Canadian Politics Today

I think the FBI is acting on evidence found during the collusion investigation. If Mueller finds evidence of other possible criminal activity during his investigation, he is pretty well bound to turn it over to other law enforcement for investigation, even if it isn't part of his mandate.

That said, it was Trump who declared war on the FBI so I doubt they have any love for him.

I disagree that Trump and those like him didn't help make China. Most of his and his families product lines are produced in places like China and Bangladesh.

Do you think Trump will get around to imposing tariffs on goods he and his family have manufactured in China.

Trump is a rich old man that won't ever be able to consume all the wealth he has.  You can only have so many cars and houses.  Would it matter tp him if he were worth 5 billion rather than 6 billion?  Or would he rather have the ego boost of helping his country have better trade terms with China, a country filled with businessmen he's said he despises because of how they do business with him.

Much of this is just negotiation tactics and posturing.  I do think Trump wants to get a better trade deal with China and all other countries.  Who knows how it will end up.  In theory, I support tough and relentless businessmen negotiating big trade deals rather than politicians.  Trump has a tendency to needlessly be a d!ck about how he says and does things, so he's going to end up burning bridges that don't need to be burned.

Politicians have a tendency to not want to offend though, which means they won't go to the lengths Trump has with NAFTA and China in tough negotiating.  Will be interesting to see how Trump's deals end up when the dust settles.

You think Trump is not a politician? He is a politician of the worst kind. Everything about him is his ego and theatre for his base. He is a consummate liar. His mouth puts him in a position where everything has to be a win, even if it is a turd. This allows him to be played by people like Kim, Xi and Putin. It's a good thing for him that Iran told him to get stuffed because if they had a meeting, he would probably get played by them as well.

I agree with the US position on China and intellectual property but that isn't an issue with it's other trading partners. Canada and the EU respect US patents, yet he fosters this myth that we are ripping off US drug companies with generics. He also goes on about dairy tariffs ignoring the fact that in 2017 we imported four times as much dairy from the US than we exported to the US.

Look at his meeting with Junker. According to Trump and his faithful, the EU caved and it was a big win for Trump. They agreed to talk about removing tariffs but the EU can only negotiate agreements, they have to be ratified by the member countries and Macron said right away that France would continue to protect its agriculture and he was just the first. Europe was already starting to buy soy from the US because Chinese demand has driven the price of South American soy so high that US soy is now cheap. They were also looking at LNG imports to offset Russian dependence. Those were business decisions, not political decisions. So what exactly did Junker cave on?

European and Asian auto manufacturers would love to have zero tariffs on autos because it would mean the US getting rid of its 25% tariff on imported light trucks. Korean auto unions went ballistic when SK signed an agreement that exempted if from steel tariffs in exchange for a 25 year extension to the US light truck tariff, because they know how important that market is. Getting rid of that tariff would be a kick in the nuts to the US domestic industry because it has basically abandoned cars in favour of light trucks and SUV's. They would now have big time competition on their most lucrative products so it ain't going to happen no matter how much BS Trump spouts.

Meanwhile, Trump drives up metal costs which makes US industry less competitive. The guy is a genius I tell ya.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/billions-at-risk-for-u-s-lng-exports-as-china-proposes-25-tariffs-1.1118808

Canada will miss the boat again because it takes 20 years to get anything done in this country, if it gets done at all.

Balance of Payment theory.

The problem is that Harper signed the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement. He talks about all the trade deals he signed, and that was one and it has many negatives associated with it.

I also disagree with his statement at 30:50 where he claims that Donald Trump and Nigel Farage are trying to fix what they see ailing democratic capitalist societies. Farage quit as soon as Brexit referendum was held, he just wanted to destroy everything and not participate in the mess he created. Anyone who thinks Trump is trying to fix things is a moron. They are both just feeding off of populist dissatisfaction, and contribution nothing to a solution.

I don't know a lot about the complexities of UK politics, maybe bcsapper can also chime in, but I do believe Trump is genuinely trying to fix things, I just don't think he knows how to do it competently and without vast arrogance.  Many of the main things Trump said he'd do during his MAGA campaign he's done or at least has tried to do.

I don't know a lot about the complexities of UK politics, maybe bcsapper can also chime in, but I do believe Trump is genuinely trying to fix things, I just don't think he knows how to do it competently and without vast arrogance.  Many of the main things Trump said he'd do during his MAGA campaign he's done or at least has tried to do.

I was never a fan of Nigel Farage, and wasn't overly surprised when he slunk out of view as Brexit exploded into an unmanageable mess.

I think most politicians genuinely think they know best.  It doesn't matter if they are on the left or the right, they usually do not.  The worst ones are those who insist on their way anyway.  I'm generally just a headline and first paragraph reader when it comes to US politics, but I think Trump is going to find out fairly soon that his policies are going to MAGA for a brief period, then they are going to MAC for a much longer period.  With any luck the next election will put someone in place who can fix it properly.  Maybe they will be a real populist.