I think the goal is to keep Canadians working and thus the tax base. Being lashed to the us, at the moment, is a recipe for disaster. Being lashed to the three us carmakers, unfortunately, isn’t much better given their worldwide difficulties. There’s a base of workers who bend metal and this community can be applied to alternatives while they exist. Military hardware, commercial vehicles, things that float, etc.
HN is an ironic place to have these discussions, as it’s businesses are the reason 20th century things like bending metal are in decline.
I don’t blame Canada for making changes in trade agreements and domestic policies in response to the sudden betrayal by Trump’s America. But at the same time, the strategy in the article feels random. So China can sell cars in Canada and how does Canada’s car industry gain from that? Encouraging South Korean auto makers to build in Canada would make sense, except that they’d also face tariffs when selling to consumers in America right? What’s the market to which Canada would export cars? Or is the idea to simply gain in other industries and let the Canadian auto industry die out?
“But at the same time, Carney scrapped an electric vehicle sales mandate introduced by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2023,”
As you write, it appears kind of random. There’s an Aesop fable to the effect, “when you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody.” Perhaps he is just trying to give himself more room to bargain, greater flexibility, in the renegotiations this year.
I think the goal is to keep Canadians working and thus the tax base. Being lashed to the us, at the moment, is a recipe for disaster. Being lashed to the three us carmakers, unfortunately, isn’t much better given their worldwide difficulties. There’s a base of workers who bend metal and this community can be applied to alternatives while they exist. Military hardware, commercial vehicles, things that float, etc.
HN is an ironic place to have these discussions, as it’s businesses are the reason 20th century things like bending metal are in decline.
I don’t blame Canada for making changes in trade agreements and domestic policies in response to the sudden betrayal by Trump’s America. But at the same time, the strategy in the article feels random. So China can sell cars in Canada and how does Canada’s car industry gain from that? Encouraging South Korean auto makers to build in Canada would make sense, except that they’d also face tariffs when selling to consumers in America right? What’s the market to which Canada would export cars? Or is the idea to simply gain in other industries and let the Canadian auto industry die out?
“But at the same time, Carney scrapped an electric vehicle sales mandate introduced by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2023,”
As you write, it appears kind of random. There’s an Aesop fable to the effect, “when you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody.” Perhaps he is just trying to give himself more room to bargain, greater flexibility, in the renegotiations this year.