If Canada is going to build stronger relations with the US, Trudeau will need to find common ground with Trump, but that will be a challenge.
Trump is anti-immigration, Trudeau pro-immigration.
Trump is anti-trade, Trudeau pro-free-trade.
Trump intends to lower taxes and increase spending on the military, and cares little for balanced budgets. Trudeau cares little for balanced budgets too. Okay, some common ground there, but ground we wish they didn't share in common or, better yet, that they both disagreed with. Trudeau could exploit that in that if Trump increases spending and reduces taxes, that could stimulate the US economy and postpone a crash into the future. Trudeau could take advantage of this to ride the wave by reducing expenditure. Unfortunately, Trump's anti-trade stance could make that difficult.
Both Trump and Trudeau appear to want to help the poor. That puts them in the same ball park at least. But the devil is in the details. I figure if they are going to find any common ground, it will be burried somewhere in the long grass of that large ball park.
Another possible point of common ground is that Trump is militarily somewhat non-interventionist. Trudeau tends in the same direction. This could give Trudeau a chance to build trade relations with Russia. Even if Trump has little interest in promoting trade with Russia, at least he's not Russophobic and so would be at worst indifferent to Canada pursuing such trade relations. Besides, Canada might need to compensate for loss of trade with the US if Trump renegotiates NAFTA, so let's take advantage of that.
As Trump decides to ramp up resource exploitation in his own country, Canada's resource industry will inevitably take a hit. With that, there is not even a point in trying to counter the inevitable. Instead, go ahead with a carbon tax but lower other business taxes, income taxes, and value added taxes and let our manufacturing industry shine. As the US extracts more oil and Canada exports less, that will inevitably raise the US dollar relative to the Canadian. This would be a golden opportunity for Canadian manufacturing... unless Trump decides to raise tariffs against it. But if Trump does that, that will also exacerbate inflation in the US, so he might not do it if we're lucky.
Trump is anti-immigration, Trudeau pro-immigration.
Trump is anti-trade, Trudeau pro-free-trade.
Trump intends to lower taxes and increase spending on the military, and cares little for balanced budgets. Trudeau cares little for balanced budgets too. Okay, some common ground there, but ground we wish they didn't share in common or, better yet, that they both disagreed with. Trudeau could exploit that in that if Trump increases spending and reduces taxes, that could stimulate the US economy and postpone a crash into the future. Trudeau could take advantage of this to ride the wave by reducing expenditure. Unfortunately, Trump's anti-trade stance could make that difficult.
Both Trump and Trudeau appear to want to help the poor. That puts them in the same ball park at least. But the devil is in the details. I figure if they are going to find any common ground, it will be burried somewhere in the long grass of that large ball park.
Another possible point of common ground is that Trump is militarily somewhat non-interventionist. Trudeau tends in the same direction. This could give Trudeau a chance to build trade relations with Russia. Even if Trump has little interest in promoting trade with Russia, at least he's not Russophobic and so would be at worst indifferent to Canada pursuing such trade relations. Besides, Canada might need to compensate for loss of trade with the US if Trump renegotiates NAFTA, so let's take advantage of that.
As Trump decides to ramp up resource exploitation in his own country, Canada's resource industry will inevitably take a hit. With that, there is not even a point in trying to counter the inevitable. Instead, go ahead with a carbon tax but lower other business taxes, income taxes, and value added taxes and let our manufacturing industry shine. As the US extracts more oil and Canada exports less, that will inevitably raise the US dollar relative to the Canadian. This would be a golden opportunity for Canadian manufacturing... unless Trump decides to raise tariffs against it. But if Trump does that, that will also exacerbate inflation in the US, so he might not do it if we're lucky.
