Has the art of the deal become the art of self-destruction?

[spidermike007]

It appears to some of us that America's isolationist policies and tariffs are alienating much of the world, so my question is will this be a golden moment for both Canada and China, amongst others? 

 

Trumps plan to make America great again has instead made Canada stronger, more independent, and more competitive than ever before. While American companies are struggling with higher costs and disrupted supply chains, Canadian companies are accessing new markets, forming new partnerships, 
and building new capabilities that will serve them for generations.

 

This is where the story takes an even more dramatic turn because what happened next proved that Canada's transformation wasn't just about economics, it was about something far more fundamental, it was about respect, dignity and the right of sovereign nations to determine their own destiny. 

 

When Trump realized that his tariff strategy had backfired spectacularly, he did what he always does when faced with failure, he doubled down, instead of acknowledging 
that his approach had been counterproductive, he threatened even more aggressive measures, he talked about 75% tariffs, about complete trade cutoffs, about economic warfare
that would force Canada to its knees.

 

But this time something was different, this time Canada wasn't afraid, the reality is more devastating than anyone in Washington wants to admit. 
While Trump celebrates his supposed tariff victories, the true cost of his economic warfare is becoming impossible to ignore. American families are paying the price quite literally as companies like Walmart, Amazon and Subaru have increased costs and passed them onto consumers.

 

But here's what makes this story truly remarkable, Canada isn't just weathering the storm anymore, they're thriving in spite of it. Mark Carney's brilliant strategic pivot away from American dependency 
has created something unprecedented, a blueprint for economic independence that other nations are now studying carefully, the quiet revolution that began with rejecting Canadian steel, has evolved into a comprehensive realignment of global partnerships. The numbers tell the story better than any political speech could, Canada's defense spending is surging toward NATO's 2% target but with a crucial difference, instead of funneling 70 to 80% of that money into American defense contractors as they've done for decades, Canada is building domestic capacity. The defense procurement agency is centralizing decisions, prioritizing Canadian steel, Canadian aluminum, far superior Canadian lumber, and Canadian critical minerals. It's economic nationalism, without the chaos, and strategy without the shouting. 

 

Trump's threats perfectly encapsulates everything wrong with his approach, this isn't alliance building, it's extortion. Carney's response has been swift and decisive, Canada is exploring Swedish fighter jets, European Defense Partnerships, and technological independence. The message is clear, if America wants to treat allies like customers, those allies will shop elsewhere.

 

The transformation extends far beyond military procurement, as Canada's pivot to European markets has accelerated dramatically since Trump's latest tariff escalation. Trade delegations that once focused primarily on American partnerships are now establishing deep ties with London, Paris, Beijing and Berlin. The psychological shift is just as important as the economic one, for the first time in generations Canadian leadership is openly questioning whether an American partnership is worth the constant uncertainty and humiliation.

 

What's most striking about Canada's approach is its discipline, there are no angry and undisciplined tweets, no juvenile public tantrums, no threats of retaliation, but instead there's methodical execution of a long-term strategy that slowly but steadily reduces dependence on an unreliable partner. Every canceled American contract, every new European partnership, every investment in domestic capacity represents another step away from the economic relationship that has defined North America for decades. 

 

And the ripple effects are already visible across other American allies. If Canada, America's most integrated partner can successfully diversify away from dependence on Washington what's stopping others from following the same path? European leaders are watching carefully as Canada demonstrates that there's life beyond American economic hegemony, the quiet Canadian Revolution is becoming a case study in strategic independence. Trump's tariff war was supposed to bring manufacturing back to America and force allies into submission, but instead it's accelerating the exact opposite outcome. American Supply chains are disrupted, costs are rising, and the most reliable partner in North America is quietly building an alternative future. 

 

The art of the deal has become the art of self-destruction, and the world is taking notes. Canada's trade war victory isn't measured in dramatic headlines or political theater, it's measured in steady progress toward economic sovereignty, and strengthen partnerships with reliable allies, and in the quiet confidence that comes from no longer needing to fear the next presidential tweet. As Trump continues his chaotic approach to international relations, Canada has chosen a different path, strategic, patient and ultimately more powerful than any tariff could ever be.

 

If the Communist Party of China (CPC) has its way, the People’s Republic will emerge as the new global hegemon. China’s recently published white paper on national security, its first ever, offers a glimpse into the CPC’s plans. Reflecting President Xi Jinping’s “holistic national security concept,” the document articulates an expansive, integrated approach, encompassing political, economic, military, technological, cultural, and societal domains. And unlike previous defense-focused white papers, it establishes political security – specifically, the CPC’s leadership – as the foundation of national stability, essential to enable China to act as a stabilizing force in a turbulent world.

 

That turbulence, China asserts, has provided a critical opening for China to position itself as a stable and certain actor in regional and global affairs, a champion of multilateralism, an investor in and defender of the Global South, and a just peacemaker. Within Asia, this vision has materialized in “treaties of good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation” between China and nine countries, and in China’s promotion of greater regional security cooperation, including with the ASEAN countries. 

 

More broadly, China is touting Xi’s Global Security Initiative (GSI), which was launched in 2022 as an alternative to Western-led security frameworks that can support broad-based, “win-win” cooperation on “complex and intertwined security challenges.”

 

But as Trump’s America abandons that approach and alienates more of the world, China’s vision, focused on fortifying CPC control and building alternative frameworks for global engagement, has gained greater appeal.

 

 

 

[Tug]

Excellent work Mr Mike thanks for the thought full well written post.

[Mike_Hunt]

7 minutes ago, Tug said:

Excellent work Mr Mike thanks for the thought full well written post.

The circle jerk is started. 

[JBChiangRai]

Canada isn’t alone in realigning partnerships, it’s happening worldwide.

 

America is the loser in this.

[BLMFem]

48 minutes ago, Mike_Hunt said:

The circle jerk is started. 

Oh, another one that wants to sit in the center. You're gonna have to fight Yagoda for the premium spot!😉

[angryguy]

Sorry spidermike i decided to read lewie londons stuff instead

[Keep Right]

It seems that President Trump just keeps on winning with his art-of-the-deal. He is a deal maker and a very smart man. Of course the left wing liberals will disagree but that is up to them. I just cannot wait for more great deals. 

 

https://www.foxnews.com/media/how-trumps-big-beautiful-bill-impact-k-12-education

[NoDisplayName]

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Canada isn't just weathering the storm anymore, they're thriving in spite of it.

 

Oh, you may think that at first, but that's all part of Trump's brilliant 44DD chest!

 

He'll string you along just enough for you to get your hopes up, and then he'll apply his "maximum pressure" campaign to bring your economy to its knees.

 

Y'all talk big now, but what are you gonna do when Trump blacklists your fleet of dark maple syrup tankers, sets a ceiling on the price of plywood, and confiscates your national strategical putain reserve?

 

You'll be begging to come back and become the 51st state, but you'll go to the back of the line after Panama and Greenland and Cuba!

 

Winning!©

[Yagoda]

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Excellent work Mr Mike thanks for the thought full well written post.

He didnt write it, he stole it.

 

Showing again how much you hate your country

[Yagoda]

1 hour ago, BLMFem said:

Oh, another one that wants to sit in the center. You're gonna have to fight Yagoda for the premium spot!😉

Is your mouth still open.?

[Yagoda]

42 minutes ago, NoDisplayName said:

Y'all talk big now, but what are you gonna do when Trump blacklists your fleet of dark maple syrup tankers, sets a ceiling on the price of plywood, and confiscates your national strategical putain reserve?

 

Its already started. The US Universities are already poaching hockey juniors from such urban highlights as Moose Jaw, Portage, Upper Sudbury and Kamloops and paying them too. Bright lights, big cities, all your hockey rinks will be ours!

[Mike_Hunt]

1 hour ago, BLMFem said:

Oh, another one that wants to sit in the center. You're gonna have to fight Yagoda for the premium spot!😉

You have two hands. 

[Mike_Hunt]

8 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

He didnt write it, he stole it.

 

 

Did he?

[Yagoda]

1 minute ago, Mike_Hunt said:

Did he?

Virtually everything he has ever posted has been copied and pasted. He hates Trump for personal reasons from over 40 years ago

[Tug]

1 hour ago, BLMFem said:

Oh, another one that wants to sit in the center. You're gonna have to fight Yagoda for the premium spot!😉

Perhaps both of them are fans of that Japanese porn bukkai I think it’s called lol 😂 

[Mike_Hunt]

1 minute ago, Tug said:

Perhaps both of them are fans of that Japanese porn bukkai I think it’s called lol 😂 

I'm sure you are an expert on this topic. 

[Tug]

5 minutes ago, Mike_Hunt said:

I'm sure you are an expert on this topic. 

Nope but I certainly do admire the Japanese lady’s absolutely exquisite!

[spidermike007]

12 hours ago, Keep Right said:

It seems that President Trump just keeps on winning with his art-of-the-deal. He is a deal maker and a very smart man. Of course the left wing liberals will disagree but that is up to them. I just cannot wait for more great deals. 

 

https://www.foxnews.com/media/how-trumps-big-beautiful-bill-impact-k-12-education

You mean more than the one deal that he struck with the UK, and the framework of a deal that he's working on with China, that isn't a deal yet? Wow. Impressive. 

[BLMFem]

15 hours ago, NoDisplayName said:

 

Oh, you may think that at first, but that's all part of Trump's brilliant 44DD chest!

 

He'll string you along just enough for you to get your hopes up, and then he'll apply his "maximum pressure" campaign to bring your economy to its knees.

 

Y'all talk big now, but what are you gonna do when Trump blacklists your fleet of dark maple syrup tankers, sets a ceiling on the price of plywood, and confiscates your national strategical putain reserve?

 

You'll be begging to come back and become the 51st state, but you'll go to the back of the line after Panama and Greenland and Cuba!

 

Winning!©

 

Yeah, about that......😄

 

TACO Trump Went Off at Aides as He Was Forced Into Embarrassing Climbdown

https://www.yahoo.com/news/taco-trump-went-off-aides-133139204.html

 

"The president announced on Monday he was imposing a new wave of 25- to 40-percent tariffs on products from more than a dozen countries—including key trading partners such as Japan and South Korea—unless those countries reach new trade deals with the U.S. by August 1.

A series of letters sent to world leaders pushed back a July 9 deadline that Trump had previously set for countries whose products were hit by his most aggressive “Liberation Day” tariffs announced in April.

Trump was tempted to let the tariffs take effect, but he spent the weekend on the phone with his aides and allies, who argued he should set a new deadline, the Wall Street Journal reported."

 

[TheAppletons]

15 hours ago, NoDisplayName said:

.....national strategical putain reserve?

 

  I'm hoping you meant poutine.  

 

 "Putain is a French vulgarity meaning "wh@re" or "f**k"

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putain#:~:text=Putain is a French vulgarity,Matic's 1983 album Choco

[connda]

Has the art of the deal become the art of self-destruction?

 

It may be fine for real estate transaction and reality TV shows, but for running the ship-of-state?  The "art of the deal" is the "art of ramming your ship-of-state onto the rocks and shoals of global foreign policy realities and watching it sink into obscurity."

[NoDisplayName]

21 minutes ago, TheAppletons said:

 

  I'm hoping you meant poutine.  

 

 "Putain is a French vulgarity meaning "wh@re" or "f**k"

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putain#:~:text=Putain is a French vulgarity,Matic's 1983 album Choco

 

Have you forgotten the locker room banter?

 

"Yeah, that's her, the one with the maple syrup.  I better use some executive orders before I start tariffing her.  You know I’m automatically attracted to tariffs - I just start tariffing them. It’s like a raw earths magnet.  Just tariff. I don’t even negotiate. And when you’re the leader of the free world they let you do it. You can tariff anything."

 

"Even penguins?"

 

"Grab them by the cloaca. You can tariff anything."

 

 

EDIT:  Honestly, i did google it, using the naughty spelling.  The dropdown search bar included search term "p***** food".  I assumed that meant others were searching same, and didn't bother opening links.  Who knew it would be a more appropriate word choice!

 

 

[spidermike007]

During the first Trump term, I would sometimes have to catch myself because even though I thought and think that Trump is uniquely despicable and dangerous, the fact remains that if you just want to look at the number of lives lost and global damage done, George W. Bush really outstripped him. Trump is maybe a worse person, but the damage that he did in his first term was much more contained.

 

I think that in the second Trump term he’s changed that very quickly. Not just by taking America’s soft power and setting it on fire in all sorts of ways, but really making these abrupt decisions that are going to kill hundreds of thousands and maybe more than a million people and he’s doing it in this incredibly arbitrary, careless way.

 

Trump is destroying the US economy one step at a time. It could be intentional. It could be diabolical. Nobody knows. He could simply be unhinged or following the dictates of a very sinister cabal. 

 

One thing is certain. He is accomplishing very little, he will NOT bring manufacturing back to America, which is stupid over priced (I am here now and inflation is raging at 20% or higher right now), he is causing alot of pain, he is losing support, destroying businesses, and consumer confidence, he does not have a coherent plan, and he is a destructive nimwit. 

 

Globalization made the world great, the manufacturing ecosystems within globalization and low tariffs allowed the US economy to thrive for decades, and he's never going to bring back much manufacturing to the US. End of story, just a slogan. The fact that so many people are buying into his nonsense and destruction, is what is truly sad. 

 

 

[Mike_Hunt]

6 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

During the first Trump term, I would sometimes have to catch myself because even though I thought and think that Trump is uniquely despicable and dangerous, the fact remains that if you just want to look at the number of lives lost and global damage done, George W. Bush really outstripped him. Trump is maybe a worse person, but the damage that he did in his first term was much more contained.

 

I think that in the second Trump term he’s changed that very quickly. Not just by taking America’s soft power and setting it on fire in all sorts of ways, but really making these abrupt decisions that are going to kill hundreds of thousands and maybe more than a million people and he’s doing it in this incredibly arbitrary, careless way.

 

Trump is destroying the US economy one step at a time. It could be intentional. It could be diabolical. Nobody knows. He could simply be unhinged or following the dictates of a very sinister cabal. 

 

One thing is certain. He is accomplishing very little, he will NOT bring manufacturing back to America, which is stupid over priced (I am here now and inflation is raging at 20% or higher right now), he is causing alot of pain, he is losing support, destroying businesses, and consumer confidence, he does not have a coherent plan, and he is a destructive nimwit. 

 

Globalization made the world great, the manufacturing ecosystems within globalization and low tariffs allowed the US economy to thrive for decades, and he's never going to bring back much manufacturing to the US. End of story, just a slogan. The fact that so many people are buying into his nonsense and destruction, is what is truly sad. 

 

 

You should at least cite your sources. 

 

http://www.thejuanpercent.com/2025/03/something-to-know-14-march.html

[KhaoHom]

Has the art of the deal become the art of self-destruction?

 

 

 

No, it hasn't. Your conundrum solved.

[JBChiangRai]

It’s interesting to see what has quietly been going on in the background.

 

Steel Canada was previously selling to America, Steel the UK was previously buying from America.

 

Previous quantities of Canadian Steel are no longer available for America to buy.  The UK is buying from Canada and no longer wants American Steel in the old quantities.

 

Plants are being retooled right now and this is happening all over the world.  Markets are changing.

[VocalNeal]

I'm thinking that Trump knowing that no world leaders would politely engage with him attacked them with tariffs to force them to engage. 

 

Similar to some people with no mates post on Forums?

[JAG]

23 hours ago, Yagoda said:

Virtually everything he has ever posted has been copied and pasted. He hates Trump for personal reasons from over 40 years ago

Tell us do!

 

Or is it just another wild claim?

[Yagoda]

14 minutes ago, JAG said:

Tell us do!

 

Or is it just another wild claim?

Ask him if he did business with Trump in NYC, see if he lies

[JAG]

14 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Ask him if he did business with Trump in NYC, see if he lies

You tell us, go on, after all, you are the one making the allegation. If he were to say no you are implying that he would be lying ( it is very much your stock in trade, and you clearly anticipate making that claim) so get on with it.

 

Incidentally, for one so enthusiastic about exposing lies, you do have a rather tenuous relationship with the truth!