Buy Canadian (not American)-Buy this not that!

So all this air time and tap dancing results in another 30 days of media questions of what is everyone doing to avoid tariffs etc.


I’d arrange having all our outgoing products ready for a new home and call it a day. Trump pulls his stuff and we pivot to the partners that want to do business.

Trump is not negotiating in good faith and we shouldn’t try to find ways to make him happy. Smile and nod and focus our time and energy to places that make sense.

For all the weaknesses that have been exposed, let’s deal with them.

We know how it’s going to be with Trump and there is a whole world out them collectively in the same boat. Dangle some carrots along the way to make Trump feel like he’s getting his way while we get alternative deals in place.
 
I'd also keep the boycott going for American goods by consumers so he will feel pressure from within the US. Some 64% of Americans don't approve of the tariffs....give them a reason to chastise the dumpf.

Like so
www.theguardian.com

‘Buy Canadian Instead’: businesses vow to fight Trump’s tariffs across the border

Large signs in shops exhorts Canadians to shun US-made products in looming trade war between allies
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
We have targeted red states because, quite frankly, Donald Trump doesn’t care about Democrat states,” British Columbia’s housing minister, Ravi Kahlon, told reporters. “We want to make sure that we’re not punishing states that have nothing to do with this.”
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Brian P said:
I wonder who Trudeau called to ask if they wanted the title "fentanyl czar" attached to their name in return for doing absolutely nothing. I wonder how long the laughter was afterwards. 🤣
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You know, it would be nice if they could task the fentanyl czar with an actual border problem, like simply characterizing/quantifying the problem of guns being smuggled into the country. Apparently nobody in the government was interested before, but this person will not be terribly busy, so
 
Wonder if there will be a bit of stockpiling over the next 30 days on both sides. 25% is big difference. :unsure:
Even some companies ( thinking of US home builders )
 
Stockpileing started two months ago with the first tariff threats . We have been shipping truckloads of lumber south ahead of the duties . It’s been great business ( that we don’t know when it will collapse ) , but it’s been awesome so far . Lot of CDN companies making hay while the sun shines .


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I can only speak to my industry, which is a commodity business. If the tariffs fade we will slowly go back to business as usual. It takes a while to turn a big ship around . This current bluster has triggered some deep thought on how our Canadian business approaches the US market . One of our owners is former president of the North American Wholesale Lumber association, and one owner sits on the board . They meet every second month ( physically) somewhere in North America to talk about the trade . I can say from first hand info , nobody is truly happy on either side .


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As you will recall from his first term Trump is the chaos president. He thrives on disinformation and disruption and being the center of attention. We can expect more talk of how unfair we are, how we mistreat and take advantage of the US and how we should be the 51st state. This fires up the base. keeps the issue in the media and the focus on Trump.

Business leaders in the US are feeding Trump with list of grievances re dairy supply management, access to financial markets, internet, wireless, air travel, digital services tax etc. etc.

You can rest assured that there will be new demands on the table as we approach the end of the 30 day no tariff period. Concessions will be expected, or else, and then a new 30 day period will begin, and so on. Get used to it. There is nothing, in the short term, we can do to stop this.

Have we learned our lesson? Is Canada going to get serious about restructuring the economy? It is going to take years to do this so we are less reliant of the whims of a US leader.
 
30 days doesn't give anyone enough time to do anything measurable.. not that it would matter.
I think the best use of the 30 days is to continue to look for opportunities and partners elsewhere.. make us less reliant on the US. If a lot of the stuff we ship to the US is just being processed and/or shipped on to others.. why not try and cut out the middle man.
 
Starbucks was nearly empty this morning. Still a couple of people with laptops, though I'm not sure if they bought anything.
 
I’m not ready to sell my motorcycle for a Can-Am but, I do my best to support Canadian industry. My daughter works for Labatts. It’s a conglomerate and no real Canadian ownership other than stockholders. However, they have breweries across the country with decent paying jobs and my fridge is stocked with “international” name brand bottles and cans of various beverages. The ingredients and product are 100% Canadian. They are produced and distributed in Canada. They are licensed by their parent company and slices of the profits are accounted for at HQ as well as within the country.

Kokanee line runs along side Corona which runs along Bud Light which runs along Alexander Keith’s. Some with Canadian origins but, the ownership is hardly Canadian now.


Canada is one of the richest countries of natural resources and should be a world leader in economic and industrial growth and the envy of most nations.

Instead of stifling our industries in the name of being the leader of net zero emissions, we should be helping other countries become prosperous and moving them from the largest emitters to most improved. Helping those poor nations become better.
 
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“Dear US, due to your irrational behaviour we can no longer trust you regarding trade going forward. Thus we have had to search for new partners until such time you can stop being ********. We have recently identified a new trading partner for our large stocks of uranium which we would normally sell you but this country have offered double. Please let us know whether we should return Iran’s telephone calls or whether you’d like to behave like an adult. Cheers, Canada”.
 
nakkers said:
I’m not really to sell my motorcycle for a Can-Am but, I do my best to support Canadian industry. My daughter works for Labatts. It’s a conglomerate and no real Canadian ownership other than stockholders. However, they have breweries across the country with decent paying jobs and my fridge is stocked with “international” name brand bottles and cans of various beverages. The ingredients and product are 100% Canadian. They are produced and distributed in Canada. They are licensed by their parent company and slices of the profits are accounted for at HQ as well as within the country.

Kokanee line runs along side Corona which runs along Bud Light which runs along Alexander Keith’s. Some with Canadian origins but, the ownership is hardly Canadian now.


Canada is one of the richest countries of natural resources and should be a world leader in economic and industrial growth and the envy of most nations.

Instead of stifling our industries in the name of being the leader of net zero emissions, we should be helping other countries become prosperous and moving them from the largest emitters to most improved. Helping those poor nations become better.
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100% we have all the resources / capabilities to become a global powerhouse...but our onerous regulation (which isn't bad per se) is really stifling any type of innvation / investment from others.

Bring in more reasonable / attainable regulation, allow tax law changes to increase investment, and bring it on.

Majority of our stuff goes to the US / other partners for refinement prior to moving it forward to the end user...why don't we do this also?

The opportunity is there, the willpower / political will isn't.
 
Has the tariff threat changed the way you shop or do business? We expect the government to learn from this and history has shown it typically doesn’t. However, are you mindful to what businesses you support or products you purchase?


How about travel plans? Sure the dollar can discourage a trip south but, let’s say things start to look good from that stand point. Will you plan to stay in Canada? Travel past USA to South America or across the pond?

For me, I’m taking less for granted. I’m giving things more thought than I typically would. We rely on other countries to be successful so, I’m not adopting a pro Canada only approach. I can’t avoid cheap Chinese products for a lot of things but, there is a lot of daily habits I can change to support local and independent business.

We aren’t out of the woods yet and expect instability for a while. How are you affected or not?
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