Business
Dropping the elbows: Canada caves to Trump’s trade pressure by rolling back retaliatory tariffs
Quick Hit:
Canada is rolling back billions in tariffs on U.S. goods, a sharp reversal by Prime Minister Mark Carney aimed at easing tensions with President Donald Trump as trade talks heat up.
Key Details:
- Canada will eliminate 25% tariffs on U.S. consumer goods worth roughly $21.7 billion, including orange juice, wine, clothing, and motorcycles.
- Prime Minister Carney’s move follows a direct phone call with President Trump and marks a sharp break from his campaign promise to retaliate against U.S. trade measures.
- Canada will maintain tariffs on U.S. steel, aluminum, and automobiles — sectors where Trump has imposed his toughest levies.
Diving Deeper:
Prime Minister Mark Carney is abandoning one of his central campaign promises — to hit the United States with “maximum pain” through sweeping tariffs — and is instead extending what amounts to a trade olive branch to President Donald Trump. The decision to remove 25% tariffs on a broad range of U.S. consumer goods, valued at $21.7 billion, represents a remarkable about-face for a Canadian government that had previously positioned itself as one of Trump’s fiercest international trade adversaries.
The shift follows a phone call between Carney and Trump on Thursday, their first publicly acknowledged conversation in weeks. While Canada will continue to levy tariffs on steel, aluminum, and automobiles, the rollback is a clear sign that Carney is recalibrating his approach in response to U.S. pressure and the looming review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The White House welcomed the move as “long overdue,” according to a senior official, signaling that Washington sees Ottawa’s retreat as validation of Trump’s hardline negotiating style.
Carney’s pivot is particularly striking given the fiery rhetoric that propelled him into office. During his campaign, he blasted Trump’s tariffs and vowed to retaliate aggressively. That posture may have served him politically against former Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, but as prime minister, Carney appears more pragmatic. His finance ministry has already carved out exemptions for automakers and other industries since April, suggesting a growing awareness that trade wars can backfire economically.
The decision is also shaped by economic realities. Despite Canada’s earlier tariff blitz, economists note that the effective U.S. tariff rate on Canadian goods remains below 7% thanks to USMCA exemptions. Meanwhile, Canada’s retaliatory tariffs did not produce the inflation surge some feared, with consumer prices rising only 1.7% in July. Still, Carney faced the prospect of prolonged strain with Washington at a time when the U.S. economy is expanding under Trump’s leadership, and Canadian businesses were lobbying hard for relief.
For President Trump, this is another reminder that his “America First” approach is producing results. Canada, once defiant, is now backing down — a stark contrast to the confrontational posture of Justin Trudeau’s government and even Carney’s own campaign pledges. The message is clear: protectionist threats from Washington carry weight, and Canada’s leaders are recognizing that cooperation is more beneficial than confrontation.
The long-term question is whether Carney will maintain this more conciliatory posture or revert to his combative instincts when political pressures mount. For now, though, the rollback underscores Trump’s continued leverage on the global stage and his ability to secure favorable outcomes for American workers and industries.
From Resource Works
Barry Penner doesn’t posture – he brings evidence. And lately, the evidence has been catching up fast to what he’s been saying for months.
Penner, chair of the Energy Futures Institute and a former B.C. environment minister and attorney-general, walked me through polling that showed a decisive pattern: declining support for electric-vehicle mandates, rising opposition, and growing intensity among those pushing back.
That was before the political landscape started shifting beneath our feet.
In the weeks since our conversation, the B.C. government has begun retreating from its hardline EV stance, softening requirements and signalling more flexibility. At the same time, Ottawa has opened the door to revising its own rules, acknowledging what the market and motorists have been signalling for some time.
Penner didn’t need insider whispers to see this coming. He had the data.
Barry Penner, Chair of the Energy Futures Institute
B.C.’s mandate remains the most aggressive in North America: 26 per cent ZEV sales by 2026, 90 per cent by 2030, and 100 per cent by 2035. Yet recent sales paint a different picture. Only 13 per cent of new vehicles sold in June were electric. “Which means 87 per cent weren’t,” Penner notes. “People had the option. And 87 per cent chose a non-electric.”
Meanwhile, Quebec has already adjusted its mandate to give partial credit for hybrids. Polling shows 76 per cent of British Columbians want the same. The trouble? “There’s a long waiting list to get one,” Penner says.
Cost, charging access and range remain the top barriers for consumers. And with rebates shrinking or disappearing altogether, the gap between policy ambition and practical reality is now impossible for governments to ignore.
Penner’s advice is simple, and increasingly unavoidable: “Recognition of reality is in order.”
- Now watch Barry Penner’s full video interview with Stewart Muir on Power Struggle here:
From LifeSiteNews
By Matt Lamb
Chevrolet’s new Christmas ad portrays the ups and downs of family life and the fun of parenting.
Car company Chevrolet launched its Christmas ad campaign with a beautiful commercial that highlights the messiness of raising kids while championing the value of having a family.
The ad, titled “Memory Lane,” shows a middle-aged married couple loading up their decades-old Chevy Suburban with food to head off to a family dinner. At this point, the ad switches between the couple in the present day and grainy, recorder-quality video of family memories.
It begins with a young family, including a baby, loading up into the same car. As the couple begins to drive, the wife and mom is reminiscing. The husband asks her not to “keep all the good stuff” to herself.
From there, the ad reflects on the ups and downs of the family’s life, including memories of mistakenly tying a Christmas tree to the car door and comforting their college-aged daughter about a break-up. As the couple pulls up to a house at the end of their trip, the wife turns to her husband and says: “They never made it easy, did they?”
“Did you want it to be easy?” he replies.
“No, I wanted it to be just like it was,” she says, before they exit the car to meet family, including a grandchild and a new dog that looks like their old dog.
“The greatest journey is the one we take together,” the ad ends.
Commercial accurately portrays that family life isn’t easy, but it is fun
Anyone who has kids knows that it is not always easy raising them, but it is enjoyable. They scream, they cause messes, they wake you up in the middle of the night. And that’s just before they turn five years old. It only gets more enjoyable, and more difficult, as they age (from what I can tell).
Even if you do not have kids, you can probably remember your own life and think about the ways you caused your parents headaches (getting a bad grade in a class or breaking the curfew), but also the ways you brought them joy (graduating from college, joining the military, or getting married).
The truth is that families are messy, and no one is guaranteed an easy life. But the important thing is to persevere by sticking together.
Another thing that stuck out is that both parents remained married throughout their life and are celebrating Christmas with both of their children.
One of the kids did not avoid Christmas because dad voted for Trump or because mom has strongly held religious beliefs – something that does happen to the glee (and detriment) of leftist writers. The entire family, not just those who perfectly agree with each other, were together for the holidays. In fact, this is one way we honor our father and mother, by getting together over the holidays and at other family gatherings.
As a parent myself, I sometimes wish it would be “easy,” but the truth is the ups and downs are what make it enjoyable.
Thank you to Chevy for reminding me, and other parents, of this lesson.
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