Today’s links Canada shouldn’t retaliate with US tariffs: It should hit the USA where it hurts, instead. Picks and Shovels Chapter One (Part 6 – CONCLUSION): It’s a deal. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2020, 2023 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I’ve been. Latest books: You keep readin’ em, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Colophon: All the rest. Canada shouldn’t retaliate with US tariffs (permalink) Five years ago, Trump touted his “big, beautiful” replacement for NAFTA, the “free trade agreement” between the US, Mexico and Canada. Trump’s NAFTA-2 was called the USMCA (US-Mexico-Canada Agreement) and it was pretty similar to NAFTA, to be honest. That tells you a couple things: first, NAFTA was, broadly speaking a good thing for Trump and the ultra-wealthy donors who backed him (and got far richer as a result). That’s why he kept it intact. NAFTA and USMCA are, at root, a way to make rich people richer by making poorer people poorer. Trump’s base hated NAFTA because they (correctly) believed that it was being used to erode wages by chasing cheaper labor and more lax environmental controls in other countries. Neither NAFTA nor USMCA have any stipulations requiring exported goods to be manufactured by unionized workers, or in factories with robust environmental and workplace safety rules. The point of NAFTA/USMCA is to goose profits by despoiling the environment, maiming workers, stealing their wages, paying…Pluralistic: Canada shouldn't retaliate with its US tariffs; Picks and Shovels Chapter One (Part 6 – CONCLUSION) (15 Jan 2025)