Has Canada's government done anything concrete to reduce dependence on the US since Trump took office? Maybe even since the first term?
14h 55m ago by sh.itjust.works/u/PlzGivHugs in nostupidquestions
I saw someone saying recently that Canada has made a huge shift away from the US. As someone Canadian, I haven't noticed anything beyond relatively minor individual decisions (IE, not going to the US as a tourist). I'd like to be wrong, but from my understanding, this is effectively nothing. Has there actually been any sort of large scale move away from US dependence?
Absolutely, Canada has now even made defense agreements with EU joining the EU SAFE program, and very early on trade agreements were expanded.
They have been very active rerouting export goods hit by US tariffs away from USA to other destinations, helped by the government paving the way for these new trade routes.
I can see from other comments that some Canadians don't think the government has done enough, but I doubt they are aware of the speed the Canadian government has acted with, these things are very difficult to do quickly.
Look for instance on the trade agreement between south America and EU, it has taken 25 years to make!!
Canada has already made several international trade agreements beneficial to Canada in less than a year.
The fact that they are also looking into buying fighter jets from Swedish SAAB a non US country is also a very big deal. Which I as an EU citizen really hope goes through, because it seems like such a good deal on cooperation on sharing technology and make better planes on both sides. With SAAB and Canada partnering, instead of Canada just becoming a customer.
The net result of it all is that despite US sanctions against Canada, the Canadian economy has grown more than the US economy in 2025!
EDIT PS:
Technically the US GDP growth is slightly higher than Canada, but that is driven by the AI bubble, the real economy of USA when not counting AI is slowing down, as can clearly be seen on lack of job creation that falls far behind the increase in population.
To chime in from the Great White North, I agree with much of what you've written, though I haven't spoken to anyone that thinks Canada has moved too slow.
What's been done so far has happened as efficiently as government workings can be done, but when I go to a restaurant I don't skip the entree if the waitstaff brings out the appetizer with haste.
Canada has been boycotting American products and imposing counter-tariffs on them. Their prime minister also announced a plan to reduce reliance on the US by requiring its federal government to buy from local suppliers, creating a fund to help sectors most affected by US tariffs, investing in Canadian agriculture, and training its local workforce, among other things.
Here’s a link to that goes into detail about the measures being taken.
Due to globalization, all economies of the world are intertwined. Short term steps will be small; also the effects by customer boycotts. Yet, behind the curtains, the damage is done, as all former partners of the USA have begun to look for cooperations elsewhere. This “psychological damage” acts long term and will be huge.
They were talking about buying Swedish Gripen instead of US F-35. I'm not sure exactly how far along those plans were.
I suspect that was purely a pressure tactic against the US; the F-35 orders are still being financed and production hasn’t halted.
Which seems crazy to me, because the F-35 design can be fully remotely controlled by the US military, which also collects all telemetry.
There was that announcement about building out freight track up to Churchill as a port for natural resources trade directly with Europe. It’s just an announcement, but a fascinating idea
Canada is still sucking heavily at the teat of the American auto cabal. As a Canadian I want to bring in those Chinese EV's and make driving affordable again for most Canadians. $60,000 average price for a vehicle. That's jumping the shark big time! I do see a lot of positive changes regarding our conscious uncoupling though, as the poster indicates.
We were part of that cabal - it was called the auto pact. In a sane world it integrated our manufacturing processes so that we could be players rather than consumers. The Canadian market is small and fragmented so we don't wield any power as a consumer nation. Be careful what you wish for.
No warning required. I wish for cheap Chinese EV's, not that fat bloated crap they are producing out of North America nowadays.
The only thing I can think of is that the big car unions are charging too much for dues and the workers are suffering. /s
I'm with you. My ideal vehicle would be the electric equivalent of the Mazda B2000 - compact single cab short bed pickup. Slate held some promise but I'm not sure that's going to happen. The closest thing is the Maverick but it's over-engineered and a crew cab.
I don't agree with much that the Ford Government says in Ontario here, but bringing in a Chinese EV manufacturing plant into the province would a net positive.
Canada could become a clean energy powerhouse if it wanted TBH
Canada has failed to make important and needed concrete shifts. Bank of Canada increased its US holdings by 15% = $9B over the year, with Canadian institutions adding $50B. It chickened out on taxing big US tech, and eliminated all counter tariffs.
Worst by far is the completely unphased military posture of amplifying US force projection and warmongering propaganda. It has not reversed a single demonic lie it accepted in the past from the US, including Russia provoked war in Ukraine, Venezuela had illegitimate ruler, Russia and China are threats to Canada's arctic, and Mexican drug cartels are state sponsored terrorism. Canada has accepted subordinate NATO members role to be proxies in war on Russia by accepting the funding burden for US containment/diminishment policy on Russia, as well as US arms purchases to help with force amplification in future war on Russia.
Canada's continued commitment to F35 (with kill switch) purchases, defense pact with US dictatorial puppet in Philippines who, like Ukraine, is happy to be bribed to suicide itself on China. It cooperated with US navy in Carribean late last year.
I would say that I and fellow Canadians are trying but for our government I'd say that Mark Carney is kowtowing and kissing Trump's ring.
In a way I'm at least glad that we don't have Pierre Poilievre Dipshit in charge because he would've already hung Canadians to die at the mercy of Trump.
At the same time though, Mark Carney is a total loser🖕
I wish we had our own Zohran Mamdani leading Canada :/
Carney is in a tough spot... Canada heavily relies on the US and just giving them the middle finger is not an option.
I know instinctively it would feel great if he just told Trump to eat a bag of dicks, but that would be irresponsible and could spiral Canada into a depression.
People don't seem to understand that there are different forms of appeasement of lunatics.
The Conservatives wanted to enthusiastically gargle Trump's balls and move us closer to fascism.
The liberals understand they have to be still play politics to not crash the country but are working behind the scenes to reduce dependencies.
To the uneducated both positions look identical from the outside because neither is telling Trump to fuck off, but there are nuances here.
The Conservatives wanted to enthusiastically gargle Trump’s balls and move us closer to fascism.
I agree with the rest of your comment but this sentence stood out.
The Conservatives want to move us closer to Trump, but the Liberals are still moving us closer to fascism. Look at bills C-2 and C-12, which bring our border and immigration policies much more in line with the US.
That's a separate issue and yes I agree, liberals aren't saints and need to be checked, I'm just focusing on the whole Trump part.
It's a defensive posture. It's those things that are keeping us from random 1,000,000% tariffs that would take a decade to litigate. Nobody wants it, but we kind of need to play along while we figure out how to get out of this mess.
Sure, just a little bit of fascism will be fine. Nothing could go wrong there.
Well your realpolitik option is a supersized portion with Poilievre. Until we get proportional representation we are all hostage.
Voting for fascism is never the right choice. Even in a two-party system, everyone still has the option to not vote for either Kang or Kodos. "Throw your vote away" is always a valid electoral choice, and perhaps in some cases, the only morally defensible one. We even happen to have a still marginally viable third party, and even if all your vote is doing is keeping that third choice barely alive on the margins, that has its own form of validity too.
Strategic voting is the opposite of strategic. It's a short-term, single-election tactic that will result in a strategic collapse in the long term. You do not ever have to vote for one party to prevent the other party from getting in. That is not your responsibility, and if you do that, it's not going to ever get better. You are sacrificing the future for the present, and the present is fleeting but the future is forever. We have to think longer term, or we will have absolutely no recourse when both of the top choices end up being unconscionable.
If you think this is a Kang and Kodos situation you are legitimately insane. On one side you have a PhD level economist (Oxon) who is former Governor of the National Banks of both Canada and England, and on the other you have a convoy supporting career politician who has been playing partisan gadfly since he was an undergraduate at University of Calgary.
Your quickness to bring in " throw away your vote" as legitimate strategy screams of trolling.
I get it and I fully agree; Carney giving Trump the bird is obviously not the play to make.
At the same time, clapping for the attack on Venezuela and capturing Maduro. Like what the fuck. Was that really needed?
Why comment at all, giving praise was even foolhardy as internationally Canada looks to be on the wrong side of history.
Feigning ignorance or saying something on the lines of "My staff and I are currently looking into the implications of this rapidly changing situation." would have honestly been better IMO.
Someone out there would have probably had better moves than Carney's missteps.
Again I don't disagree with your points, I just feel that Carney's been making mistakes intentionally or accidentally one after another.
Carney didn't "clap for the attack on Venezuela." He called for international law to be followed, which should be an obvious rebuke to anyone who isn't at a Trump level of understanding of how diplomacy is done.
Carney's statement on Venezuela is equivalent to "We recognize the greatness of the extermination of domestic liberal terrorist in Mineapolis this week, and sympathize with the brave officer's tragedy of dealing with anti-American sentiment. However, we hope that America can be peaceful and cooperative, with due process, in the future.
Ok buddy take it easy.
Let's not equivalate an innocent woman getting shot by thugs to a corrupt president getting arrested.
The Venezuela thing is fucked up for many reasons, but that corrupt president getting fucked isn't one of them.
Yep totally fair. Again, I don't know if behind the scenes people are just like "he's done this shit already, nothing we can do about it, so just appease the child with some comments"
A lot of leaders seem to be taking this route publicly while they work behind the scenes to shed themselves of Trump
Unfortunately i think this is a case of 'nice doggy'. Trump needs constant sucking up or he goes apeshit. Words are cheap, and we need time to adapt and replace the USA.
For a question as broad as 'what is this country doing about that other country', it might be a good idea to drop the editorial names and instead include position descriptors. Canadian politicians don't have the same name recognition as American counterparts.
Mark Carney is Canada's Prime Minister, who won the position over Pierre Poilievre.
I was thinking the same thing; we don’t have an executive, we have a cabinet. Sure, Carney has set up a small group of ministers as a kind of mini executive and himself thinks in executive terms, but even with all that, the Prime Minister can’t act without majority cabinet support.
IDK what you imagine should be done instead of what the Canadian government is already doing?
Despite the aggressive tariffs on Canada by USA, and a lot of disruption caused by USA, the Canadian government has managed to create an environment that has allowed impressive growth for the economy considering the circumstances.
Chess and Among Us strats.
As the king becomes the fool and destroys his own castle, prioritize establishing relations with foreign nations built on the basis of historical reputation and long term trust.
When the fool asks "Hey how come you: brought Christmas fruitcake!? / didn't reply or show up for my party!?
Malicious compliance and/or ignorance: "Sorry bro I:
- thought this was what you meant🤷♂️(🤪)"
- was busy but hope it was good👍"
This is the basics of what anyone could do, obviously there are better methods and plans out there.