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[US President Donald Trump] has repeatedly made it clear that he wants vehicles built in the United States, not in Canada, even if that means unraveling long standing trade agreements like CUSMA. To Trump, Canadian auto plants are not partners in an integrated supply chain. They are competitors siphoning away American manufacturing strength.
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[China’s Xi Jinping’] position is quieter but far more consequential.
China’s global auto strategy is not about Canada specifically. It is about scale, dominance, and dependency. Beijing has poured enormous state resources into turning its automakers into export juggernauts, not just in electric vehicles but across the entire automotive spectrum. The goal is not simply to sell cars abroad. China may not say it as it thinks like—like Trump—but Beijing’s ultimate goal is to reshape who builds them at all.
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Trump’s approach is blunt force economics. Build here or lose access. His message to automakers is simple. If you want to sell to Americans, invest in American factories. Canada becomes collateral damage in a political argument framed as economic nationalism.
China’s approach is more strategic and arguably more dangerous. By flooding markets with low-cost vehicles backed by state support, it erodes domestic manufacturing ecosystems over time. Once factories close and supply chains weaken, rebuilding them becomes nearly impossible. Consumers may celebrate cheaper cars in the short term, but the long-term cost is industrial dependency.
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That is where Trump and Xi converge, intentionally or not.
Both paths lead to a future where Canada builds fewer cars. One shifts production south. The other crowds it out entirely. In either case, Canada is left choosing between integration and irrelevance. This is not just an economic debate. It is about sovereignty, employment, and technological leadership.
More than vehicles of transportation, cars are now rolling computers, data collectors, and energy platforms. Losing the ability to build them means losing influence over critical infrastructure.
The question facing Canada, and by extension North America, is not whether Chinese cars are good or affordable. Many are. The real question is whether hollowing out domestic manufacturing is a price worth paying for cheaper sheet metal and software.
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Trump says he wants the jobs. Xi wants the market. Neither wants Canada in the driver’s seat.
Whatever dystopian landscape results from giving the consumers a break should happen. The consumers deserve a break at least once! Enough of this “the world will burn if we help the masses” bullshit.
That is almost always coming from the people threatening to burn the world if they don’t get their way.
And, of course, them getting their way will also burn the world, but just a bit slower.
You can help the masses via importing cheaply made EVs, or you can help the masses by employing them to build EVs they can afford.
Only one of those options really gives them a break in the long run.
The difference is one of timelines. As you ramp up industry, you can import affordable EVs. It’s not either-or.
I’m looking for a short term, one time only offer. Just a break for once. Save the “ethical ways to proceed” for our systems, not the consumer.
The people are the system. The prices are the product of systemic choices. Your Short Term break will end up costing you a fortune down the road when they’ve cornered the market and either Enshittification or price gouging ends up costing you your shirt in 10 years.
I don’t want to pay any more than you do, but “Screw tomorrow, today we feast” kind of mentality is how we got here in the first place. If we don’t think our way through this, we’re going to end up shooting ourselves in the face.
I mostly agree with you but just once I would like the “people’s system” to help the people and not the government or the corporations. “Screw tomorrow, today we feast” always falls to the government or corporations. The people (masses; citizenry) need a win.
To be clear, the people and the government are the same thing. It’s the same wallet.
I hear you. I don’t want to get shafted either. I’m not a 1% elitist that can light $100k on fire and not care. I want people to get a break too, but we have to use our heads. We need to have a bare minimum level of domestic manufacturing. People still need jobs to eat, and we need to stop putting trust in people who don’t give a damn about us to do what’s best for us.
China, the US, the mega corps, they don’t care about any of us. If you die, if your children starve, if you are marching with pitchforks and torches in the public square, they don’t care. They are a million miles away and have zero skin in this game, they just show up and declare themselves the winner and demand your money.
We need ambition, we need to prove we can take care of ourselves because no one else will. That’s the only way we get a “break” from the relentless BS.