Canada Suddenly Says It’ll Buy More US Products After Trump Threatened To Slap It With Tariffs

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Owen Klinsky

Canada’s ambassador to the United States said Monday the country is prepared to purchase more U.S. goods following President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

Trump has repeatedly lamented the trade deficit between the U.S. and its neighbor to the north, threatening to levy a 25% tariff against the country or even annex Canada and make it “the 51st state.” His remarks appear to have already impacted trade relations, with Canada’s Ambassador Kirsten Hillman saying the country is ready to buy more from the United States in order to appease the incoming president, according to an interview she gave to The Associated Press Monday.

“He has a negotiating style which involves positioning himself in the best way he can for discussions,” Hillman told the AP. “We are happy to source what we can from the United States.”

Hillman identified military procurements as a potential category where Canada could increase its consumption of U.S. products, including Canada’s next fleet of submarines: “We have some big military procurements coming up for example, replacing our entire submarine fleet. Maybe those are some purchases that can happen from the U.S.”

The U.S. had a nearly $68 billion trade deficit with Canada in 2023, a decrease of $12.2 billion from 2022, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The overall U.S. trade deficit sat at over $770 billion in 2023 — the highest of any country globally.

The ambassador also gave Trump credit for the creation of Canada’s $1 billion-plus border security and immigration plan: “We have moved really quickly, I’ll be honest, because President Trump focused the mind to put together a full package of improvements.”

Border patrol agents apprehended almost 24,000 individuals along the northern border in fiscal year 2024, representing a 140% increase from the year prior, data from the U.S. Customs And Border Protection shows.

“President Trump has promised tariff policies that protect working Americans from the unfair practices of foreign companies and foreign markets,” Trump-Vance Transition Spokesman Brian Hughes told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “As he did in his first term, he will implement economic and trade policies to make life affordable and more prosperous for our nation, while simultaneously leveling the playing field for American manufacturers.”

The Canadian embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Related Topics:#DailyCaller #TrudeauTrump CanadaUSTrade OwenKlinsky TrumpTariffs

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‘A Huge Win’: Woke Climate Cartel Goes Belly Up

Published on January 14, 2025

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Owen Klinsky

The Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) coalition — a United Nations–sponsored collection of financial services companies that have pledged to negate their portfolio’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner — suspended activities after investment firm BlackRock announced its departure from the group, according to a press release.

BlackRock, which manages more than $10 trillion and has been a leader in environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, announced its exit from NZAM Thursday, with its Vice-Chair Philipp Hildebrand saying the firm’s involvement in the environmental coalition “caused confusion regarding BlackRock’s practices and subjected us to legal inquiries from various public officials.” Now, NZAM has pressed pause altogether, halting operations while it conducts a review of its activities, an NZAM press release published Monday said.

“Recent developments in the U.S. and different regulatory and client expectations in investors’ respective jurisdictions have led to NZAM launching a review of the initiative to ensure NZAM remains fit for purpose in the new global context,” NZAM reportedly wrote in the letter. “As the initiative undergoes this review, it is suspending activities to track signatory implementation and reporting. NZAM will also remove the commitment statement and list of NZAM signatories from its website, as well as their targets and related case studies, pending the outcome of the review.”

JUST IN: The UN-backed Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) group has announced that it will be shutting down completely, following @BlackRock‘s departure. pic.twitter.com/o5htgvFEiH

— Will Hild (@WillHild) January 13, 2025

A slew of other financial services had left NZAM prior to BlackRock’s Thursday exit, including Goldman Sachs Group, Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. BlackRock’s exit came amid a broader corporate strategy shift away from ESG investing, with the firm only supporting about 4% of the 493 environmental and social investment proposals that shareholders put forward between the end of June 2023 and the end of June 2024, down from a rate of 47% in 2021.

BlackRock was a major supporter of ESG investing in years prior, with CEO Larry Fink saying in 2020 that “climate risk is investment risk” and that climate change would lead to a “fundamental reallocation of capital.”

“The destruction of NZAM is a huge win for consumers,” Will Hild, executive director of the conservative nonprofit Consumers’ Research, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Although there is a lot of work left to be done, what was effectively a cartel of asset managers has finally ceased taking the focus of businesses off of consumers, raising prices for everyday Americans everywhere from the gas pump to the grocery store.”

When reached for comment, NZAM referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to its press release.

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Proposed federal tax hike would make Canada’s top capital gains tax rate among the highest of 37 advanced countries

Published on January 14, 2025

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From the Fraser Institute

By Jake Fuss and Grady Munro

Ottawa’s proposed increase to the effective capital gains tax rate will result in Canada having among the highest—and least competitive—top capital gains tax rates in the industrialized world, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan, Canadian public policy think-tank.

“The evidence is clear—taxing capital gains deters investment, particularly smaller and start-up firms, which in turn slows productivity gains and innovation, all things Canada needs right now to raise living standards for workers,” said Jake Fuss, director of fiscal studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Canada’s Waning Competitiveness on Capital Gains Taxes.

The study finds that by increasing the inclusion rate, the federal government has made Canada less competitive compared to other advanced countries. At a 50 per cent inclusion rate, Canada’s top capital gains tax rate ranked between 17th and 23rd (depending on the province) out of 37 high-income developed countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Raising the inclusion rate to 66.7 per cent means Canada’s top capital gains tax rate would be among the highest and least competitive (between 8th and 13th highest, depending on the province).

The study notes that if Canada’s capital gains inclusion rate were lowered to 33.3 per cent, Canada would be among the most competitive in the OECD, ranking 30th and 31st, again, depending on the province.

“Instead of raising taxes on capital gains, policymakers should consider reducing taxes as a way of attracting much-needed investment, and reversing Canada’s current economic slump,” Fuss said.