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I've got a cousin in Canada, somewhere in Whitehorse.
Seems like Trump is serious about taking Canada as the 51st state, and is starting by doing his utmost to weaken the Canadian economy by starting a trade war over his fabricated concerns about fentanyl.
For those of us on this side of the pond, what can we do to help our friends and relatives in Canada?
And yes, the irony of using YouTube is not lost on me.
I did see something a couple of weeks ago about the Canadians looking to join the EU, although personally I think that Canada is much closer politically to the US than the European standard (which is itself being eroded by oligarchs financing right wing populists).
But Trump is backing down on the trade war already, I guess someone has explained the damage it will do, he says it is just a temporary extension, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is kicked into the long grass. Unless his plan is always to profit from the fluctuations of the markets will be created by his actions.
IT feels like very soon it will be Trump and Putin Vs the World.
I've not watched the Simpsons for a while but it feels like the sort of thing they would have predicted 20 years ago
Meanwhile, I've just bought some stuff from Vorsprung and am about the buy a spoke tool from Macedonia rather than from USA.
Work are about to juggle some cars around an I've expressed a string preference for staying with my EV6 rather than being up in a Swasticar
We have friends in the US who are now being referred to a south Canadian which helps spare their blushes.
It's "War Plan Red" innit
I reckon Canada should annex Alaska and declare it the 11th Canadian province.
Can't sort out the links right now but it amused me to find out that:
There is an official petition for California to secede the union and become an independent country.
Following that, some Danes set up a petition for Denmark to buy California.
Following that, some Canadians set up a petition for Canada to buy California.
So if you want to support Canada, throw some votes their way 😀
I am being careful what I buy, and where from. Argos instead of Amazon, buying from European brands rather than USA brand (being sure to check who the parent company is first).
It won't be possible to completely cut off all spending to US based companies, but I am doing my damndest to avoid spending with US companies.
Trump and his supporters don't care for anything but money, so hit them where it hurts.
I was reading an article yesterday about Canadian stores pulling US alcohol of the shelves with some real potential to harm US companies. The makers of Jack Daniels, for one, aren't happy.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0422zzpw8o
As the governor of Ontario said, he can turn off the power to quite a chunk of the north eastern US if Trump wants to be a dick.
I suspect Canada doesn't need any help from us yet. They can stand up to Trump economically, unless he goes completely batshit and invades then we're into Article 5 territory.
Canada always makes me think of the phrase "speak softly but carry a big stick". They come across as kind, polite, considerate, thoughtful and restrained. Just don't cross them!
Perhaps the Last Leg can reinstate Click for a Brick but make it real this time? I'd quite happily by a couple of bricks for Canada to build a wall.
unless he goes completely batshit and invades then we're into Article 5 territory.
Oddly enough we were discussing that last night, but in the context of Greenland. There is no provision in Article 5, or indeed elsewhere in the NATO treaty, about how to deal with one member attacking another.
There was an interesting programme on radio 4 about it a while ago, although they were working on the premise that the most likely scenario was a conflict between Greece and Turkey.
.
Anyway, like most above I am switching away from US products wherever possible. Minimal impact in my personal life, but also at work, very, very slightly higher impact as the company spends more than I do. Drops in the ocean but it all helps I guess.
Worst case scenario, and hopefully unlikely, but who here would be prepared to fight if the poo gets into the fan? I'm older than the current maximum age for joining up, not by much, but like to think I'd have the guts to do it if required. Who knows if that would be the case?
what can we do to help our friends and relatives in Canada?
This isn't a flippant reply, but I honestly think don't give him the oxygen of publicity.
who here would be prepared to fight if the poo gets into the fan? I'm older than the current maximum age for joining up, not by much, but like to think I'd have the guts to do it if required.
Rad dads' army.
I'm not in favour of him having actual oxygen TBH
When it comes to Mountain Biking, it’s relatively easy to stop buying USA made or USA brand kit. In the tech field, be it tools for work or entertainment, it’s much, much harder. And those are the companies most in bed with this regime. Canadian bike brands are out there… support them.
Canada needs an lpg terminal on the east coast for export to Europe and a refinery to turn the oil they produce into petrol rather than selling cheap energy to the USA. That would take longer than 4 years, but it will reduce the reliance on the US for trade.
in the mean time, hike the price of all energy, metal and mineral exports to the US by 25% and charge any US transport travelling to or from Alaska 25% of the value of their cargo.
as a consumer, don’t buy American if you can help it. Don’t visit the US (border crossings are down by 40%). Dont subscribe to any US streaming services. Don’t use Amazon (if you still do) and dont go to Starbucks (if you still do).
My next bike will be 100% not american, thats my completely pointless 2 fingers to the orange sleazy weirdo
Rocky Mountain on my list!
Will we see an increase in Shimano and a drop in SRAM?
Fewer Fix and Rockshox and more Ohlins and Formula?
Stop buying from US companies. Particularly Meta, Tesla, Google and Amazon - all very easy to replace.
Sell any investments that you have in US markets. Probably the only thing that might give Trump pause for thought is seeing the SP500 drop 20%.
Flippant answer to a serious question: invite them to join Eurovision. First step to closer EU integration. If Australia are allowed then Canada should be too.
I suspect Canada doesn't need any help from us yet. They can stand up to Trump economically, unless he goes completely batshit and invades then we're into Article 5 territory.
Yup, having lived there for >10 years, this. If Canada really wants to, and gets its sh*t together (mainly getting the 10 provinces to stop being petulant children and behave like a single country) they are more than capable of repelling the US themselves, politically speaking. If it *doesn't* get its sh*t together (mainly because Trudeau has been a useless virtue-signalling nepo-baby for the last 10 years or so, and Quebec refuses to acknowledge it's actually in Canada), there's not much anyone else can do.
Flippant answer to a serious question: invite them to join Eurovision.
Do they really deserve that on top of everything else at the moment though?
Will we see an increase in Shimano and a drop in SRAM?
Fewer Fix and Rockshox and more Ohlins and Formula?
Hopefully in the aftermarket, OEM sales unlikely to change. And given the state of bike sales, not many bikes are being bought anyway! But, if you need a replacement sram cassette consider an alternative from a less hostile nation like China. Or Poland if you can afford it.
the downside of this is that retailers with stock need to shift the stock to stay in business. So though it was my suggestion, it’s not entirely wise…
every time trump mentions tariffs the stock market falls, then he back pedals and it rebounds. If I were cynical, I’d start thinking that he was manipulating the markets for his own gains.
As for the jokey talk of annexing US states, there is talk of the entire west coast wanting to join Canada. Not sure if the country needs the problems it would bring. The guns and social decay would take a lot of the shine off the Californian economy. The mountains would be good to have, though.
And as for who’d fight, Canada’s nato allies would be obliged to come to canadas aid if attacked. Dread to think what this would mean for Europe and their exposure to the Russians. Obviously hypothetical, but a war on 2 fronts would suit Putin
I think I prefer the idea of the Rad Dad army to realising that my kids are 18 and 21 and if it really goes tits up.....
I'm waiting for Trump to figure out how many electoral college votes Canada would have as a "state" and the penny dropping when he (or the GOP) realizes his slim majority would disappear and never come back again...
(Not that Canada is a socialist utopia, but it's definitely more left-leaning as a whole than the US, and definitely not MAGA enough...)
I applaud all those on here who are trying to avoid buying American products, and I like to think I am amongst you, but how many folk will stop paying for their streaming services.
What are you going to do without Netflix, Prime, Disney+, etc? I'm happy I've never used them, except for 1 month of Prime (which was free), so won't miss them, but I can imagine getting shot of them causing a lot of grief in some households.
but how many folk will stop paying for their streaming services.
Definitely me. Just as soon as S3 of Reacher is done.
What are you going to do without Netflix, Prime, Disney+, etc? I'm happy I've never used them,
Like you I have never used them.
The American product I am going to find it hardest to find an alternative for is probably What's App, but I don't pay for that (yes, I know, but I don't give them money)
I have never used Starbucks for instance, try to avoid all chains TBF and use little cafes, I've not used a Macdonald's other than their WiFi since I was about 8 and have only bought one or two things on Amazon.
Bike wise I have a lot of Thomson and Chris King bits some Manitou forks and two Salsa frames but all second hand, due to cost rather than avoiding American at the time, but a new Chris King hub purchase has recently been ditched in favour of a Hope. I drive a 12 year old Ford. I can't think of anything else American I have
At work out biggest American suppliers are Shopify, Microsoft and Google and Facebook for advertising. Shopify probably has the most competitors of those, but will require some web jiggery-pokery to remove, the others I have no idea about but I will raise the issue and see what everyone else says, hopefully get some change.
Is any of that going to make a difference? Who knows, but I see it as a bit like me being vegetarian. It gives me a clearer conscience, it might make a very, very small difference at the margins if I do it but if everyone does it it can make a big difference
I'm also doubtful of how much real difference it will make, but I'm still going to have a go at boycotting US products. If nothing else it makes me feel better, and ever so slightly less powerless against the Trump ****wittery onslaught.
I'm waiting for Trump to figure out how many electoral college votes Canada would have as a "state" and the penny dropping when he (or the GOP) realizes his slim majority would disappear and never come back again...
(Not that Canada is a socialist utopia, but it's definitely more left-leaning as a whole than the US, and definitely not MAGA enough...)
I suggested this somewhere else and it was pointed out that the MAGA plan was to annex Canada (so not make it a state) with the possible exception of Alberta.
The Canadians are taking all of this as well as you’d expect…
I'm boycotting McDonald's, KFC and taco bell.
Trump isn't serious about much except his ratings, which are boosted by his confrontational nonsense and lies.
What has become clear is just how reliant the world is on American tech. How do you replace (the useful bits of) Facebook?
As a start can we tweak the forum settings to a 24hr clock instead of what appears to be US am/pm time codes
(the useful bits of) Facebook?
The what now?
What are you going to do without Netflix, Prime, Disney+
I've cancelled Netflix and Disney+ in the last few days. Cancelled Prime a year ago (because it's garbage).
I have just subscribed to Channel 4's paid service, and also to Rakuten Viki (Japanese owned).
Trump isn't serious about much except his ratings
He's serious about plenty of things. He was serious about rolling back Roe-v-Wade, and succeeded, for example.
MAGA plan
There's a plan ?!?! Lol.
Trump just makes this shit up for the attention. He's probably just pissed at Trudeau but he's no longer leader...it remains to be seen how Carney or Freeland deal with him
There's a plan ?!?! Lol.
The plan is "Project 2025".
He was quite clear in 2024 in saying that he would introduce tariffs and use the money raised to eliminate income tax, which is one of their goals.
Does anyone in the US actually understand where the money comes from to pay tarrifs?
A note for Drumpf.
Does anyone in the US actually understand where the money comes from to pay tarrifs?
Poor people. You know, the ones that don't matter.
Imho, Trump is crazy about selling cars to the Russians in exchange for cheap energy. That way, he might get out of debt to the chinese.
To make that work, he’d need to raise global warming to make the arctic navigable and build a load of container ports along Canada’s arctic coast.
Trump is not blind to the amount of European cars that the Russians purchase.