Wallace Oyama 🇨🇦 🍁

Ahead of Trade Deadline, Firms Rushed Goods Out of Duty-Free Warehouses

Goods are rushed out of US bonded warehouses & Free Trade Zones ahead of Friday's deadline.
“What was once a haven for businesses has now become a game of tariff roulette, where you don’t know where the legislation will land tomorrow.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/b...

Following up on your recent Linked In post, middle powers like Canada can have a role by helping restore the faith of American people in a multilateral democratic order. Trump embodies those who believe extreme self-interest made the US a success. We need to prove otherwise
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As the Epstein issue is demonstrating, he does care and recognize that a strong enough uprising of US voters can still bring him down. Like it or not, he is a problem Americans themselves will ultimately have to resolve.

Not retaliating gives him one less excuse if and when the hit to the US economy from his tariffs is finally felt by Americans.

Middle powers and the prisoner’s dilemma: Stephen Nagy in WGI.World | Macdonald-Laurier Institute Why defection undermines coalition against U.S. economic pressure.

"The theoretically optimal outcome of a successful collective resistance .. requires sustained cooperation among all parties. However, the incentive structure overwhelmingly favors defection which is what each state has done."
macdonaldlaurier.ca/middle-power...

Consistent with this July 15th CBC interview with Eric Miller of the Rideau Potomac Strategy Group who remarks around the 4:00 mark how Canadian exporters to the US using CUSMA has surged from 40% to 80-90% the past few months. #cdnecon #cdnpoli
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Try typing in Japanese. Basic alphabet has two sets of 46 characters and then there's thousands of kanji (Chinese) ones. I tend to resort to a handwriting input on my phone instead (it auto corrects). Had a lot of practice on the vacation I just came back from.

YouTube video by Victor Borge Official Victor Borge - Phonetic Punctuation (with Ronald Reagan!)

About punctuation marks? How about some classic Victor Borge thoughts! :-D
youtu.be/NPc0aijY2o4?...

And a better alphabet: single sound letters and consonants without overlap (e.g. c can be pronounced like both k and s, all the vowels have at least two pronunciations).

Japan-Canada Sign Security of Information Agreement The SIA, once ratified, will enable exchanges of national security-related data and facilitate two-way defense procurements.

Well, well. Here's something that didn't make the headlines.
thediplomat.com/2025/07/japa...

One key thing if no one retaliates is it takes away a major excuse for any resulting damage to the American economy. In other words, there will be even more reason to focus the blame on Trump's tariffs.

The last point about FTA's has been relevant in Canada's case according to a recent CBC interview.
From 4:00 mark, it is revealed that Cdn exporters considered using CUSMA complicated & with risk but the IEEPA tariffs made them rapidly revisit the FTA. #cdnpoli #cdnecon
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What Trump's new tariff threats could mean for Canada | CBC Radio Donald Trump has sent the world, including Canada, a fresh set of tariff threats. Could the two countries still reach a trade deal?

Great overview of the current status of Canada's position under the ongoing threats from the White House incldg:
Why CUSMA increasingly blunted the tariff impact since they were first announced this year
Why a deal with Canada may be important to Trump
#cdnpoli #cdnecon

www.cbc.ca/radio/frontb...

there has never been certainty, especially on softwood lumber and Senator Hilary Clinton complained about dairy a while back. And Dems are not exactly the party of free trade. But we are stuck here in North America so we always have to negotiate

CUSMA-compliant goods exempt from Trump's latest tariff threat on Canada | CBC News U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest threat of a 35 per cent tariff on imports from Canada will not apply to goods that comply with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, a Trump administration official to...

CUSMA-compliant goods exempt from latest tariff threat on Canada.
#cdnpoli #cdnecon
www.cbc.ca/news/busines...

Canadian travel to the U.S. plummets — but Americans are staying home, too | CBC News It’s not just Canadians who are holding back on cross-border travel amid a U.S. trade war that has soured bilateral relations. The number of Americans coming to Canada is also dropping off.

Americans not traveling to Canada is one thing, but what should be watched is if and how many cross the border to shop as expected price increases in the US really start to hit their pocketbooks. #cdnpoli
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

A team of always beefing patsies,
Special laws,
Wilted lettuce,
Cheesy ops,
Run by his Sez-me taco buns

Trump’s tariff shambles is a helpful warning to the world https://on.ft.com/40MePeG | opinion

a pile of gold coins on a blue surface ALT: a pile of gold coins on a blue surface

Maybe he thought ending the penny would lead to a surplus copper supply south of the border.

Interesting metaphor from today's @economist.com World in Brief to explain China's deflation problem. Describing self-defeating competition as #involution is fitting in so many ways these days.

Trump with on/off switch for trade talks. Other leaders say I wish he'd stop doing that

Toronto Globe and Mail today. Uncertainty is worse than tariffs

That's where, at least in democracies, the checks and balances are "meant to" keep governments pointed in the right direction.

Business schools are for teaching individuals and companies how to be successful. Governments, through policies such as tariffs, are meant to meld successful economies.

Think I shared this with you before on that other site but here's that handy Bloom County view of American liberals over 40 years ago. Again, not to be confused with Canadian liberals, especially under the new PM.

Never a Total Perspective Vortex around when you need one! #HitchhikersGuide

“Mainstream #economics … aims to forge a kind of universal #consensus in favor of certain #institutions ( #markets) and against others (big #government, central planning, #regulation).” - #JamesKGalbraith and #JingChen, Entropy Economics: The Living Basis of Value and Production

Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for June 22, 2025 | GoComics Read Doonesbury—a comic strip by creator Garry Trudeau—for today, June 22, 2025, and check out other great comics, too!

Hokay, as a trade analyst, today's Doonesbury hits where I work but pop entertainment is one of America's biggest exports so the tariffs are both damaging the strip's production & quality while widening the trade deficit you-know-who claims to justify the tariffs! 🤪
www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2...

American Democracy Might Not Survive a War With Iran The United States is well down the road to dictatorship. Imagine what Trump would do with a state of war.

Full disclosure: Robert Kagan surprised me. www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Having to work with limited goals is just as much about the type of business mindset of the current US Commander in Chief whose America First narrow-interested administration fits his preference for simple goals and the use of power to override complexities.

A deadline and retaliation plan as primary tools needed when dealing with a negotiating partner with a short attention span.
bsky.app/profile/cpac...