“ we take the world as it is, not as we wish it to be”

This is a statement made by Mark Carney, following the announcement of a trade deal with China that will reduce tariffs on canola going into China and electric vehicles coming from China.

For years, Canada and China have had a rocky relationship China’s human rights abuses have always been in the background. The arrest and detention of two Canadians, in Chinese jails, aggravated this tension. The two have since been released.

Mark Carney’s pragmatic quote is, a recognition of today’s environment where the US can no longer be trusted. Carney needs to decrease dependence on US trade and this is one way of achieving that. The risk here is becoming too dependent on China as a customer. So, for Carney, this is a tight rope act.

This trade deal is also aggravating the US. They are upset that Canada is making deals with communist China. They are also upset because Canada and US had jointly come up with an agreement to charge 100% tariffs on electric vehicles coming in from China. Now Canada is breaking that agreement.

The US had been hoping to isolate China economically with its tariff war on China. But because it has declared war on every other country, including an island of penguins, the US is slowly isolating itself, to the benefit of China.

Strange times indeed.

That’s all I have for today.