There's a lot going on in the world these days...
Unfortunately, much of it is bad – and getting worse.
Currently of most concern to Canadians are the exorbitant tariffs and outright import bans imposed on Canadian goods by the Trump administration, which are also severely impacting Taiga's sales to U.S. customers.
The negotiations about a new trade agreement between Canada and the U.S. came to an abrupt end on 21 Aug, when Canada realized there was NO Way Trump’s outrageous & inflexible demands could ever be met.
List of Main U.S. Demands:
First right on Canada’s critical minerals, at capped prices.
Priority access & control of Canada’s oil, gas, nuclear and electricity sectors.
Control over Canada’s ability to sign trade deals with other nations.
Supervisory control over Canadian strategic infrastructure – e.g. ports, telecoms and power grids.
No tariff reductions for Canada’s automotive industry.
Blocking specific Chinese components from entering Canadian & North American supply chains.
Increased Canadian military spending – specifically on US-made equipment.
Duty-free access to Canada for select U.S. businesses.
Extension of patents on U.S. pharmaceutical products – (with the effect of much higher drug prices in Canada).
Reducing or canceling subsidies for Canadian culture and French language.
Obviously, fulfilling these demands would relegate Canada to a quasi 51st state of the U.S. But this pressure only encourages Canadians to re-assert their full independence... Strong and Free – not beholden to any country!
That’s why Canada’s PM, Mark Carney, struck back with counter tariffs on U.S. goods. This makes for good P.R., but will exacerbate inflation and hurt Canada’s economy even more – while delivering only the equivalent of a mosquito bite to the U.S. economic behemoth.
It is better to work on long-term solutions, which Mr. Carney – to his credit –
has already embarked on...
In Jan. 2026, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Carney stated that Canada wants to multi-align globally, and not just rely on one main trading partner (the USA).
He further said: "Middle powers must act together, because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu".
