18 minutes ago, ericthai said:

wow, comparing prices from 2020 until now and who was running things during this time?? maybe the price increases are due to the massive inflation over the past 4 years.

The past four years under BIden gave us over 20% inflation. 

1 hour ago, ericthai said:

Please tell me what restrictions are on foreign owned companies in the USA??  I dont see any, a foreigner can open a company in the USA just like anyone else.... Not like only allowed to hold 49% shares in a company in places like...well Thailand!  

 

Buy American act??? if your government is buying things I would think you want them to spend your money on products made in your country, not imported if not needed.  

 

weaponize laws??  We have laws, either you abide by them or you dont and if you dont there are consequences, not weaponization!  Did the European commission weaponize too?

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47765974

 

https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-requires-general-electric-divest-aftermarket-business-order-complete

You accused other countries of being more protectionist than the U.S. The U.S. are just as protectionist if not more) as other countries (at least OECD countries)

 

The claim that the U.S. was being abused by all other countries (with notable exceptions such as China) is pure fantasy. 

 

1. Foreign ownership restrictions, just as in other countries for example in Telecoms and domestic airlines. Subject to authorization. There are also restrictions at the State level.

2. The  buy American act is, by definition, protectionist. Not even all countries have a similar regulation

For example, there's not buy European act.

3. The U.S. has laws, as other countries. However, other countries usually don't have an extra-territorial scope of application of their laws.

18 minutes ago, TedG said:

The past four years under BIden gave us over 20% inflation. 

And it's not like it has been the same all over the world, as a consequence of the Covid pandemic...

Oh wait! 

1 minute ago, candide said:

You accused other countries of being more protectionist than the U.S. The U.S. are just as protectionist if not more) as other countries (at least OECD countries)

 

The claim that the U.S. was abused by all other countries (with  notable exceptions such as China) is pure fantasy.

 

1. Foreign ownership restrictions, just as in other countries for example in Telecoms and domestic airlines. Subject to authorization. There arre also restrictions at the State level.

2. The  buy American act is, by definition, protectionist. Not even all countries have a similar regulation

For example, there's not buy European act.

3. The U.S. has laws, as other countries. However, other countries usually don't have an extra-territorial scope of application of their laws.

 

yes, I did accuse other countries of being protectionist since I been dealing with imports and exports for decades.

Try exporting products from the USA to other countries and tell me how it goes with the free trade and that everyone but China is playing fair. 

 

Where are the restrictions on foreign ownership of companies in the USA?  Sure Telecom and Airlines (these are consider security risks). 

 

Other countries dont impose restrictions? Thailand requires that a Thai must own 59% of a company, no such regulations in the USA. 

 

 

 

26 minutes ago, ericthai said:

 

 

Try exporting products from the USA to other countries and tell me how it goes with the free trade and that everyone but China is playing fair. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Australia HAD a free trade agreement with the USA. For decades, goods and services flowed freely between the two countries. Zero tariffs.

 

For the same decades, the USA has had a positive trade balance with Australia.

 

Now, Australia has a base 10% tariff, with 50% on our copper and steel, and 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals. We are a major supplier of plasma, immunoglobulins, and recombinant proteins.

 

So don't give me any horsesh!t about America playing fair, OK?

41 minutes ago, candide said:

And it's not like it has been the same all over the world, as a consequence of the Covid pandemic...

Oh wait! 

Are you people tired of your dumb talking points?  

 

 

Joe Biden is more responsible for high inflation than for abundant jobs

The main effect of the president’s economic policies has been to boost prices

 

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/05/11/joe-biden-is-more-responsible-for-high-inflation-than-for-abundant-jobs

2 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Australia HAD a free trade agreement with the USA. For decades, goods and services flowed freely between the two countries. Zero tariffs.

 

For the same decades, the USA has had a positive trade balance with Australia.

 

Now, Australia has a base 10% tariff, with 50% on our copper and steel, and 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals. We are a major supplier of plasma, immunoglobulins, and recombinant proteins.

 

So don't give me any horsesh!t about America playing fair, OK?

Agree

1 minute ago, Lacessit said:

Australia HAD a free trade agreement with the USA. For decades, goods and services flowed freely between the two countries.

 

For the same decades, the USA has had a positive trade balance with Australia.

 

Now, Australia has a base 10% tariff, with 50% on our copper and steel, and 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals. We are a major supplier of plasma, immunoglobulins, and recombinant proteins.

 

So don't give me any horsesh!t about America playing fair, OK?

free trade with Australia??? for decades no beef from the USA allowed, how is that free trade?

1 minute ago, ericthai said:

free trade with Australia??? for decades no beef from the USA allowed, how is that free trade?

Who implemented that ban the US 

Just now, ericthai said:

free trade with Australia??? for decades no beef from the USA allowed, how is that free trade?

False. America can export beef to Australia, provided it comes exclusively from American herds. When it comes from cross-border herds from Mexico and Canada, our strict quarantine laws prohibits. importation.

 

Which is entirely sensible, our beef industry can do without BSE or foot and mouth disease.

 

Do some research before posting, OK?

 

If you are trying to defend what the US has done by look over there, you will have me wondering about the last time you breathed through your nose.

7 minutes ago, still kicking said:

Who implemented that ban the US 

you're funny.. The US banned it's meat from entering Australia, how does that work?

 

Australia banned the imports...So yeah, free trade with OZ..

On 8/10/2025 at 2:29 AM, spidermike007 said:

Canada is a huge source of oil for the US, in the middle of summer when Texas cranks the AC and California battles wildfires, it's Canadian Hydro dams keeping US cities from going dark, your city is wired into Ottawa's Mercy. Here's the part nobody wants to talk about, Canada has proved it can shut it all down oil, electricity, and trade anytime, and not with bombs, not with armies, with just a single political decision. The most important part is that most Americans will have no idea about this until the lights go out.

 

This is a brilliant political ambush that Mark Carney wages against Trump. While Trump was raging with his juvenile tweets, Carney was online with Mexico's president to make an offer the United States could not match. Reliability within 48 Hours. Canada and Mexico shocked the world, they unveiled the Northern Corridor, a trade Super Highway designed to treat America not as a partner but it has an obstacle, to ship around. Carney's exact words "when one door closes, we will find a better door". That wasn't a diplomacy, that was a declaration of economic independence. And Canada has just come up with a way to tax American transport between the US and Alaska, due to poor American policy those shipments are going to become far more expensive, as America cannot afford to ship them by sea. Oops. Didn't think about that. 

 

What Washington doesn't understand is that in 2025 it's not about who screams the loudest, it's about who the world can't function without. Canada has built themselves into the one country American can't cut out regardless of how reckless Trump behaves. They have total infrastructure integration, your iPhone uses Canadian hydroelectric power, your home is built with superior Canadian lumber, your car runs on Canadian oil, you can't replace all of that overnight.

 

In February a lumber mill in Illinois closed. Because Canadian lumber suddenly became too expensive, after Trump's tariff terrors. This wasn't a failing mill, this was a mill that had been running for 60 years, employing 300 families. It didn't die from Canadian competition, Trump killed it. It died from bad American policy.

 

There is no surge capacity to replace Canadian imports, even analysts on Fox Business admitted it could take a decade to rebuild domestic production. And even if rebuilt, will it be competitive? So instead of protecting American jobs, tariffs will do the opposite, they will make lumber unaffordable in the middle of a housing crisis, and while America is having a political meltdown, Canada was having a strategy meeting. Trump expected the usual script, retaliation, angry press conferences, maybe a new round of tariffs. Instead Canada did something no one saw coming, no shouting, no threats, no photo ops with fingerpointing, politicians stepped up to a podium and announced a 1 billion dollar support program for Canadian lumber companies. Every company taking the money had to commit to Canada's new 25 billion dollar domestic housing program, in other words America just gave us our own lumber back and we're going to use it to fuel a big housing bill. Thanks for the favor Trump!

 

Because of silly political grand standing a kitchen renovation that cost $30,000 in January now costs $35,000. Not because there wasn't enough wood or steel but because of political theater in Washington. Multiply that by millions throughout America. Trump promised to fix the housing crisis, but instead he's destroying it.

 

If Canada, America's closest ally with the longest undefended border could openly defy US pressure, then the question becames avoidable for the rest of the world. What's stopping us from doing the same? Maybe we don't need American approval, China took notice, the EU took notice, so did Mexico. Many other countries did too. 

 

Trump is too dim to understand that Canada has infrastructure indispensability, you can't sanction a country when you run on their oil, you can't bully a partner when you run in their electricity. Canada won't beat America by force, they'll beat America with integration. America's grid was built using cheap Canadian electricity and America just proved it's willing to hurt its own people to make a political point.

 

American can no longer be counted upon for reliability and that's not a trade war, that is a trade crisis. America has a superpower credibility crisis. There's a moment during every empire is history when the mirror doesn't recognize the face staring back. August 1st was America's mirror moment, Trump thought he was teaching a lesson, instead Canada gave America a master class in independence.

 

While America was busy building walls Canada was busy building bridges to Mexico, to Europe, and to Asia. America barked demand for loyalty, Canada quietly earned reliability. Every new home or skyscraper you see, you're looking at Canadian lumber.

 

Here's what the next decade looks like if nothing changes. America drifts into self-imposed isolation as one partner after another quietly diversifies away from US dependence. The EU, Canada and China step into the vacuum, as the predictable hub of trade, dealing with whoever treats them fairly and the US continues its March into  irrelevance, and it's economy starts to shrink, inflation skyrockets, and joblessness becomes a major problem. 

 

The guiding principle that Trump not only ignores but has a complete lack of understanding about, is that America became the greatest economy on the planet due to a lack of tariffs, due to very low import taxes. You don't tax your way out of a deficit, the deficit is there for a reason, ignoring the reason for that deficit and simply focusing on the symptoms is a recipe for disaster. We'll have to call it the Trump economy, we will have to call it the Trump depression, and we will have to call Trump the worst and most destructive  president America has ever seen. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's with the unattributed cut and paste?

The only reason that the Canadian economy hasn't tanked is that 95% of its  exports are still entering the USA tariff free. The agreement ends in 2026. Come back and  offer other people's opinions when that impact is manifested.

Quebec will not cut off the US electricity. Alberta and Saskatchewan will not cut off the US oil. The 3 provinces have already declined to do so.  Their economies rely on the money those exports bring. 

The impact upon Canada  is yet to be determined.

 

4 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

False. America can export beef to Australia, provided it comes exclusively from American herds. When it comes from cross-border herds from Mexico and Canada, our strict quarantine laws prohibits. importation.

 

Which is entirely sensible, our beef industry can do without BSE or foot and mouth disease.

 

Do some research before posting, OK?

 

If you are trying to defend what the US has done by look over there, you will have me wondering about the last time you breathed through your nose.

US beef has been banned since 2003.

2 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

False. America can export beef to Australia, provided it comes exclusively from American herds. When it comes from cross-border herds from Mexico and Canada, our strict quarantine laws prohibits. importation.

 

Which is entirely sensible, our beef industry can do without BSE or foot and mouth disease.

 

Do some research before posting, OK?

 

If you are trying to defend what the US has done by look over there, you will have me wondering about the last time you breathed through your nose.

yes, it can be imported now, but  since 2003 it was banned.

On 8/10/2025 at 9:11 AM, Harrisfan said:

Trump lives in your head 24/7

 

Indeed, major Syndrome sufferer. Sad, really.

1 hour ago, ericthai said:

 

yes, I did accuse other countries of being protectionist since I been dealing with imports and exports for decades.

Try exporting products from the USA to other countries and tell me how it goes with the free trade and that everyone but China is playing fair. 

 

Where are the restrictions on foreign ownership of companies in the USA?  Sure Telecom and Airlines (these are consider security risks). 

 

Other countries dont impose restrictions? Thailand requires that a Thai must own 59% of a company, no such regulations in the USA. 

 

 

 

Stop putting words in my mouth. I never claimed that other countries were not at all protectionist, or don't impose any restriction. My claim is that, at least compared to other oecd countries (so that excludes China, Thailand  etc...), the U.S is as protectionist as the others, if not more.

 

As concerns Thailand, in particular, it's very protectionist but weights peanuts anyway.

1 hour ago, TedG said:

Are you people tired of your dumb talking points?  

 

 

 

Joe Biden is more responsible for high inflation than for abundant jobs

The main effect of the president’s economic policies has been to boost prices

 

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/05/11/joe-biden-is-more-responsible-for-high-inflation-than-for-abundant-jobs

Under paywall.

Rude comment removed 

On 8/10/2025 at 7:31 PM, Screaming said:

It seems the Canadians have a chip on their shoulder for living in the shadow of the United States. They seem to think that they are exempt from tariffs just because they are on the cold side of the American continent. The good American citizens do not need goods from Canada and will shop for the best deal elsewhere, meanwhile, Canadians will suffer because their goods cannot compete. 

I tend to agree. Let Canada bypass the US to make a trade corridor for Mexico. I think Canada will find that Mexico will not be able to pay for Canadas goods at the prices they want. Their people can not afford Canadian goods as well. Should Canada choose to stop supplying power to the US. They better do it quickly because the US is already preparing for that to happen as well as relinquishing dependence on their need for Canadas oil and electric. 

9 hours ago, ericthai said:

you're funny.. The US banned it's meat from entering Australia, how does that work?

 

Australia banned the imports...So yeah, free trade with OZ..

I guess it is impossible for an American to admit Australia has been treated shabbily  when it comes to tariffs. Much easier to ignore facts, and play the victim.

 

You have a national debt of $36 trillion. Spending another $7 trillion won't fix it, nor will tariffs.  Every economist knows you are heading for recession, if not depression.

 

The only thing you are victims of, is your own greed. You have had it too good for too long, and now regard it as your right to be in debt to the rest of the world.

 

 

 

 

12 hours ago, candide said:

2. The  buy American act is, by definition, protectionist. Not even all countries have a similar regulation

 

Canada doesn't need an act. The orange man did that for them. 

 

As for Carney. The US should be glad that Doug Ford is not the prime minister.

Meme removed.

7 hours ago, thesetat said:

I tend to agree. Let Canada bypass the US to make a trade corridor for Mexico. I think Canada will find that Mexico will not be able to pay for Canadas goods at the prices they want. Their people can not afford Canadian goods as well. Should Canada choose to stop supplying power to the US. They better do it quickly because the US is already preparing for that to happen as well as relinquishing dependence on their need for Canadas oil and electric. 

It takes between 4 and 7 years to build a coal-fired power station. Nuclear takes 10 years minimum. Gas fired 3-4 years. Ironically, solar and wind farms have the shortest time frames, but we all know what Trump thinks of them, don't we?

 

To replace Canada's supply, the US would need to construct 7 large scale coal-fired plants, at a cost of $3-6 billion per plant. Every community would be screeching NIMBY.

 

IMO Canada does not need to hurry.