Originally Posted by
Bksmithca
Tdracer, there will be no winners and the damage has been done. Canada supplies 60 percent of your oil and gas needs, who wins if Canada decides to shut off the taps. If Trump had a legitimate reason other than the Border, than I might be prepared to listen to his reasoning but the volume of drugs going into the US from Canada if far less than the number of illegal firearms that come in to Canada from the US. As for the people crossing into the US this is an American problem not Canada's. If the US doesn't want people sneaking into the US than maybe they should do something about other than a stupid trade work. And yes I understand that Trump has the right to put whatever tariffs on what ever he wants but to publicly declare that if Canada fights back with it own tariff then he's going to increase his tariffs. That Sir is the response of a BULLY
I call BS on the 60% of oil and gas - the numbers I'm seeing are more like 10%, and much of that is locational convenience - it's cheaper to use Canadian fuel that to transport what's needed from domestic sources (the US then exports a similar amount of oil and gas, mainly to Asia). Plus a lot of your oil sands stuff requires very specific refining capabilities - capabilities that are not common outside of the US, so who are you going to sell it to instead?
While I agree that no one wins in a trade war, it's a negotiating position. Columbia said it wouldn't accept repatriation of Columbian nationals - Trump said 'fine, 25% tariff on coffee and other (legal) exports for Columbia to the US. Columbia folded in hours.
Trump wants some changes from Canada. As I previously posted, a trade war between the US and Canada will hurt Canada more than the US, and your PM is already a lame duck and not exactly negotiating from a position of strength.