Trump says "We don't need it" about USMCA/CUSMA while touring a Ford plant...
Also said he doesn't want Chinese EVs in America as Carney mulls dropping tariffs.
There are days that seem quite when it comes to news, those are the days that scare me because something always ends up happening. That was the case when Donald Trump toured a Ford plant in Michigan on Tuesday and then gave a speech to the Detroit Economic Club.
While speaking with reporters on the floor of the plant, Trump was asked about USMCA/CUSMA and went on a rant about how he doesn’t need it.
“There’s no real advantage to it, it’s irrelevant,” Trump said. “Canada would love it. Canada wants it. They need it.”
You can watch the whole scrum with reporters below, he gets asked several questions about CUSMA and about Chinese EVs which are on the agenda for Mark Carney as he travels to China for trade talks.
This is raw video of the whole exchange, the questions related to Canada start at about the 1:45 mark.
"The problem is we don't need their product. You know, we don't need cars made in Canada. We don't need cars made in Mexico. We want to take them here. And that's what's happening," Trump said.
He also made comments about not needing Canadian raw materials or critical minerals.
On the radar because he put us there…
These comments landed in the news cycle as I was sitting with a few Canadians who live in Washington, D.C. I had been asking them if I was wrong in my assessment that Canada simply isn’t on the radar in Trump’s Washington.
“We’re never on the radar unless he puts us there,” one of them said.
That’s normally a good thing and have spoken with several current and former diplomats about Canada’s strategy, in the past this was preferred. Stay off the radar, don’t rock the boat and just keep doing business.
Things in Washington aren’t normal these days.
Trump did put us on the political radar on Tuesday, but even those comments will be overshadowed by what he had to say on Iran and statements made during the speech.
We still don’t have any trade talks of significance happening with Washington and as Mark Carney goes to Beijing to talk about lifting EV tariffs, Trump is praising them.
China wants the EV tariffs lifted, we should say no…
This never wins me friends across the prairies, but no, we shouldn’t be lifting our tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. This isn’t about protecting Ontario’s yet to be developed EV market, it’s about protecting the existing auto industry from an attempt by China to cannibalize it with a cheap, subsidized product.
China’s goal isn’t to sell us EV’s, it is just to sell us cars period and dominate the market.
Their long term goal is to sell us their subsidized EV’s at a cheap price. The people I’ve spoken to say these things which would sell for about $12,500 USD actually cost double to make but the government in Beijing covers the difference.
Allowing in that kind of product wouldn’t just upend the North American EV market it would destroy domestic auto manufacturing.
On Tuesday, Trump was asked if he would ever allow Chinese autos into the United States.
“As you know, we have a tariff on Chinese autos and in Europe, China is taking over the auto business,” Trump said.
According to Forbes and others, Trump is right.
Last June, the analysts at JATO reported that China’s share of the European market had doubled to 5.9%, by November Forbes was reporting China was taking 10.7% of the European market.
A month ago, Robin J. Brooks, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a man with an impressive resume, was reporting that not only were China’s sales in Europe higher but sales elsewhere were up. Markets like Brazil which have previously favoured European and Japanese cars were favouring Chinese vehicles that are heavily subsidized by Beijing.
President Xi and his team are playing the long game - eventual total domination.
Mark Carney heads to Beijing to talk EV’s…
When Canada followed the Biden administration’s lead and slapped 100% tariffs on Chinese EV’s, the retaliation from Beijing didn’t focus on manufactured goods from Canada - they don’t let in much of that. Instead they hit us back with tariffs on canola, pork and seafood.
It’s about the fourth time in just over a decade that China has tried to target Canada’s canola industry.
While canola is a major export for Canada, China, the bad trading partner, only takes about $4.9 billion worth of seed, oil or meal - most of it being seed. It’s significant but not enough to sacrifice the auto industry over, it would be better to find other markets for our product.
China is now telling Canadian officials that they will consider lifting the canola tariffs if we lift the auto tariffs. It’s a bad trade and one Carney should skip out on.
As for China replacing the USA…
Bizarrely, too many Canadians see China as a better trading partner than Canada. It’s a viewpoint that I have trouble understanding when you look at the facts.
I go into this in detail in the Toronto Sun today, please give the column a read and share it on social media.
I point out that while some Canadians, especially our Laurentian Elite, love to claim that under Trump the United States is autocratic, dictatorial, a threat to our sovereignty and a bad trading partner - all of those describe China to a T.
Based on the reaction from the Elbows Up crowd online, they prefer Chinese communism to American democracy, which I can assure you from Washington is still vibrant.
Annoy the Elbows Up crowd and share the column on X or elsewhere.
Doug Ford’s campaign against Crown Royal is misguided…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again here, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is all wrong on Crown Royal.
I find it hard to believe that Liberal Canadians buy what Carney is selling. China is a Communist, autocratic, evil and ruthless regime - no-one ever knows what they will do next. America is a Constitutional Republic with the rule of law firmly in place. America is not, nor ever was, the enemy of Canada. That’s the lie Carney is selling.
Nope, I'm done with the government picking winners and losers. Who pays for it? ME and the rest of Canadians. If Chinese EVs come in at "best price", I'm going to look at them. I will likely not get one unless the 'trackability' is turned off to my liking, not China's. Curiously Tesla does this same 'trackability' and nobody questions that. Canadians have paid (and continue) through the nose with all parts of the supply chain - dairy, cell phone data, bank fees and restrictions, airline fees and lack of service, beef industry, the GD carbon tax horse sh*t that is merely a slush fund for the Fedgov. I may be conflating tariffs and the reasons for the high cost of living in Canada but only slightly. Yesterday the CBC reported $160million subsidy/grants to Domtar in the pulp and paper industry - huh? why? for what purpose or ROI for Canadians? - further Domtar is foreign owned. If Donald 'reshores' the automotive industry to "America first" how can we stop him? There is no negotiating on this front - none - and the Fedgov (ie. Canadians) should not be subsidizing our cars to sell into the US market. We're screwed on that front. Bloomberg reports US dairy prices are dropping for consumers, that and they are projected to come down more with significant investment of new/more dairy manufacturing - when have you ever heard that about Canadian dairy. If the Fedgov enacted 3 things Professor Sylvain Charlebois has pointed out for the Canadian food economy - we all would be better of cost-wise. Brian you are right - too many Canadians are suffering from TDS however now they use it as a crutch for a lot of the current problems in today's Canadian economy but Canadians have been suffering WAY before Trump 2.0 kicked in. We must fix our own house.