Casualty Of Trump Bullying – PM Trudeau Fast Losing His Job After Tariff Threat & Mocking Of Canada As 51st State

Casualty Of Trump Bullying – PM Trudeau Fast Losing His Job After Tariff Threat & Mocking Of Canada As 51st State


December 18th, 2024 by financetwitter



Mark Zuckerberg has been ridiculed and mocked for suddenly sucking up to Trump. The Meta billionaire was terrified after Trump, who recently threatened to “jail him for life” if he ever crossed him again, won re-election. In fact, the Facebook owner was so afraid that he donated US$1 million to the President-elect‘s inaugural fund as he scrambles to repair his relationship with the incoming president.



Mr Zuckerberg, who suspended Trump from Facebook and Instagram after the Capitol riots in 2021, has also visited Trump at his resort in Mar-a-Lago for a dinner. But he was nothing compared to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who had a seat at the family table for Thanksgiving dinner in Mar-a-Lago, joining Donald Trump, Melania Trump and their 18-year son Barron Trump.



Unlike Zuckerberg, Musk has bet the right horse, having donated over US$119 million to Trump’s presidential campaign and is now worth more than US$400 billion thanks to Tesla shares that popped more than 70% since the Nov 5 presidential election, as well as a new US$350 billion valuation for SpaceX. Musk’s estimated 42% stake in SpaceX alone is worth US$147 billion.


The longstanding rivalry between Zuckerberg and Musk, which previously led to not only war or words, but almost ended in a cage fight, was another reason the Meta boss had to curry favour. The relationship between Trump and Musk was so close that the Tesla owner is considered “First Buddy” or even “co-president” of the White House, sending shivers down the spine of dozens of Silicon Valley big wigs.



As Trump heads for a second presidential term, business titans are lining to kiss the 78-year-old man’s ring, including Jeff Bezos of Amazon (who also plans to give US$1 million cash), Sundar Pichai of Google and at least 15 other business leaders. With Republicans in full control of Congress and the White House, tech CEOs will be affected by Trump-Musk’s new economic policies.



Everyone was trembling as Trump, who spent the last few years running on a platform of revenge and retribution, is now in a position to torment his perceived enemies. Emboldened by a Supreme Court that has granted presidents sweeping immunity for any exercise of official authority, he could actually weaponise prosecutors or regulators to deploy the full force of the law against those who displease him.


But business leaders were not the only one exposed to Trump administration. Politicians too have been rubbing shoulders with the President-elect. One of them was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the first G7 leader scrambled to visit the president-elect since the election. The two leaders met at Trump’s Florida estate Mar-a-Lago over dinner to discuss about fentanyl, illegal immigration, and trade.



Trudeau travelled to West Palm Beach as Canada seeks to head off the Trump’s threat to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian goods. Canada is one of America’s largest trading partners and it sends about 75% of its total exports to the United States. But clearly the PM has done a lousy job sucking up to the new Commander-in-Chief, who mocked Justin Trudeau as the “Governor” of the “Great State of Canada”.



Trolling and insulting the Canadian leader, Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social – “It was a pleasure to have dinner the other night with Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada. I look forward to seeing the Governor again soon so that we may continue our in depth talks on Tariffs and Trade, the results of which will be truly spectacular for all!”


The drama started when Trump warned that if Canada cannot fix the border issues and trade deficit, he will slap a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods on day one when he returns to the Oval Office. Trudeau then told Trump he cannot levy the tariff because it would kill the Canadian economy completely, to which Trump responded – “So your country can’t survive unless it’s ripping off the U.S. to the tune of US$100 billion?”



If Canada can’t even survive with a 25% tariff, Trump suggested that the country could become the 51st state of USA to avoid the tax, with Trudeau serving as its governor. Characterizing the U.S.-Canada trade deficit as a form of subsidy, Trump has similarly said Americans too have been subsidizing Mexico to the tune of US$300 billion. Therefore, imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico would make the U.S. “rich”.



While some Canadian politicians such as Green Party leader Elizabeth May and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said it was just a joke (obviously to save face), others were upset with the insult. Critics said the U.S. should become Canada’s 11th province instead, lecturing Trump that a good leader should not accuse a best friend of ripping them off.


Ontario Premier Doug Ford has threatened to cut energy supply to the U.S. in response to Trump’s threat, and warned that Ottawa is compiling a list of American products that could be subject to retaliatory tariffs. However, users on social media think it was not a joke as Canada would have to eventually join the U.S. because it is a “broken shithole”. Others saidCanadian dollar is going to die within the next couple decades.



Canada today isn’t the same country anymore. Trudeau government has damaged the country’s economic through restrictions on resource development, overspending and overtaxation. Crucially, PM Trudeau has also damaged the country by allowing in a flood of migrants. Many provinces now suffer from unaffordable house prices and rents, increased crime rates, along with overburdened education and health-care systems.



Despite Trump calling the three-hour dinner – in which crab and oysters were served – was a “very productive meeting” and Trudeau calling it an “excellent conversation”, the bad blood between both leaders is real. But who can blame Trump for openly bullying Trudeau, whose policies were the root cause of Canada becoming weaker and more reliant than ever on the U.S. for economic and military assistance.


Mr Trump has great respect for strong leaders like Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and even North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un. But the U.S. president has almost zero respect for any of the European Union leaders, let alone Canadian PM or allies such as South Korea and Japan because they can only ask how high when Trump told them to jump.



Trudeau’s weak leadership and incompetence, which led to him being humiliated in front of the world, was the last straw that broke the camel’s back when Canada’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned on Monday (Dec 16). She disagreed with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on how to respond to incoming President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs.



The final clash between Trudeau and Freeland, who was also the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, turned for the worst after the PM informed her that he no longer wanted her to be his government’s top economic adviser. After nine years in power under Trudeau leadership, the Liberal leader’s approval rate has plunged from 63% when he was first elected to just 28% in June of this year.


Freeland has accused Trudeau of choosing “costly political gimmicks” over addressing the threat posed by Trump’s “aggressive economic nationalism”. Following her resignation, another five Liberal MP have publicly called on Trudeau to step down, shaking the minority government. LeBlanc, who has been close friends with the prime minister since childhood, has been appointed as her replacement.



Obviously not impressed with Trudeau’s weak leadership of begging Trump instead of standing firm and push back, Chrystia Freeland’s tough stance mirrors that of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, whose position was that “now is the time to say no, to push back, to take a fighting stance”. Canada’s next federal election must be held in October, at the latest.



But Trudeau’s own Liberal Party is not the only one demanding him to resign. Pierre Poilievre, leader of the opposition Conservative Party of Canada, called for a federal election as soon as possible. The PM is in trouble – the public was unhappy with him and his party’s policies, and many in his own party were unhappy with his management. Now everyone wants him to quit.


Conservatives are expected to make major gains in next year’s elections, and Trudeau’s party is almost guaranteed to lose especially after it lost its strongest base – Montreal. Of course, the prime minister can choose to shamelessly cling to power, and pray a “no confidence” vote will fail. Worse, Canada has little alternative after Trudeau follows Biden’s anti-China policies.



Parroting the U.S., Trudeau government has criticized Beijing of oversupply and over-capacity to show Washington that Canada is aligned with its biggest trading partner in its stand against China. Already having slapped a 100% tariff on all Chinese electric vehicles and a 25% tariff on imports of Chinese steel and aluminum products, now Trudeau has promised to impose more tariffs on Chinese imports next year.



Last year, Canada has accused China of meddling in the country’s last two federal elections in 2019 and 2021, which Beijing has rubbished as “purely baseless and defamatory”. In the same breath, the diplomatic relationship took a hit in 2023 when Canada expelled diplomat Zhao Wei. In response, China ordered the removal of Jennifer Lynn Lalonde from its Shanghai consulate.


Adding salt to injury, Ottawa has forced Chinese firms to divest their ownership stakes in Canadian companies that mine lithium and other increasingly in-demand minerals. Canada’s anti-Chinese policy began since December 2018, when Beijing jailed Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, two Canadians living in China, apparently in retaliation for Canada having arrested Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei.