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Comment by Eextra953 | Hacker News Reader

Why are we doing this again? The current administration established the existing trade deal back during the first term and now they are unhappy with it?

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Mostly because Canada is allowing Chinese vehicle imports, which US auto industry is not happy about. There's also some pressure from US video streaming producers and distributors, after Canada expanded regulations for television and movie production into streaming video platforms.

The chinese cars was a consequence of the tariff (and other) threats, not a cause.

Trump wants all of the leaders of the world to kiss his ass and make a deal. Tariffs are about the only cudgel he has short of using the military.

But make a deal on what? He literally signed the current deal we have with Canada?

That makes me think that what he really wants is either a bribe

Donald has made more money on the presidency than every president before him combined, then add an order of magnitude of wealth on top of that.

It's the Putinification of the Presidency playbook. Too big to jail.

He doesn't want a deal for the US, he wants to personally profit from it.

This. It's why "unitary executive" is so attractive - he can extend his tendrils into every nook & cranny of policy (foreign and other) to personally monetize it.

Dont shoot the messenger...

> While President Trump continues to lock in fair and reciprocal trade deals with nearly twenty trading partners across the globe, Canada continues to retaliate against the United States for its efforts to correct trade imbalances and protect American workers, farmers, and businesses.

> Over the past year and a half, only two countries have chosen to retaliate against President Trump’s tariffs rather than negotiate a deal with the United States: The People’s Republic of China and Canada.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/09/fact-sheet-pr...

Both countries that deserve our praise.

If only all countries could come together to embargo the USA.

Us/Canada had a nice free trade deal signed by the current prez in his first term. Pity said prez is ignoring it. Hasn’t left the agreement, just ignoring it. And nobody bothers to point that out and how he’s breaking us law to do so (ratified treaty).

In Bob Woodward's book on the first Trump presidency, Trump shows a fixation with trade deficits and trade imbalances. His cabinet would try to explain that the US having a trade imbalance with South Korea (one of the topics in the book) was expected, and he had to consider the defense and intelligence agreements as part of that. Trump would not have it – he was described as obsessively focused on the trade imbalance alone, believing it made the US look weak.

White House staff took to sneaking into the Oval Office to remove draft letters and agreements from his desk before he could sign them, so he couldn't ruin trade deals like KORUS or NAFTA over his misgivings. This time around he has obviously learned he should only have yes men in the cabinet.

I'm not sure that site is the best one to link to give a balanced explanation of the situation. The Wikipedia page on the topic seems pretty thorough and reasonable as a starting point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariffs_in_the_second_Trump_ad...

You'll need to cite a more reputable source

taps sign

> Why are we doing this again?

Because Donald Trump is mentally ill, and it’s time we start talking about it as a Nation.

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