3379 replies to this topic

[dasmo]

In other words, you’ve undercut your US competition by taking advantage of a massive currency exchange swing, and now are frustrated the US has levelled the playing field.



I think we’ve had this conversation already, come to think of it.

No. Like I said, my rates are in line. I work with companies that usually use talent from around the world. If I raised rates dramatically I would actually be pricing myself out. I charge the same dollar amount to my Canadian clients. It actually shows the brutality of inflation here more than it supports Trumps tariffs. The Supreme Court will probably rule them BS and he will step further into authoritarianism by using some mechanism to ignore the ruling
actually proving all the TDS folks right. That will create further bold action by that hive mind and more chaos.

[Victoria Watcher]

President Donald Trump issued a warning Monday on Truth Social, claiming the U.S. Supreme Court received "the wrong numbers" in a pending case that challenges his authority to impose tariffs under emergency powers.

Trump said an adverse decision could lead to an economic "unwind" exceeding $3 trillion, calling it "an insurmountable National Security Event" that would be "devastating to the future of our Country — possibly non-sustainable."

The high court is set to review whether Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to levy tariffs on imported goods without additional congressional approval was lawful.



https://www.foxbusin...igger-3t-unwind

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 November 2025 - 01:26 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

As rising prices hit Americans, Trump keeps insisting costs are down

Campaign promises on affordability coming back to haunt U.S. president

https://www.cbc.ca/n...ation-9.6975017




Well almost every economist will tell you tariffs do not get you lower prices.

And almost every economist will tell you if he actually sends those $2000 cheques that won’t help tamp down inflation either.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 November 2025 - 02:19 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

In the latest data for September, the number of return trips among Canadians travelling to the U.S. dropped by 27 per cent for air travel, and by a jarring 35 per cent for land travel, compared with the same time last year.

 

Canadians traditionally make up the largest group of international tourists to the U.S., totalling 28 per cent of its 72.4 million visitors in 2024. 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...-loss-9.6974240

 

 

 

 

 

So our trips are down about 30% - of the 28% we are responsible for.  So only about 9% drop in international visits.    However, international visits are only a very small portion of US tourism.

 

The group’s 2025 update projects total U.S. travel spending will grow 1.1% this year to $1.35 trillion, despite a 6.3% decrease in international visits driven mostly by fewer travelers from Canada.

 

https://spectrumloca...tional-visitors

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 November 2025 - 02:40 AM.

[lanforod]

The effect is probably not that pronounced on the US, yeah, but its a much more outsized effect in Canada as a good chuck of that spending is still getting spent... here instead.

[Victoria Watcher]

So that’s good news then, right?

[lanforod]

Depending on your perspective... sure.

[LJ]

 

In the latest data for September, the number of return trips among Canadians travelling to the U.S. dropped by 27 per cent for air travel, and by a jarring 35 per cent for land travel, compared with the same time last year.

 

Canadians traditionally make up the largest group of international tourists to the U.S., totalling 28 per cent of its 72.4 million visitors in 2024. 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...-loss-9.6974240

 

 

 

 

 

So our trips are down about 30% - of the 28% we are responsible for.  So only about 9% drop in international visits.    However, international visits are only a very small portion of US tourism.

 

The group’s 2025 update projects total U.S. travel spending will grow 1.1% this year to $1.35 trillion, despite a 6.3% decrease in international visits driven mostly by fewer travelers from Canada.

 

https://spectrumloca...tional-visitors

 

A tremendous amount of that reduction is in day trippers going to pick up some gas cheese and milk, not tourist travel.

 

The border towns have been hit pretty hard otherwise it is hardly noticeable.

 

In my US community all the Canadians that are usually here are here now with a couple of exceptions for medical reasons.

[Mike K.]

That’s right. The exchange rate likely has a lot to do with Canadians choosing not to cross the border for fuel or groceries.

At 45% exchange on your credit card, there is no advantage. It’s likely more expensive now.

[max.bravo]

We haven’t done a trip to Seattle since before Covid. Nothing to do with politics, everything to do with the financial reality of making ends meet here in Canada. Haven’t taken the family abroad since 2020.

[Mike K.]

$4.70USD for a gallon of diesel, which works out to $1.80CAD per litre at today’s exchange. It’s $1.65 in Victoria.

[LJ]

I pay $3.29 USD for a gallon of gas, $1.18 for a half gallon of milk, I think that's ok.

[Mike K.]

Yes, but that’s in Arizona, not Blaine. If you’re driving down to Arizona for cheap gas, you may be doing it wrong.

[LJ]

I'm not driving down for the cheap gas, it's just a happy byproduct.

 

Did I mention Tito's 1.75 liter for $28, now that's worth driving for.

 

Sorry Mike.

Edited by LJ, 15 November 2025 - 07:56 PM.

[Mike K.]

Oh, stop!

[Victoria Watcher]

Prime Minister Mark Carney and his team are so over it. 

 

https://www.thestar....db8b731488.html

 

 

From scampering in search of meetings with President Donald Trump and top U.S. aides all spring, summer and early fall — including the PM travelling twice to Washington and overseas to Egypt where he hailed Trump’s dealmaking — to now shrugging off the current suspension of trade talks, Carney is taking a different tack to Trump. And to the politics of a minority Parliament. 

 

Not negotiating is the new black.

Where Carney was once in nearly a 24/7 texting-back-and-forth relationship with Trump (as he told Toronto Life on Oct. 16), and their negotiating teams were inching close to a deal, the prime minister and the president have had no contact on trade since the APEC summit in Korea, his office confirmed to the Star Friday.

Instead, Carney and his team are making a show of biding their time.

“We’re not going to wait around and look at our phones and turn up the notifications to make sure we don’t miss a ding because somebody sent us a text message at 9:30 at night,” said Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc this week.

“We’re going to get on with building the Canadian economy that’s more resilient, that’s more diversified, do deals with new trading partners, with long-standing trading partners in parts of the world where we can expand opportunities for Canadian businesses and Canadian workers.”

That’s in contrast to what Carney told Toronto Life before things blew up.

Back then — a whole month ago — Carney said he received texts from the president “in the middle of the night, early in the morning, all hours of the day.” The texts were written in “a lot of caps. And exclamation marks. And there is no time limit — there is a 24/7 element to it. In other words, it is not apparent how much the president of the United States sleeps.”

Even when he turned off his notifications, if Trump pinged him twice, they’d turn back on, Carney joked then.

Now, it’s more like radio silence.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 November 2025 - 06:08 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

https://www.telegrap...osing-to-trump/

 

 

Mark Carney lost the battle over Brexit. Now he’s losing to Trump

The ‘high priest of Project Fear’ is struggling to shield Canada’s industrial heartlands from US tariffs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everett Eissenstat, a partner at law firm Squire Patton Boggs, who served in the first Trump administration, says: “The president sees the trade deficit and he is convinced that Canada is not trading fairly with the United States.”

Suspending negotiations may be a tactical move. The USMCA deal that is currently shielding Canada from the worst of the tariffs is up for renewal next year, with a review starting in July. The longer negotiations are suspended, the greater the pressure on Ottawa.

“Obviously there is a risk that the Trump administration will leverage our current trade difficulties to extract concessions and to radically renegotiate the terms of the USMCA,” says Kongtsa.

Could Trump threaten to take the whole deal off the table? “Absolutely, yes,” says Eissenstat. “I don’t think he’s committed to preserving the agreement. It’s going to be tough, there’s no doubt about it.”

A key point of contention in negotiations, when they resume, will be access to Canada’s dairy market. The sector has one of the most powerful lobbies in the country and is seen as politically crucial to keep on side.

Right now, Canada is out in the cold, in contrast to the UK, the EU, Japan and South Korea, which have all secured US trade deals. China has even brokered a one-year detente. Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican president, hailed “very good progress” in US negotiations just a day after Trump ended talks with Canada.

So far Canadian voters blame Trump, not Carney, for the country’s pariah status.

“I think Canadians are pretty realistic about how hard this is, how difficult it is to negotiate with the current US administration,” says Murphy, who is now executive vice president of strategic affairs at construction company Aecon.

“In the current context, they’re prepared to cut the prime minister slack.”

The question is: how long will this patience last?

[Mike K.]

It is widely perceived that Mexico is getting on with the US. Why are we constantly at odds with the US, but Mexico appears to be gaining traction?

[LJ]

^Because we keep electing idiots.

[Victoria Watcher]

President Donald Trump said Monday that Americans could see payment checks funded by tariff revenues as soon as next year, promising that "hundreds of millions of dollars in tariff money" would be distributed as dividends by mid-2026.

https://www.foxnews....begin-next-year

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 18 November 2025 - 01:05 AM.