Quote:
Originally Posted by Traum
In a world where the US was still our staunchest and most reliable partner in just about everything (despite our occasional quarrels), it made every sense to arrest Meng Wanzhou and piss China off. We had a legal obligation to do so, and the consequences to let it slip would not have been good. The 100% Chinese EV tariffs followed along the same lines -- we are part of the integrated N.American auto manufacturing sector. Allowing the flood of state-subsidized cheap EVs into our country would have created a major problem for our workers in the sector.
With Trump's destruction derby, we no longer have a reliable partner in much of anything from the US. In particular when it comes to the auto manufacturing sector, Trump has been repeatedly acting like he is out to destroy the long-standing integrated sector anyway. If he is gonna do that in the first place, what benefit do we have in trying to protect our workers in the sector? I can't really blame any of the brands for shuttering their factories here, since they wouldn't be able to turn a profit on cars that are made here! Without being able to export the cars that are built here to the US, the sector is gonna die anyway, so we might as well strike a deal with China to bring in some cheap EVs that can make cars more affordable for our citizens.
With India, I also don't blame Turd for souring relations with India / Modi. The Indian state were fxxking behind the ordering of the killing for a Canadian citizen on our soil! How can any PM turn a blind eye towards that?!
Personally, I am not too optimistic with us improving trade relations with India, since my understanding of India is -- their economy has a very protectionist mentality. It doesn't mean I am opposed to doing more trade and investments with India -- I am just skeptical that they would be able to set aside that protectionist mindset.
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I agree that the NA auto model is effectively broken if the US is no longer a reliable export market abd Canada simply doesn’t have enough domestic demand to build cars solely for our own market, so trying to preserve the status quo just delays the inevitable. Waiting things out doesn’t help auto workers if the industry is going to shrink regardless. Being proactive and making deals that actually create jobs and keep vehicles affordable makes more sense.
And no doubt Chinese EVs will clearly disrupt the sector, as we’re seeing in Germany, but competition can be healthy. If Chinese manufacturers are willing to build plants in Canada that could realistically create more long term jobs than the legacy automakers that are already scaling back.