The War on Canada

[Per]

Trump is starting a new trade war by slapping double digit tariffs on Canadian lumber, something that is set to hurt Canadian exports and in particular British Columbia.

Well, and of course also US construction companies and those in the US planning to buy a new house.
But that's what happens when you go protectionist to cater to special interests, like the US lumber industry.


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39708779

[Micky]

We will just take away his bacon.

[Per]

Steven Colbert:
"Afaik this is the first time anyone has rejected Justin Trudeau's wood."

[Micky]

All this tough guy stuff was completely anticipated.
Washington, Oregon and Norther California always bitch about BC lumber and every new President says he will tax the shit out of it. It's all a game and WE actually have more leverage. "POWER" as in the type you need to turn on your air-conditioner.

The reality is that over the last 30 years, their own wild-life environmentalists have hindered their lumber industry more than we have. Go figure.....

[Per]

I know, this has been on and off since the 80's.
I would have thought Nafta took care of it though.
Guess not.

And I guess it's easier (and safer) to strongarm Canada than China.

You should be good though. Once the tariffs take effect the US construction industry will start whining, as their costs go up, and Trump is an old builder, so he should be sympathetic to their plight and roll the tariffs back again.

Unless of course the master plan is to drive the competition into bankrupcy.....

[ukcanuck]

All this tough guy stuff was completely anticipated.
Washington, Oregon and Norther California always bitch about BC lumber and every new President says he will tax the shit out of it. It's all a game and WE actually have more leverage. "POWER" as in the type you need to turn on your air-conditioner.

The reality is that over the last 30 years, their own wild-life environmentalists have hindered their lumber industry more than we have. Go figure.....

Here is an idea: raise stumpage fees to match Washington Oregon and California and put the money towards healthcare and education!

Yeah I know, morons will call it communism...


What's it like to be a dumb fuck?

[Micky]

Wouldn't know. I'm not a communist.

[Per]

Wow! All out trade war!

Not just Canada this time, but a 25% tariff on steel imports across the board, and 10% on aluminium.

Damn! This will get ugly. The EU is pointing out that this is a gross violation of the WTO rules and that we will take counter measures. When free trade gets restricted,the whole world suffers.

And apart from the direct effects of the trade war, the tariff on steel will lead to that US products that are made from steel or aluminium (cars, ships, aircraft, sky scrapers...) will become more expensive and inferior. In the long run that will probably hurt the US economy far more than whatever gains they see from saving a handful of jobs at some outdated and uncompetitive steel mills.

[Topper]

US steel mills have been decimated, shut down, gone and gentrified.

Last year the last 4130 CrMo tubing was made in the US. I have doubts there is dormant capacity in the US to make up for the tariffs.

[Per]

And the Dow Jones tumbles...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... trade-move

[Per]

I guess Donald's main beef is with China, but they account for less than 3% of US steel imports.
The hardest blow is probably to Canada, which is a major source of both steel and aluminium for the USA.

Sweden should not be that hard hit from the initial move. Of our three major steel companies, SSAB (aka Swedish Steel) has 25% of its production in the USA, and the gains they can make there as steel prices go up, should offset any other problems. Sandvik has 26 factories within the USA, and they supply 75% of what Sandvik sells in the US. Also, Sandvik mainly sells specialty steel products and are not sure those will be subject to the tariffs, as they more or less lack US produced substitutes. The third company, Ovako, has less than 5% of sales headed to the US, so they won't lose much business directly.

There could however be secondary effects from cheap Chinese and Korean steel being redirected from the US to the European market, putting downward pressure on prices, and of course from an escalating trade war including ever more goods.

An interesting direct effect of the proposed tariffs is that Electrolux was just about to invest in a new plant for making refrigerators in the US, but has cancelled the plan as they figure with the tariffs in place, the cost for production in the USA would render the products impossible to sell.

It's hard to say just how hurtful these tariffs will be for the US (and the global) economy, but it has been calculated that the steel tariffs introduced by George W Bush in his first term caused the loss of some 200,000 American jobs.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Un ... eel_tariff

[2Fingers]

Trump is an idiot.

Only the extreme stupid vote for him.

[Strangelove]

Trump is an idiot.

Only the extreme stupid vote for him.

Are you saying you voted for him?

Lol, deep as usual Mr Reefer...

[2Fingers]

Trump is an idiot.

Only the extreme stupid vote for him.

Are you saying you voted for him?

Lol, deep as usual Mr Reefer...

Sorry did I hurt your feelings by calling you stupid?n

[Strangelove]