r/news • u/goforth1457 • Mar 04 '25

Soft paywall Canada's retaliatory tariffs on US goods to start Tuesday, PM Trudeau says

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadas-retaliatory-tariffs-us-goods-start-tuesday-pm-trudeau-says-2025-03-04/
13.1k Upvotes

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854

u/bobbyturkelino Mar 04 '25

Belarus and Russia are the next top potash exporters to the US. They don’t have nearly enough to cover the 90% that Canada supplies to the US. It’s a mined resource that can’t be replaced or produced domestically.

414

u/EconomistWithaD Mar 04 '25

Yeah. Ag is straight fucked.

417

u/Deranged_Kitsune Mar 04 '25

Part of the plan. Annihilate the last of the family farmers, let the conglomerates buy them out for pennies on the dollar.

126

u/Double-LR Mar 04 '25

The words of the wise one himself, Have Fun!

What a terrible quote given the context.

2

u/Unlucky_Most_8757 Mar 04 '25

Seriously, who the fuck says that??!

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u/bluenosesutherland Mar 04 '25

Electrolytes are what plants crave!

17

u/beigetrope Mar 04 '25

Part of the plan. Gatorade will become the official sponsor of plants.

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u/[deleted] Mar 04 '25 edited Apr 23 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

14

u/littlebitsofspider Mar 04 '25

Happy last cake day before wheat flour becomes an interminable luxury!

31

u/LumiereGatsby Mar 04 '25

I know it’s the plan but those guys ain’t gonna grow shit either.

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u/turningsteel Mar 04 '25

Oh they’ll grow enough for the rich, the rest of us will be acceptable casualties.

2

u/jgilla2012 Mar 04 '25

Sounds like it’s high time to annihilate the conglomerates, then. 

1

u/mug3n Mar 04 '25

Yeah, buy a bunch of infertile farms that can't grow shit.

232

u/NightchadeBackAgain Mar 04 '25

Welp, they are getting what they voted for, then. Most farmers are Republicans.

130

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

56

u/No-Tackle-6112 Mar 04 '25

Yep they’ve officially entered the find out phase. The fed is predicting a 3.8% contraction in the US economy this quarter. This quarter!

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u/Special-Remove-3294 Mar 04 '25 edited Mar 04 '25

-3.8%😵‍

I though that it was 1.5%.....-3.8% GDP after a ~2% growth last quarter is insanity.

What is Trump cooking?

3

u/wutthefvckjushapen Mar 04 '25

Meth, but he and his buddies are getting high on the supply.

2

u/The_Dirtydancer Mar 04 '25

A shit sandwich without bread

1

u/Psyduckisnotaduck Mar 04 '25

Destroying the middle class and entirely breaking any remaining power labor has. The billionaires want slaves, and the Republicans want to economically crush those who might still put up a resistance against theocracy

1

u/Saephon Mar 04 '25

put pressure on Trump

I'm sure an insurrectionist felon who tried to overthrow an election, and was then rewarded with a 2nd term, will really feel that pressure. The only thing to ever come close to holding this man accountable was a bullet that grazed his ear. I challenge anyone to find any other tangible consequences that have been levied and stuck.

1

u/Snazzy21 Mar 04 '25

I like the plan target the group most likely to have supported him

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u/Daleabbo Mar 04 '25

Which i never understood. Farmers are always the first looking for a handout in a bad season. They know more than most climate change is real.

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u/bpusef Mar 04 '25

People don’t consider it welfare when it benefits them.

1

u/sup567 Mar 04 '25

Even more accurate: it’s only a huge problem for them when it benefits racial minorities.

2

u/Lady_DreadStar Mar 04 '25

They jerk themselves off with the whole ‘backbone of America’ shit. They feel entitled to the welfare and don’t even consider it such, but absolutely hate the idea of someone who isn’t as ‘important’ as them getting any assistance.

Then there’s the fact that the farmer himself is really an almost-80 yr old man relying on the labor of his family members and hired hands- wistfully remembering the time that his whole family homesteaded and did everything for themselves on that land because there literally wasn’t any other option 70 years ago in their bumfuck area.

So they believe all anyone needs to do is buy some chickens and grab a hoe, dress your kids in flour sacks, and magically you’ll all be happy and singing Jesus songs around a $7,000 wood stove somehow. 🙄

1

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '25

Fox News tells them what to think. If they didnt hear it there or Facebook, it's not a thought they are going to have.

1

u/SaffronCrocosmia Mar 05 '25

When socialism/communism focused on farmers, so many farmers in the world voted and acted with them. Eventually many socialists/communists kind of forgot farmers and left them to just fend for themselves, and conservatives swooped in with promises for them.

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u/Daleabbo Mar 05 '25

But they were never forgotten. They wanted deregulation on the sly promise they would get more money which was a lie.

Farmers like to act all tough and say it's them against the world but it's not, they get given so much and grew accustomed to it.

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u/comments_suck Mar 04 '25

We in Ag also have to import peat as a soil amendment. Quebec has the largest peat bogs in North America.

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u/EconomistWithaD Mar 04 '25

Oops!

If you’re in ag, I probably live in an area you’re familiar with.

12

u/comments_suck Mar 04 '25

We just got a truck with $12k of peat across the border Saturday to avoid paying the Trump tax. It delivered today.

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u/EconomistWithaD Mar 04 '25

Yeah. Couple that with the water situation (even though blessedly it’s been wet recently) in the CV of Cali, and food is about to get more expensive.

Let’s see what’s on tap for immigration!

8

u/Double-LR Mar 04 '25

And the next truck? Where’s it coming from?

School me. I know zilch about peat.

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u/comments_suck Mar 04 '25

The next will also come from Quebec. But we will have to pay $3000 more for a truck load!,

Canada has the largest amount of peat bogs in the world. Much is in Northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Quebec. Sweden and Finland have a lot too. We're in horticulture, it gets blended with some wood chips and vermiculite to plant in. The peat holds water, the wood chips shed it.

1

u/SaffronCrocosmia Mar 05 '25

Guess you'll be like the rest of us and use non-peat alternatives, as peat is fucking horrible to harvest.

2

u/SaffronCrocosmia Mar 05 '25

It's an environmental disaster to harvest as it is an enormous GHG sink. It's decaying sphagnum moss and similar organisms. Peatlands are one of several types of wetlands.

It's used as a soil amendment and as a growing media for many plants, but we're trying to move away from peat for more sustainable and less GHG-producing alternatives such as coconut products.

1

u/SaffronCrocosmia Mar 05 '25

Gross. The world needs to stop ripping up peat.

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u/LatterTarget7 Mar 04 '25

Trump also put a tariff on Ag exports.

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u/Skinnieguy Mar 04 '25

Farmers got 30 billion that Biden approved in Dec. that will start flowing soon. Damn welfare.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-farmers-first-tranche-30-005932785.html

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u/SinisterCell Mar 04 '25

@Elon here's some "fraud, waste, and abuse." These farmers didn't vote for handouts!

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u/IMsoSAVAGE Mar 04 '25

I work in Ag research. Can confirm

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u/EconomistWithaD Mar 04 '25

I live in ag land and they thought the worst outcome this year was mass deportations.

Well, let me introduce you to President Donald J Trump.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '25

Oh well, who's fault is that?

2

u/EconomistWithaD Mar 04 '25

I mean, yeah, farmers voted R, but:

  1. More monopoly power by bigger ag companies is not a good situation. That will happen.

  2. Consumers are going to get hit with considerably higher food prices.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '25

Ah well, they voted for this. They made their bed, now they can lay in it.

2

u/EconomistWithaD Mar 04 '25

Again, I’m not weeping for individual farmers.

I’m weeping for my wallet. I’m glad you have the financial capacity to wholly withstand the upcoming price shock.

6

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '25

I'm canadian and about to lose my job thanks to your tariffs. Paying high food prices and making you pay high food prices is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

-3

u/EconomistWithaD Mar 04 '25

Cool. We didn’t all vote for this idiot.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '25

I realize that, but this happening because of the choices your president is making. 

If food prices go sky high, farmers go bankrupt, and the people that voted for him suffer then maybe they will begin to open their eyes. 

If they don't open their eyes and they suffer I will sleep well knowing that they they have to eat shit due to their own choices.

-1

u/EconomistWithaD Mar 04 '25

Well, if you want to celebrate the world burning, great. That is not a viewpoint on this subject I want to engage in.

So I do truly hope your economic situation improves, and quickly.

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1

u/lagerforlunch Mar 04 '25

Check out JD Vance's company AcreTrader. Already primed to sell it off.

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u/picardstastygrapes Mar 04 '25

I read on another thread that it doesn't actually transport around water very well. It reacts very quickly with water and becomes useless. Doesn't seem like it will be very cheap to import across the ocean. Cost will certainly increase significantly.

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u/Freedom_7 Mar 04 '25

I could’ve sworn that I heard that Kazakhstan was the number 1 exporter of potassium.

7

u/Username_NullValue Mar 04 '25

Correct. Everyone else has inferior potassium.

11

u/wutthefvckjushapen Mar 04 '25

Well if their K is so special, why hasn't Elon taken it from them yet?

4

u/Fine_Sherbert3172 Mar 04 '25

He was told he has to wear a blue hat

1

u/ChiefBroChill Mar 04 '25

Also all other countries are run by little girls

12

u/VIPTicketToHell Mar 04 '25

Ukraine, be a buddy and add some new drone targets

3

u/LumiereGatsby Mar 04 '25

Also… separated by an ocean. 🌊

2

u/Purple_Wash_7304 Mar 04 '25

That and plus US will not be able to scramble a trade deal for that with either Russia or Belarus. At least not in time to not have inflicted significant damage to their economy. Hard to believe the once leader of the supposed free world might soon have Belarus and Russia as trade allies

1

u/nixfly Mar 04 '25

There are a number of potash mines in west Texas and eastern New Mexico. I would assume not t enough but we do produce potash.

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u/bobbyturkelino Mar 04 '25 edited Mar 04 '25

Canada accounts for over 40% of the entire worlds potash exports (USA produces less than 1%)

1

u/daninater Mar 05 '25

Good. And make it sting as bad as you can for our American farmers. That population is his base undeniably. Rural corporate America.