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Trump Threatens To Collapse Canada’s Economy, Calls Border ‘Artificial Line’
First thing Tuesday morning, I mentioned, in passing, that three US states which import power from Ontario are facing a 25% overnight increase in electricity prices.
That price hike's a retaliatory measure adopted by Canada in response to Donald Trump's tariffs.
Premier Doug Ford expressed regret for the measure. "I feel terrible for the American people," he said Monday, adding that only "one person" is to blame.
Fast forward 24 hours (less, actually) and that "one person" ("Individual-1" if
Good grief Batman. Thanks for writing.
P-
As a proud Canadian currently vacationing in the US this vitriol from the fascist US president has changed my view of the US. I am feeling like i am on vacation deep inside enemy territory. I recently finished Madelaine Albright’s book. Fascism: A Warning. One idea that i took from it is that as a society we must never “normalize” Trump’s behaviour. I have lived and worked in the US and have greatly admired “the American” way but if i wanted to be an American i would find a way to immigrate. I live in Toronto, Ontario and I am planning to immediately return home and never return until there is a regime change. Thank you for pointing out the absurdity of this situation.
As a very embarrassed and ashamed American, I wish I could funnel my tax dollars to Canada. As much as I’d like to emigrate (or maybe petition for California to join Canada?), I can’t leave and let the clowns run the circus here in the US.
By the way, I am curious: do Canadians now view Wayne Gretzky as their own Benedict Arnold? It’s tough to imagine a scenario where Canadians would turn against the Great One, but being a Trump sycophant surely would do it, right?
It seems that many Canadians are not happy with “The Great One” boycotting the businesses that he owns here. Personally I am still giving him the benefit of the doubt
Just think while this can be easily classified as musings from a mad king, it is likely to get worse. We are faced with 3.5 more years of this and worse, if not impeached.
Key reason Vance is VP is to scare everyone from impeachment.
If you have the votes to impeach Trump, then you also have the votes to impeach Vance. Along with six members of the supreme Court.
Except that’s not really true. It’s easy to imagine a scenario where Trump actually does something sufficiently heinous that even Republicans will vote to impeach/convict while Vance remains plausibly innocent of whatever high crime Trump committed. It’s nearly impossible to imagine a scenario where Trump’s sufficiently heinous actions have been validated by the Supreme Court sufficient to justify their impeachment.
The exception would be a gargantuan landslide in 2026 giving Democrats a super-majority in the Senate, but I really can’t see a scenario that gets Team D 67 Senate seats, particularly considering that only a third of seats will be up for a vote.
Is threatening war against our neighbor with whom we share the longest undefended border in the world a ‘high crime’?
Seems like one to me as a lay person.
Midemeanor might be beating up on Zelenski.
n.b. the increased power prices will affect the entire Eastern United States, not just New York, Michigan, and Minnesota. Those states are just where the interconnects are. The electricity goes anywhere on the Eastern grid it’s needed–basically everything East of the Rockies and Texas. It’s electricity. It follows the path of least resistance.
Source: I once wheeled power from Manitoba to Miami. Of course, all that really happened was FPL generated a little less and MHEB generated a little more. The laws of physics did the rest. My favorite part is that, since we use alternating current, the electrons don’t even go anywhere. They just wobble back and forth.
After we put the schedule in, the trader at Manitoba Hydro called us back, laughing his ass off, to see if we were actually insane. “You think that tag’s actually going to get approved?” Right then it went green. “Yup!” FPL called with a simpler question. “Who the f#ck is muh-heeb?”
Increased power prices is a very big deal. Everyone has a utility bill. There is no way to conserve or use less in the medium term. Increased prices of exceeding this magnitude have not been known except for very short times in Texas. Therefore there is little to measure if you want to model the effects. I can imagine the economic effects of increased power prices will be measurable by one month from today.
California had an example in 2000-01 (i.e. the time Enron ran over CAISO). Day-ahead and real-time dispatch rates slammed to $1000/MWh, out-of-state power import rates went to $10,000/MWh (because no cap on out-of-state imports) and they had rolling brownouts because, even with such an enormous incentive, there wasn’t any spare generation to be had. Energy bills soared and Californians were pissed. The consequences were memorable too. Californians launched a successful recall campaign (in 2003. There were other things people were mad about, but the handling of the California Energy Crisis, which gets proper-noun treatment on account of having its own Wikipedia page, was the real coffin nail.), booted the governor, and installed Arnold Schwarzenegger in his place.
I do not think the tarrifs will create the same scenario. But you are correct to reference it as I did not differentiate. As I understand it, Canada’s goal is to sell the same amount of power at a higher price. Since usage is a bit price sensitive, the usage will be down a small amount. The net effect of a large number of higher bills is what I expect. The Texas and California examples were actual large scale power generation shortages.
I expect the ‘tax’ to be inflationary but not throttling.
Nothing like threatening a NATO country with its very existance. Even King Charles the whatever has woken up.
Besides the fact that he is an economic ignoramus, his belligerence is now off the scale. Anyone who has ever cared for someone with dementia should recognize these actions of extreme irrationality and violent behavior. Just saying. Hope he enjoys his Tesla.
Yes it might be dementia.
Maybe he’ll get a Tesla that decides to hit a tree on autopilot.
All of this is the exact opposite of American exceptionalism. It’s exceptionally stupid.
Good thing you write that because it’s literally impossible to tell anymore. It’s like a strange dream you can’t wake up from.
I asked Grok 3 to gather information again and analyze the likelihood of military annexation. “Trump’s March 11, 2025, comments about the “artificial line of separation” are part of a broader strategy of economic pressure and provocative rhetoric, not a prelude to invasion. The odds of a serious military attempt in the next few years are 1-5%, constrained by practical, political, and international realities. His administration’s actions—focused on tariffs and trade—suggest he aims to “win” Canada through economic dominance, not warfare. However, his unpredictability keeps the possibility, however slim, alive in discourse.”
If only the Mexicans had white skin, then maybe they would be on the other side of an “artificial line” and would benefit from being absorbed into the collective.
When a sociopath feels cornered, they will act out in spite and wreck friends and foes alike. Wall Street is not immune to the spite of an ego-injured psychopath. So, no, this ain’t the bottom.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-at-any-age/201903/at-the-heart-of-the-psychopath-are-spite-and-contempt
As several members of Congress have now pointed out, if we can’t tell the difference, in words and actions, between the present trump-the-genius-flag-draped-patriot and trump-the-russian-asset-in-a-lousy-movie, then we’ve got a real problem, as today illustrates. As to which possible trump-scenario better explains what we’re seeing, I’ll simply refer to Occam’s razor and the observable facts.
+1 – every day when reading the latest news, “Occam’s razor” is running on a loop in my head.
If the US does not pay U.S. import tariffs on U.S. imports, why on earth would we pay Canadian export tariffs on Canadian exports? Canada is collapsing the world order and sullying one of the best words in the U.S. official English language. Jokes on them though since the way tariffs work in our (not so) funhouse, Canada is now charging itself more for its exports of electricity to us. You would think Trump’s big tariff brain would understand its own misconceptions.
There you have it – a madman for President. You are right, something has to be done about him before it is too late. America and the world is at great risk. You can’t continue to have someone as unhinged as this have their thumb on the nuclear button
Canada should move troops to border and increase naval patrols in Great Lakes.
That might be just the provocation Trump is hoping for.
I do not think Trump will send US troops to actually fight their way into Canada, and I think the US military will find a way to not carry out the order. If they are going to do it anyway, then why will it be better if Canada meekly rolls over?
It will probably trigger him to increase tariffs. But at this point, higher tariffs will hurt US states, businesses, people as much as – or more than – it will hurt Canadians. Shut down the Canadian auto industry? That means shutting down the US auto industry. Shut down Canadian energy exports? That means immediately higher energy prices in the US. Shut down Canadian lumber exports? That means immediate drop in US construction.
Canada is better able to cushion its people from this idiocy, than the US is, because the social safety net in the US is barely there. As the US lurches into a tariff war with practically all its trading partners, Trump will find that his position is much weaker than he thinks.
It’s official, we are unequivocally the bad guys now.
Interesting side note, Thomas Jefferson had dreams of annexing Canada as well. Though he wanted to annex Haiti first, and then leverage that source of labor to expand into Canada. (He just continues to be a peach historically doesn’t he?) Obviously, nobody was listening to him at that late stage of his life because the idea never found traction.
Good thing we stopped thinking people could become too old to listen to in our modern age, eh?
Apologies to all of the readers that are in Canada from the mostly ashamed US readers of this publication.
And for those of us who are not ashamed, you should be, for many many reasons.
Here is another risk – we can now see that this guy Trump can be provoked to do something even more stupid than today – like invade a neighbour – just as Russia or China would/will do. America will have to do something to save its own bacon from Trump. All this situation needs is a counterparty with sufficiently steely nerves to provoke your crisis.
I just heard Canada one-upped him and hiked tariffs 100% on Russian hookers.
What’s stopping Trump from doing it, flying some troops in and removing the political leadership? Wouldn’t the Canadians be too flabbergasted to do anything about it?
I know it sounds mad to an American’s ears, but from a European perspective, it’s not that crazy when you consider that Trump really admires Putin?
Would anyone come to defend Canada? No. Would anyone sanction the US, no. Would Canadians revolt? Probably not. So why would people not take Trump on his word in this matter? He has full immunity and the vast resources of the entire US government to support him.
I’m glad I don’t live in Canada. Should have been scary all along to have zero military and be fully surrounded by the most powerful nation on earth.
To get real things done requires real work, something I doubt the spoiled Trump has ever done. What we are witnessing is the tantrum of a baby, which is all Trump has ever been since he punched his music teacher in the face in 2nd grade and daddy had to send him to private school. T
His character was never a secret so how did so many americans not see it. Trump is only the symptom of a much bigger US problem.
Loonie tunes
Why not annex Mexico? Think of all the beautiful beaches full or MAGAts sipping NearBeer at gold plated Trump hotels!