Canadian companies like tariffs? Just saying, it’s not impossible…
The Canadians can take the Blue States with them to the EU.
I’m not too sure they’d be such a great fit for the EU, culturally and socially. That sounds like we’d be taking in a Trojan horse.
We have no choice-- we must give California to Canada to assuage their anger. A tariff war would be bad for business. Its a shame its come to this, but jobs might be at stake here.
While I love the idea, they’d never go for it. It would double their population instantly and completely upend their political system.
Do it. Isolate this evil shithole until it collapses. Please do it.
The US needs to be broken up the way the USSR was.
Didn’t that also give us Putin?
Last time we had a tariff war like this was the great depression
“Trump is more respected by other nations than Biden” part deux dipshit boogaloo
Nice try but US used blind misplaced faith in your own superiority. It was super effective.
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