There goes Team Canada.
The rock-solid group of premiers fighting as one in a trade war are being chipped apart, their united front undone not just by the threats of U.S. President Donald Trump but by the promises of the Chinese ambassador Wang Di.
Now Canada, caught in a trade war with two capricious superpower partners, is negotiating against itself. This country might as well put up a sign inviting bigger players to come to fleece us.
China’s decision to slap duties on Canadian canola is meant to send a message: submit to removing the tariff on Chinese EVs, or pay the price. For too long, Beijing has treated Canadian farmers as pawns in a geopolitical chess game. But this time, the message should go the other way. Canada holds the trump card. If we call China’s bluff, absorb the short-term cost, and invest in value-added capacity, we can break the cycle of economic coercion once and for all.
This is a wish dream.
Canada’s Titans of industry are corporate welfare bums unwilling to invest to improve productivity.
Instead they live it up behind a gated community of government supported cartels, tax payer subsidies, interprovincial trade barriers and the import of masses of unskilled labour.
This is what the Elbow people are protecting.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Stellantis to “live up to their promise” to Brampton workers after the automaker was reported to be moving production slated for an assembly plant to Illinois.
In a statement, Ford says he has spoken with Stellantis to stress his “disappointment with their decision to prioritize investment into the U.S.”
If I were Ford I would be calling Trump bad names and stuff.
Stellantis announced Tuesday it will invest $13 billion US over the next four years to expand its manufacturing capacity in the U.S. — a move that will take production of one model out of Ontario, raising concern about Canadian jobs.
The company, formerly known as Chrysler, says the Jeep Compass, previously slated to be made at the Brampton Assembly Plant, will move to the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois.
… The Brampton, Ont., plant has been shut down since early 2024 for retooling to build the next generation model of the vehicle, but that work was halted in February as a tariff threat loomed.
It sucks for Brampton’s employees but we can only expect more of the same as assembly heads back to the US.
If Carney throws up his hands and lifts the China EV tariffs thus saving canola farmers he may win some friends in the west.
Given Canada’s auto industry is going to be gutted no matter what China may be Carney’s preferred choice.
However my guess is the US will retaliate against Canada in other economic segments for what will be perceived as Carney’s ChiCom appeasement.
Meanwhile Carney served up the Usual slop for his Elbow people.
Canada’s new government will always be there for Canadian auto workers.
My statement on Stellantis’ production plans: pic.twitter.com/3NC8PI3ULp
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) October 15, 2025
PS – can anyone confirm that the Jeep Compass model moved to the US was the EV version? Oh the Ironing!
h/t Hermes
