the key idea i want to get across is that the tactic should be to put steep export taxes on the "giffen goods" that are perfectly or nearly perfectly inelastic in the american market (uranium, some other minerals, electricity and oil) and use the revenue to socialize the losses. that would actually be a productive retaliation, in that it would transfer the cost to american capital. tariffs on american goods in canada might help some local producers, but it doesn't generate the revenue streams the government needs to socialize the losses.

if the americans want us to act like an ally and maintain the tariffs on china, they should lift the tariffs on us.

if the anericans want us to buy military gear, they should lift their tariffs on us. there should be a complete moratorium on all us defense industry purchases until the tariffs are lifted.

something that's going to happen is americans from the northern states are going to start buying mexican produce in canada to evade the tariffs. will the border cops crack down on that?

further, does canada want to maintain it's tariffs on china, now? if chinese goods become cheaper to buy in canada, that could also generate a market.

an 30% export tax on oil would generally a lot of money, but some accounting should be done to determine if it's necessary or not, as we don't want to get bombed, either.

there is talk of "restricting exports of minerals". that's not the right approach.

as i mentioned previously, an export tax on uranium or hydro-electricity would be the superior approach, even superior to retaliatory tariffs. the idea would be take the money generated by the export taxes and use it to pay for social programs from unemployed canadian workers, and generally socialize the costs.

restricting the export of minerals just harms our own industry, which is what trump wants. that would be senseless.

my diet is mostly fresh produce and i buy for price, with few counterexamples.

in my fridge currently, i have:

from canada:

- beets

- carrots

- kale

- tomato

- red pepper

from mexico:

- mangos

- limes

- avocados

- i often buy guava from mexico, but not currently

- i believe that the cara cara oranges i often buy are also from mexico (none currently)

- blackberries

from peru:

- strawberries

- blueberries

from chile:

- raspberries

- cherries

from costa rica:

- bananas

from italy:

- kiwis

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/kiwi-production-by-country

from china:

- garlic

"made in canada from imported ingredients":

- walmart brand not from concentrate orange juice. i would guess it says this because walmart sources it's oranges from all over the world, not just from florida. it may generally be mostly mexican oranges. walmart canada will import the cheapest oranges.

- walmart pineapple. is it from hawaii? probably not, actually. walmart canada likely sources the cheapest pineapple on an open market.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_pineapple_production

probably imported from the united states, although it doesn't actually say:

- tropicana grapefruit juice

product of the usa:

- oranges

- broccoli (but i often buy canadian broccoli)

the reality is that mexico is a major producer of citrus fruit and should be able to replace american oranges in the canadian market very easily.

that leaves the tropicana grapefruit juice, which markets itself as from florida but has also recently undergone some shrinkflation. i bought this on sale, but i had recently moved to the pc brand, which doesn't say where it sources it's grapefruits from but probably is "made in canada from imported ingredients".

https://www.atlasbig.com/en-ca/countries-by-grapefruit-production

we certainly import most of our fruits and vegetables, especially in the winter. however, we may be over-estimating our reliance on american imports, specifically. i eat mostly produce, and i don't think i need american fruits or vegetables at all. "buy canadian" really isn't the best tactic, if you're mostly buying produce from mexico or south america in the first place.

"buy canadian" is not a good idea and is not helpful. i don't want to go to war with the american people or american workers, i want to shift costs back to american capital. my solidarity is with the international working class, not with bourgeois nationalist politics.

a better idea is "buy the cheapest options", and that is no doubt what people are going to actually do.

just pick the cheapest things you can buy and let ricardan equivalence work itself out. it doesn't matter where it's from and don't be worked up into thinking it does.

i don't exactly want to support the oil industry.

but, is hudson's bay or james bay not a reasonable place to build refineries, nowadays?

do you know who predicted this outcome of nafta?

pierre trudeau.

Pierre Trudeau called the FTA “a monstrous swindle, under which the Canadian government has ceded to the United States of America a large slice of the country’s sovereignty over its economy and natural resources.” John Turner called the FTA “the Sale of Canada Act.”

https://therealnews.com/ten-reasons-why-canada-should-get-out-of-nafta

chretien and martin flip-flopped on this, and the younger trudeau has been an aggressive advocate and supporter of what we call free trade (which is really an investor's rights agreement, not a free trade agreement. most tariffs were already removed by 1985.). we have spent the last 40 years allowing nafta to destroy our sovereignty and dismantle our economy.

now, the americans are changing their mind, and we're utterly helpless. the president is even suggesting annexation. pierre trudeau was right.

we should have listened to the smarter incarnation of the liberal party, and not the dumber incarnation of it, but here we are, with the younger trudeau about to be thrown out of his party's leadership and the need to re-engage with the since abandoned policies of the elder and smarter one. 

if we had spent the last 40 years preparing for this inevitability, we might not be in such an awful position.

as it is, this is going to be brutal. expect 30% unemployment in some cities by summer. expect double digit inflation. the only thing we can do is socialize the losses and wait it out, and i don't think we're going to do it. the elite is going to throw the weak overboard and watch them drown.

every leftist has the right to say "i told you so", but only for ten minutes. let's not dwell on this, let's focus on adjusting.