Maggie's Farm

Canada's many problems go way back, as much as 100 years ago. The problems aren't Trump's fault they are directly the fault of a terrible governing system; the parliamentary system. Which has allowed unelected and unelectable leaders to take over Canada. The two problems that brought this all to a head were the Fentanyl labs in Canada bringing drugs into the U.S. and the scam Canada was allowing where Canadian companies would buy cheap aluminum from China and export it into the U.S. THIS is what the meeting with Trum and Trudeau was about where Trudeau refused to fix these problems and whined that it would destroy Canada's economy. To which Trump replied that if Canada wants to be treated like a state rather than like a trading partner country maybe it should become the 51st state. Every report on that now famous statement leaves out Trudeau's whining and begging for special treatment.

Canada has imposed high tariffs on the U.S. since 1930.
In December 2024 then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, told President-elect Donald Trump that Canada could not comply with a renewed trade agreement based on reciprocity because: (1) Canada had deindustrialized; their manufacturing was now “light” manufacturing and assembling of component goods made by others. (2) Canada had legislated energy policy based on climate change, and high carbon emitting industrial production was no longer an option [coking coal burning etc.]. (3) The NATO military spending goal was too high for Canada to reach [they were 19th and it wasn’t a priority because the USA was the crutch]. (4) Internal provincial rules, restrictions and cross-border trade regulations did not align with a Canadian federal trade policy effort, and (5) the political power of the ‘dairy cartel’ inside Canada tied the hands of Canadian trade representatives.
That was the gist of it. That’s why Canada cannot now or ever find a path to a U.S. reciprocal or balanced trade agreement.  #1 and #2 is specifically why Canadian govt officials repeatedly use the word “intertwined.”  They say intertwined because they can no longer function separately. Canada is economically dependent on proximal and economic subsidies from the United States.