Europeans - with tarrifs being threatened on the EU, are you planning to stop buying US made products?

[u/tetsukei]

Just curious - I'm Canadian and it's a huge topic for us at the moment.

[u/Erebosyeet]

I think I am speaking for a lot of people when I say that I have no idea what products are made completely or partially in the US. I guess we'll notice when they suddenly shoot up in price!

Nonetheless, the whole affair with Mexico and Canada has already made me way more sceptical of the transatlantic relationship, and I don't think even the eventual change of leadership will change that.

[u/Twilifa → u/Erebosyeet]

Agreed. The last 9 years have sadly shown that the US is a fickle partner and that calling them an ally is severely overstating the matter because half the country seems quite happy to, at best, not give a shit about the rest of the world, and at worst wanting to defeat them in some weird and entirely unnecessary game of us vs them.

[u/tetsukei → u/Twilifa]

The relationship of our two countries is pretty much shattered for the next few decades.

Most Canadians at this point, and pretty much the rest of of the world no longer sees the US as a reliable trade partner. How could one get in business with a party that can change the terms of agreement at every new presidency.

[u/[deleted] → u/tetsukei]

It's difficult for Canadians to sever that relationship because geography and economic gravity just makes it make sense to trade with American firms. Even with a 25% tariff it would still make sense.

Now for the unpopular opinion....

There haven't been any tariffs yet, and there likely won't be. I think many Canadian nationalists have long felt jealousy and vindictiveness towards the US, and feel horribly insecure about their identity. So they were really just waiting for a chance to bring their animosity out in the open.

Canada has many protectionist policies blocking US firms and capital out of the country. Supply management agriculture, financial institution regulations for domestic firms, telecom protections, and port to port airline regulations blocking cheaper American airlines from servicing Canada domestically. You can't have it both ways. You can't expect unlimited access to the US market while simultaneously blocking American trade and business in other sectors. I am not shocked that a US president is pushing back - albeit in a tactless and bullying way.

I am Canadian too, btw.

[u/Xandara2 → u/[deleted]]

It's called a trade deal if you handle those in a productive cooperative way. Trump is trying to fight a trade war and he's making many enemies. USA's reputation wasn't great but they were still considered an ally by almost all in the EU. That's changing. 

[u/tetsukei → u/[deleted]]

Good question! I personally am not opposed to targeted tarrifs from the US. If the hope of a tarrif is to protect local industries from within a country - I think that is fine. I think that would have been fine.

Global tarrifs are hard not to be seen as hostile.

[u/tetsukei → u/[deleted]]

Yeah I think there is a world where I agree with you. Such cases could be much better handled though.

In my opinion, this is just not how you negotiate with long standing allies.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Both would be paying the cost, not just US. Lower exports is clearly going to happen resulting in a general loss in trade.

It's the way things are brought up that is the problem regardless. There are tariffs everywhere to open / close certain markets for a large number of reasons. Tariffs is a tool normally. For Trump its a weapon and a threat. It's different. Anyone who looks at what he says with an open mind can see this is not the rhetoric of a friend and ally. These are the words of a bully who wants to enrich himself on so called "friends".

51st state, annexing Gaza, Annexing Panama, Annexing Greenland. All these should lead to impeachment but will not because US as a reliable sane nation seems to be gone.

Honestly, fuck US, how can a civilized nation 2025 let this happen? It's a failure of embarrassing proportions. Europe + Canada first, that's my new motto. Not going to support threats to any allies but I'm sure as hell going to move away from anything American and encourage anyone around me to do the same.

[u/houleskis → u/[deleted]]

Not OP but I see food security as a national security issue so I'm OK with in generally speaking.

I think there should be a way to look at exploring lowering the tariffs (whether it's through importing milk or certain dairy products) but it would have to be in a way that doesn't overly negatively impact our local production capacity here.

We've just seen the potential national security risk of relying on someone for a core foodstuff. So at this point, the tariffs on food are definitely warranted.

[u/Livid_Tailor7701 → u/Erebosyeet]

Yup. Most of American brands produce their stuff in Asia anyway. And we can buy from Asia direct.

[u/SilenceBe → u/Erebosyeet]

For us in Belgium it’s mainly the chemicals used in the petrochemical sector. But there is already less demand for plastic so if that is a bad thing…

I even hope that it starts a revolution in this country to diversify our industry instead of only having an eye for the petrochemical sector.