[Midtown Urbanist]

It begins....

https://twitter.com/x/status/1907662348594094195

I am extremely weary of these American firms beginning to relocate their heavy equipment and machinery to their American facilities.

I think the we need the Feds to step in right away and block any transfer of equipment outside of our borders. Individual firms could sell their Canadian assets to a Canadian buyer, but any cross-border transfers should be subject to sky-high export fees or outright forfeiture.

I don't think this is unreasonable either. We cannot allow our nation to be stripped of it's industrial capacity as the Soviets did to Poland, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia in the conclusion of WW2.

 

[lenaitch]

I am extremely weary of these American firms beginning to relocate their heavy equipment and machinery to their American facilities.

I think the we need the Feds to step in right away and block any transfer of equipment outside of our borders. Individual firms could sell their Canadian assets to a Canadian buyer, but any cross-border transfers should be subject to sky-high export fees or outright forfeiture.

I don't think this is unreasonable either. We cannot allow our nation to be stripped of it's industrial capacity as the Soviets did to Poland, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia in the conclusion of WW2.

First, temporarily closed plants doesn't mean they are relocating - yet. Any punitive level of export tax on used machinery would probably mean the company would simply write it off.

Do we really want a country where the State has the power to seize privately-owned assets without due process? You say you don't want us to be like Soviets, but that's exactly what it would be.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

First, temporarily closed plants doesn't mean they are relocating - yet. Any punitive level of export tax on used machinery would probably mean the company would simply write it off.

Do we really want a country where the State has the power to seize privately-owned assets without due process? You say you don't want us to be like Soviets, but that's exactly what it would be.

Yet - but this is also off the other news from Windsor yesterday:

Workers blockade Windsor factory trying to ship machinery to U.S.

The blockade only ended after the Windsor company agreed to unload a truckload of tools and dies it was attempting to ship to Michigan.

windsorstar.com

With fears of jobs being exported to the U.S. amid a trade war, workers briefly blockaded a Windsor auto parts manufacturer late on Monday afternoon.

The employees, members of Unifor Local 195, only ended the blockade at Titan Tool and Die after the company agreed to unload a truckload of tools and dies it was attempting to ship across the border to Michigan.

It is the most public skirmish to date locally over President Donald Trump’s tariff tactics that aim to force Canadian manufacturers to move production to the United States.

“The company agreed to unload the tools and dies off the truck, so we’ve ended the blockade,” Local 195 president Emile Nabbout told the Star.

“They’ve put the dies back on the shop floor. The union and employer will sit down and discuss multiple solutions.

>Do we really want a country where the State has the power to seize privately-owned assets without due process?

Yes in fact, if it is in the national interest - we are not in "normal" times. If a larger nation explicitly states their intentions to subjugate a smaller nation, then removes the industrial capacity of the smaller nation and on-shores it to their own territory, the smaller nation is now less autonomous and more reliant on the larger nation. Just because a private company is the one doing it in the end means nothing, it is a distinction without a difference here.

As for due process, that is what I am advocating for. There would be due process if the Feds step in right away and make it explicitly clear what the consequences of moving machinery out of the country would be. It could all be accomplished using capital controls too, make it so expensive to transport the equipment that it is worth more to sell their equipment to domestic purchaser. We do not have to go as far as nationalizing and seizing of assets.

Sidenote - I wonder how many of these firms have benefited from government subsidies over the years.

 

[EBT]

How much did Trump and his friends invest in shorting the market? When will it bottom out? Then when will they buy back in. Biggest insider trading scheme if you ask me. My guess is, that this is the only real plan for him.

You can be sure that Howard Lutnick and Scott Bessent have made a fortune shorting stocks these past weeks.

 

[guavadelic]

You can be sure that Howard Lutnick and Scott Bessent have made a fortune shorting stocks these past weeks.

and they're the last people that need more fortune.

 

[MisterF]

Was not. Is now. Might as well get used to it as the new norm for years to come.

View attachment 641140
from Idiocracy , a 2006 prophetic screening of the US political system of the near future.

President Donald J. Mountain Dew Comacho Trump.

 

[PinkLucy]

Canada has updated the advisory for travel to the US to include potential scrutiny of electronic devices. https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/u...4057.63250376.1741726114-381453283.1722457104

 

[afransen]

Canada has updated the advisory for travel to the US to include potential scrutiny of electronic devices. https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/u...4057.63250376.1741726114-381453283.1722457104View attachment 641633

Or just don't go.

 

[EBT]

Canada has updated the advisory for travel to the US to include potential scrutiny of electronic devices. https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/u...4057.63250376.1741726114-381453283.1722457104View attachment 641633

I would bet US authorities are looking for evidence that you have posted on social media any support for the Palestinian people or any criticism of Israel's destruction of Gaza with the deaths of at least 50,000 mostly women and children. If they find such evidence you will be denied entry or who knows, they might arrest you for "support of terrorism". The United States is no longer a free country with free speech, and we all know who is behind this. Of course, the best thing is not to step foot in the United States.

 

[PinkLucy]

Or just don't go.

Easy to say but some people have to go for work and/or family. I own property there.

 

[lenaitch]

Yet - but this is also off the other news from Windsor yesterday:

Workers blockade Windsor factory trying to ship machinery to U.S.

The blockade only ended after the Windsor company agreed to unload a truckload of tools and dies it was attempting to ship to Michigan.

windsorstar.com

>Do we really want a country where the State has the power to seize privately-owned assets without due process?

Yes in fact, if it is in the national interest - we are not in "normal" times. If a larger nation explicitly states their intentions to subjugate a smaller nation, then removes the industrial capacity of the smaller nation and on-shores it to their own territory, the smaller nation is now less autonomous and more reliant on the larger nation. Just because a private company is the one doing it in the end means nothing, it is a distinction without a difference here.

As for due process, that is what I am advocating for. There would be due process if the Feds step in right away and make it explicitly clear what the consequences of moving machinery out of the country would be. It could all be accomplished using capital controls too, make it so expensive to transport the equipment that it is worth more to sell their equipment to domestic purchaser. We do not have to go as far as nationalizing and seizing of assets.

Sidenote - I wonder how many of these firms have benefited from government subsidies over the years.

I sort of see your argument but I still don't fully agree.

I'm not familiar with excise rules regarding assets being exported permanently from the country, but if you are talking in terms of 'right now', I would have to be convinced the federal government currently has the legislated authority to restrain its removal pending some kind of due process. If there is no law that says they can, then they can't; that's to way a democracy works. I stand to be corrected or enlightened.

I totally agree about absconding after receiving a subsidy, grant, etc. We often fail to either impose or enforce strings on public money being doled out.

 

[DirectionNorth]

Or just don't go.

Pretty easy to say, but changing the travel advisory for the US, especially with the current - ahem - administration, is going to have political ramifications beyond a simple travel advisory.

Imagine getting slapped with retaliatory tariffs because the travel advisory changed. I wouldn't put it past them.

This is about a damning indictment of the new immigration and customs regime as we can get. I think the addition of advisories on "scrutiny of electronic devices" and "detained and deported" says volumes, all on its own.

 

[PL1]

Pretty easy to say, but changing the travel advisory for the US, especially with the current - ahem - administration, is going to have political ramifications beyond a simple travel advisory.

Imagine getting slapped with retaliatory tariffs because the travel advisory changed. I wouldn't put it past them.

This is about a damning indictment of the new immigration and customs regime as we can get. I think the addition of advisories on "scrutiny of electronic devices" and "detained and deported" says volumes, all on its own.t

The US still has a "Green" (i.e. minimal) warning level.

I'm not going because I don't want to spend my dollars there, rather than because of my fears of detention. Of course, I would take care with my cell phone.

 

[DSCToronto]

Not sure where to post this but I got this response from Loblaws when I asked them if their orange juice uses oranges from US. (As far as I know, only Oasis always uses Brazilian oranges).

"Thank you for contacting us regarding the country where the oranges in our President's Choice orange juice with pulp are grown.

I have had the opportunity to look into this for you and have confirmed with the President's Choice orange juice with pulp manufacturer that the location where the oranges are grown is proprietary. As such, we will be unable to share this information. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this response may cause you, and I would like to take this opportunity to confirm that our President's Choice orange juice with pulp is made, packaged, and prepared for sale in Canada. At Loblaw Companies Limited, one of our Corporate Social Responsibility priorities is ‘Sourcing Responsibly,’ and we take this commitment very seriously. Food quality and safety have always been top priorities for us, as we maintain the highest ethical and safety standards for our products - whether they are sourced here at home or internationally. We would like to assure you that products sold in our stores adhere strictly to all safety and sourcing requirements as per government regulations."

 

[Richard White]

Not sure where to post this but I got this response from Loblaws when I asked them if their orange juice uses oranges from US. (As far as I know, only Oasis always uses Brazilian oranges).

"Thank you for contacting us regarding the country where the oranges in our President's Choice orange juice with pulp are grown.

I have had the opportunity to look into this for you and have confirmed with the President's Choice orange juice with pulp manufacturer that the location where the oranges are grown is proprietary. As such, we will be unable to share this information. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this response may cause you, and I would like to take this opportunity to confirm that our President's Choice orange juice with pulp is made, packaged, and prepared for sale in Canada. At Loblaw Companies Limited, one of our Corporate Social Responsibility priorities is ‘Sourcing Responsibly,’ and we take this commitment very seriously. Food quality and safety have always been top priorities for us, as we maintain the highest ethical and safety standards for our products - whether they are sourced here at home or internationally. We would like to assure you that products sold in our stores adhere strictly to all safety and sourcing requirements as per government regulations."

So basically it's American oranges but they won't say that to avoid a hit to their bottom line.