Trump to Canada: "I'm not talking to you." Canada: "Thank God. Now off to enjoy the Canada Day weekend in peace." #cdnpoli #USpoli
— Stephen Lautens (@stephenlautens.bsky.social) June 27, 2025 at 1:45 PM
[image or embed]
View on Threads
View on Threads
This is beautiful:
View on Threads
I think Carney will end up making a silk purse out of the Trump sow's ear
But really, I don't think Carney had much choice -- saving our farming, auto and steel industries is what is at stake in these negotiations, not collecting some taxes.
When Trump first announced he was suspending the tariff talks - likely because Zuckerberg or Bezos or somebody started whining to Trump about the upcoming June 30 payment - I posted on Saturday that we should give up some of the DST, because Canada wouldn't miss what it had never had, and protecting supply management in dairy and eggs is more important to Canada anyway.
So Sunday when Carney announced he was suspending the DST, I wasn't really surprised.
I'm NOT thrilled by Canada retreating by withdrawing the DST - It just makes Canada look WEAK
— . (@gtlem) June 30, 2025
But Carney & his team have more experience than me, so we'll see how this turns out. I'll hold judgment for now@Red_Toryism
🇨🇦 PM Carney comments on the digital sales tax (DST). “It’s part of a bigger deal” referring to the DST. Sounds to me like things aren’t dead yet, & the DST is being used as a chip so Carney can win the hand in the end. Hold tight 🇨🇦, it’s a long game. 💪🏻🇨🇦💕 #elbowsup www.youtube.com/live/kMepCHK...
— Angela Stanfield Co-owner of 🇨🇦 (@angel-ajs.bsky.social) June 30, 2025 at 12:55 PM
[image or embed]
Evan Scrimshaw / Scrimshaw UnscriptedView on Threads
DST, And Hills Not Worth Dying On
On Carney’s Negotiation
I’m utterly shocked to find out there’s gambling going on here, I must say.
Mark Carney has, of course, betrayed Canadians by … announcing that he’s rescinding the Digital Services Tax to “advance” the negotiations with Donald Trump. At least, that’s what he did if you are a fucking moron, because Mark Carney has to deal with Donald Trump. And it is worth reiterating the point that Donald Trump is a lunatic, and negotiating with a lunatic is not about good outcomes but doing the best with the limited options we have.
Mark Carney traded a tax whose capacity to raise revenue was limited and not at all clearly going to target corporate profits, versus Canadians who like to stream video or whatever, for progress in a negotiation that will, if successful, save us multiples of that. There is zero argument that the DST should have been a hill worth dying on in this negotiation, and every Liberal claiming that the DST should be one is just plainly wrong on this.
There’s an argument that the Carney government should have gotten more for the DST than they did - it’s being positioned by some as the price for restarting negotiations, though the government’s use of “advancing” negotiations is notable - but that’s not an argument for keeping the DST. What all of this is is an argument for not prejudging a negotiation in the middle of it, especially one where the other side has a child-like pathological need to be told he “won” negotiations....
— Salty Bluenoser 🦞🦞🦞🦞 (@long17_de) June 30, 2025And here's a good point:
Will all the digital firms that have been proactively collecting the cost of the DST from their customers for months now in anticipation of today’s remittance now be refunding these extra inflationary charges?
— Janyce McGregor (@janycemcgregor) June 30, 2025
7 comments:
The online buzz is ridiculous. We don't know what he knows. People from all walks of life are wading in. I am hanging in and having hope and trust.
But a bully like Trump never stops. Once you've knuckled under to this crazy demand, he'll just have another. Start the paperwork for the 51st state?
Oh I hope not. It's going to be tricky though, and we might have to give up more than this.
I could see Carney letting go of all the border agencies, like the lumber panel, so Trump would think he can decide everything himself. I just hope we can keep supply management for dairy and eggs, if we give up that 400% tariff that annoys Trump so much.
Yeah, last month we were all fire experts and now we're all trade negotiators
Yeah, what Anonymous said is the key for me. If you give away one thing for nothing just to be at the table to be able to get a deal, then why won't he ask for another thing? Starting the negotiation by knuckling under is signaling that you can be made to knuckle under. In the case of Trump, it's kind of like opening negotiations by pouring some blood into the water for the shark.
Some of the "it was the right thing to do" talk comes from a position of seeing Trump as being in the stronger position, and that negotiating well is about rationally seeing that and not asking for more than you can get, stuff like that. But negotiating well in a position like that is actually about NOT being rational. Or, even if you ARE rational, making your opponent think you aren't. This is how the alt-right MAGA crowd get policy concessions all the time while the centre-left never do: They are willing to say no, I don't care that things could blow up if I refuse to compromise, I don't care about anything, give me what I want! This is how wolverines face down bears--it's obvious that, tough though the wolverine is, it couldn't really beat a bear in a fight to the finish. But the wolverine projects enough not caring about the consequences for the bear to know if it pushes there WILL be a fight, and it might win but it could still get hurt.
To win a negotiation, you need some irrational stubbornness, a willingness to accept some negative consequences from refusing to give in. Always giving in if the direct consequences of not giving in are worse just means you'll always give in. It's about game theory, not cost-benefit analysis.
And when it comes to this kind of thing, everyone's saying Carney is experienced and stuff . . . but is he? He's a banker. He knows about interest rates and international currencies. How does that apply to international negotiations? He seems bright, hopefully he will learn.
Pahaleasse please, ... to the Carney naysayers remember we could have had ax the snacks, tax the lacks , slap the backs 'lil pp engineered jabs as parlay with the orange bloat. Trump would break him in 15 seconds and skippy would think he won. He would be as compliant as Albertas traiter tw*t with much more to hand over and not enough insight to not do it.
I dunno about you, but for me there is a LOT of range in between "I unconditionally support person X" and "I think person X is as bad as Pierre Poilievre". If we're not allowed to complain about anyone until they're as bad as Poilievre, there goes the Canadian national pastime.
Post a Comment