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GrymEdm @lemmy.world

3w ago

Americans choose most expensive way possible to discover what goods made in Canada

thebeaverton.com Americans choose most expensive way possible to discover what goods made in Canada

WASHINGTON, D.C. - With US President Donald Trump declaring 25% tariffs on most Canadian goods, American citizens have officially chosen the most circuitous and economically painful method possible to investigate what everyday goods originate from Canada.

The Canadian government has insisted that information on domestic goods is readily available to all trading partners, even including nations that recently elected a felony-convicted game show host to be their head of state. Instead, the United States has decided to employ a rarely-chosen trade tactic that international economists refer to as the “fuck around and find out” model.

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148 comments

Americans didn’t chose this.
- Those who voted certainly did. Those who chose to not vote did also. I don't live in America but it was incredibly obvious this was coming. America chose to be represented by by this guy who said quite clearly what he was going to do.
  
  And everything that's happened so far was clearly spelled out in the project 2025 document. But people don't read and now they're all Pikachu face surprised.
  
  "Surely the leopards won't eat my face!"
  
  His owner/donor fElon said as much, too. That we are going to suffer, but it will be worth it (to billionaires, I'm sure, not to the peasants he thinks need to "live within their means").
  
  Wait, I voted for Harris, but I chose this?
  
  I'm talking about America as a country, not you as an individual. I understand your frustration - I went through Brexit as someone who voted to remain and very definitely didn't vote for a government that chose Boris Johnson as a leader.
  
  I understand. There's definitely a lot of frustration.
  
  It never ceases to disappoint me that people could look at Boris fucken Johnson or Donald duck and think "yup, that's da fella I want to lead us".
  
  You may not have chose this but too many around you did. I believe if you’re not okay with what’s happening you have a responsibility to make noise and tell those around you that nonsense like this has to stop.
  
  Apparently we all did. Outside of individually storming the white house and getting shot in the process, turns out all of us might as well have been sitting on our thumbs. I mean really,how exactly were we supposed to counter some of the absolute dumbest people on the planet that might as well have marked a ballot with a crayon?
  
  americans, as a whole group, did choose this… you specifically might not have and i applaud you for that decision
  however the country that you live in DID choose this, and it wasn’t even like he lost the popular vote this time
  americans chose this
  and everyone globally has to live with it
  and everyone globally will choose how to insulate ourselves from it - once is a joke; twice means it’s really what your country as a whole chooses with eyes wide open. this wasn’t a fluke: this is america
  and then, i guess we will see what happens, but im going to be cheering on the australian government every time they pull away from the US from now on. i’m going to be cancelling US subscriptions and buying non-US product alternatives. i’m going to be pirating all US media
  
  Why would you still consume US media? It's a US made product?
  
  sure - there’s plenty of US-made things i enjoy… americans are some creative people. i’m not going to stop enjoying them as long as it doesn’t contribute to their economy
  
  So we're pretty much all the same now, even if we are extremely opposed to Trump. That means everyone that has a piece of shit leader or government is responsible for it if they are a citizen of the country. I totally understand why everyone shits on the USA and their citizens, but it's pretty disheartening when you try to oppose the bullshit, but still get lumped in with everyone else.
- Americans did choose this.
  Either by directly voting for him or looking at the choices and deciding not to participate.
  
  Saying “Americans” indicates the intent was to accuse ALL Americans of supporting trump. That’s demonstrably false. And I believe that blanket statements should be called out when they are wrong.
  I am an American. That makes me part of the term “Americans” when it’s spoken. I did not vote for him. Therefore, saying American chose this is wrong.
  
  No, saying you chose this is wrong but saying that Americans chose this is correct because he was democratically elected.
  
  No, if the election was fair, he would have lost. In fact, he would probably be in jail by now. The Republicans have been disenfranchising people for decades including by passing laws and limiting access to voting, there's heavy gerrymandering, disinformation campaigns, etc., etc.
  The results of the election are not based on a fair election. Some people actively voted for this, either because they're bad people or willfully ignorant, but many people couldn't vote. For many people who did vote, their vote didn't count the way it should (gerrymandering). Education funds and topics have been cut for decades. People aren't taught how to think critically, and check to see if news they read is factual. Some of this has been going on for decades and we're seeing the compounded results of those tactics.
  So, no, America did not vote for this. We were shoehorned into it and now blamed for it. Fuck that noise. We're all at the mercy of these assholes and need to fight back.
  
  He won based on the current rules.
  
  Does that make it all of America's fault? If they make the rules and then win ONLY because of the rules, that doesn't make it everyone's fault. It makes it the fault of the people who made the rules. Don't be obtuse. They want everyone to blame everyone else instead of blaming them. We have to come together or this shit will destroy civilization.
  
  Election rules don’t come out of a vacuum, the people made them.
  
  very naive perspective. bigger forces than "the people" are throwing everything they can at your democracy and this "oh well" attitude is handing your ass to them on a silver platter.
  
  You think I have an oh well attitude because I don’t think I do.
  
  Fair I could be jumping to conclusions. I'm just saying that even if it were true that the majority of Americans chose Trump in a fair election where everyone had equal opportunity to vote, then even that wouldn't mean the people are getting what they wanted. Aggressive misinformation, decades of propaganda, capture of the media, these are all things that we can't blame individuals for that would cause this.
  If the United States makes its way out of this, systemic change will be necessary. Capitalism is at the root of this all.
  
  The fact Americans have gerrymandering is insane. But I want to point out that Tronald Dump won popular vote, too
  
  Some polling places were closed, forcing those people to vote elsewhere. Not everyone can wait in long lines for hours. There were disinformation campaigns about vote by mail and many people were worried those votes wouldn't be counted because of it. I don't know if I heard confirmation it occurred on election day, but I read news stories about voter intimidation because of groups of armed men. They employed tons of tactics to suppress voting.
  If you suppress everyone who disagrees with you from voting, of course you're going to win the popular vote.
  Did he technically win the popular vote and the general election, yes, it appears he did, but 51% or more of people who could have voted did not support this shit. Not to mention he lied. He lied. Yes, he said he'd do some of this, but he also said he'd bring down the price of groceries, make better health care, and make America great again (firing thousands of government employees who did nothing wrong is not making anything great). He has no intention of bringing down grocery prices or fixing health care. He's getting rid of competent people and replacing them with loyalists.
  
  Don’t see riots though. Especially one would assume it’s time to riot now when it’s unambiguously clear he was lying. Yeah, there are few protests about specific laws/orders but not against president. Americans seem to be fine having shameless lair in charge so far
  
  It's difficult. You don't work, you may not be able to feed your family. They're already detaining immigrants, and who knows what they'll do with political enemies. The riots are coming, but I suspect they won't come until the screws are tightened more. I heard there are going to be protests at every state capital this week. That's something.
  
  Are you not aware of the massive disinformation campaign?
  Twitter and Tiktok are compromised.
  Fox News is framing the increased cost to American consumers from the tariffs as Canada's doing.
  "i GuEsS aMeRiCaNs ArE oK wItH iT"
  Most Americans don't even know that Musk, an unelected citizen who was once an illegal immigrant, just got access to the Treasury with full authority to stop payments to citizens/states/whoever he chooses.
  Maybe try to not be an absolute douchebag? Doable, you think?
  
  You can vote by mail there, there's no excuse for people not to vote at such a scale, except for tacit agreement of whatever outcome may be.
  
  I did, but I am well-educated, have been taught to think critically about information, I know how to look up relevant information, have a support system, pay attention to current events, and have leave time from work (including paid leave for voting). Those things make a big difference. I know my vote could make a difference. Others have given up because they have beaten up again and again, and they don't see any changes no matter how they vote. I don't think it's fair to judge everyone. I wish they all did vote based on a critical assessment of current events, but that's not how their lives shaped up.
  
  As if Americans didn't hand the White House to Republicans every few years knowing full well they are the party of gerrymandering, vote suppression and racism
  You cannot now pretend they are victims of happenstance
  Through ignorance, bigotry and mostly apathy, Americans as a whole, chose this
  
  No. That is a minority of people. Don't forget that cuts to education (connected learning critical thinking and being able to find reputable information sources), gerrymandering, and changes to laws have been happening for decades. There is some apathy, sure, but most isn't apathy--it's learned helplessness. No matter what they do, nothing changes.
  You want to be mad at America? Good! I'm American and I'm mad at America. Let's not pretend that this all happened in a vacuum and there weren't any influences on why this happened. I don't blame everyone for all of this. I blame the oligarchs, mostly, but there have been specific people in key positions making this happen. Many people were just manipulated. If your education is poor, your opportunities are few, and nothing you do makes anything better, you might change your vote once in a while. Sad, but true.
  
  There is some apathy, sure, but most isn’t apathy–it’s learned helplessness. No matter what they do, nothing changes.
  show me what they did and we can start discussing liability here
  
  I suppose that’s a fair point. It comes down to perception I guess. Maybe it’s best described as “some” Americans chose this.
  The headline is just vaguely misleading enough to fuel the anti-American ideology even further. Because as we’ve seen right here on lemmy, there are people stupid enough to believe that the entire country supports everything that criminal does.
  
  The scores of “don’t blame me / don’t blame all of us” comments ring hollow.
  If Americans want to convince Canadians that they don’t want what the person elected to represent them wants then I expect to see “support Canada” rallies in every democrat-leaning city across the country.
  Even if it did absolutely nothing to solve the problem it would at least fill me with a hope that a few people actually give a damn.
  
  It’s the exact same thing as saying Americans voted in Obama, it’s not meant to be a statement that’s correct for every individual.
  
  Oh I know, I’d probably take issue with that as well. I just hate blanket statements.
  
  You hate all blanket statements?
  
  As I said earlier, I believe blanket systems should be called out when they’re wrong. Maybe you missed that part.
  
  But isn’t the problem is that all blanket statements are wrong?
  I mean there will always be an exception.
  
  I get that you love arguing. You’re pretty notorious for it. But unfortunately, I’m not going to fall for that shit.
  It’s very clear for anyone to easily understand exactly what I am saying and with all due respect, I’m not going to get caught up in some derailment of the discount because you feel the need to lead me into one of your “gotcha” moments.
  Blanket statements issued for the purpose of misleading people, or injecting a bias into the topic should be called out. That is what I said- that is what I meant.
  I am not arguing semantics.
  
  I suppose that’s a fair point. It comes down to perception I guess. Maybe it’s best described as “some” Americans chose this
  How about: "Most Americans who bother voting, chose this. The majority of the rest couldn't be bothered trying to vote knowing full well it would result in a trump presidency anyway"
  Accurate enough?
  
  I mean, if there was some type of legitimate rigging of the election in PA or whatever Trump was referring to with Elon being smart with computers (or whatever that was), then you'd be correct. However, if we're to assume the outcome of the votes is 100% legitimate, then Americans did in fact vote for this based on the outcome. It's not meant to include every individual vote, just the outcome of the whole.
- This must be a yank version of the no true Scotsman fallacy.
  
  It's people trying to absolve themselves of their civic responsibility.
  
  Naah. It’s just the less nuanced version of the blanket false accusations suck statement that I’ve already made several times now.
  I didn’t vote for him. Therefore, not ALL Americans chose this.
  
  Of course not all. But the US electorate as a body produced this decision. When your congress passes a law or your supreme court makes a decision do you not say that "the congress" passed a law or "the supreme court" made a judgement? I doubt you constantly say "a bit more than half the congress passed a law #notallcongresspeople".
  Or, when, say France has an election, do you not say "the french elected Macron"? Or do you always nuance it by "this or that percentage of the french elected him"?
  
  Nobody said ALL Americans chose this… But the majority did. He won the majority vote. America as a whole chose this. The first time around, you could argue that since the lost the popular vote by millions, that America didn’t choose him. But not this time. This time, America chose him and said it with their whole chest.
  And sure, you could argue that “didn’t vote” actually won. But that’s still on the American public for refusing to actually get to the polls. If they cared enough to avoid it, they would have voted instead of staying home. But they didn’t care, and their non-vote said “I’m okay with either side. Doesn’t matter to me.”
- only half of them
  
  Less than half in fact. Surprisingly, more than a third of our voting body didn’t vote. And that’s how he won.
  
  If you didn't vote then you chose this.
  
  100% agree.
  
  One third of Americans (non voters) were happy to watch whilst another third (MAGAts) attempts to murder ~~the other third~~ everyone.
  
  Well, that’s only counting the voting collective of Americans. Not the entire population. Sadly, there are a lot of people not of voting age or ineligible to vote that are counted.
  Point remains though.
- Those who didn't vote don't matters. I don't know why we're supposed to acknowledge their existence in these discussions. In every way that actually matters, Americans chose this.
  
  Soooo…. all of Germany chose Hitler? Of course they didn’t.
  I’m an American. I did not chose trump. Let’s stop with the blanket statements.
  
  The statement "Americans chose this" does not mean or imply that all Americans chose this but congrats on being trivially right in a pedantic and irrelevant way. Most voters chose this, and that is the only thing that matters .
  I’m an American. I did not chose trump. Let’s stop with the blanket statements.
  Yeah I'll definitely keep your delicate feelings at the forefront of my mind as your leaders madness starts destroying my country next week.
  
  Right. And you be sure to keep blaming those that voted for the one person that had the chance to stop him while you’re at it because that’ll sure help a lot towards my keeping your delicate feelings in mind while he’s destroying your country next week.
  I tried to stop this shit. I did the right thing. Don’t bring this shit to my doorstep.
  
  With reading comprehension that poor no wonder Trump is loved there. No one's blaming you.
  
  ...You do, of course, know Hitler didn't actually win, right?
  
  You do of course, understand that’s not what I asked, right?
  
  Funny, you don't have a problem using blanket statements about who elected Trump when discussing people who don't like the Democrats (regardless of how those people actually voted ), but you get upset at blanket statements that put the blame on all Americans. Isn't that interesting?
  
  Blanket statements that put the blame on Americans that voted against trump? Yeah… I have a huge problem with that.
  We actually tried to stop this.
  
  😂
- Umm what was all that noise and wind about back in November then?
  
  You mean all the bots and edgelord kids telling everyone not to vote against trump, and instead vote third party? Or did you mean all the bots and edgelord kids that shouted at everyone to stay home in protest?
  Because if it wasn’t either of these two- I saw a lot of people urging others to vote for Harris. Otherwise known as the one person that had a chance to defeat trump. All while warning them of what would happen if they didn’t.
  And if I recall correctly- those warnings looked a lot like what’s happening right fucking now.
  MANY of us didn’t choose this. So don’t blame all of America for this shit. Be precise- blame the asshole single-issue dipshits that protested their way into a trump victory…There’s all still around-
  Go on… Be my guest.
  
  I see you're very concerned with third party voters. (Again) How much progress have you made replacing First-past-the-post voting in your state? You do want to solve the spoiler effect problem right?
  Nows the time to dig in and fight for the reform that would resolve your issues with people voting outside the two party system.
  Here are some videos to help you out. Best of luck to you.
  
  As if the Republicans would entertain any though about a fairer election process.
  
  No. See, you don't personally get to write the narrative.
  Here's how it is:
  You are in the "United" states until you tell us otherwise. You are the ones renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. You are the ones who, by majority vote, decided that this was to be our world and our future.
  Your people. Your culture. Your country. Your leader. Your choices.
  Fucking own it. And if you don't like it, or this response, FUCKING STAND UP AND CHANGE IT. But don't ask ME to give a wet slap about your feelings or the when it is your country is an imperial expansionist empire trying to kick over anthills. I don't owe you that courtesy and I'm disinclined to politeness of late towards my Southern neighbors.
  Do you, when you reflect on history, make such subtle distinctions? For example did Germany start world war 1 and 2 or should we defer to the feelings of the objectors to those conflicts when ascribing cause?
  Dumbass.
  
  Point of order, Germany definitely didn't start WW1 in the way they teach kids. It was the elites, their honor pacts, and a complete misunderstanding of what technology had done to war. And in fact Austria-Hungary was the first to declare war, (on Serbia), which triggered Russia and France to mobilize next. That left Germany with the option of watching Austria-Hungary lose a war and have Germany lose in the great power game or roll the dice. They rolled the dice, like every other Royal Family at the time.
  I think understanding how the international web of elites can affect us is key to avoiding world war 3. World War 2 is entirely on the Germans though, as is Trump's second term on all Americans. We do need to stand up.
  
  Cool. So you have no problem blaming those that tried to stop this from happening by voting for the one person that stood a chance against trump?
  Yeah… there goes any sympathy I had for you.
  Unbelievable.
  So I guess when all those trump supporting truckers fucked shit up in their little in their little convoys a few years back, that was you? You did that shit? Why? Why would you put so many people at risk over a president that didn’t even preside over your own country?
  If it sounds ridiculous to be having someone accuse you of shit you didn’t do, and then blame you for the damages, congratulations. You’re self-aware enough to know how ignorant you sound blaming trump on people who voted for Harris.
  Blocking you now as I don’t have conversations with people that can’t disagree without name calling, and blame victims for their problems.
  
  If it sounds ridiculous to be having someone accuse you of shit you didn't do
  You literally do this all the time. A vote for third parties? Not a vote for Trump, you still blame them for the election of Trump. A non-vote? Not a vote for Trump. Same goes for people who didn't like Kamala and were openly critical of her, but still voted for her.
  You're being a child. Either you think Trump's election is the result of the entire electorate or you don't. There's no "except for people who voted for Democrats and were properly enthusiastic about it" get out of jail free card.
  Either we're all to blame or only the people who actually voted for him are to blame. You can't have it both ways.
  
  Cool.
  
  As for your sympathy, you should probably keep it to yourself anyway. Nobody wants it. You would only use it to manipulate people anyway.
  
  done.

148 comments