Warning: This post might only interest 8% of you, which represents our Canadian audience.
I don’t get to discuss Canadian happenings all that often, so when things of incredible import or note happen, I find a need to get it out on paper. And yes, I still call a blank screen ‘paper’. I’m old.
Our Prime Minister, Mark Carney, has been in China for the last few days trying to strike a new trade deal with Xi. Usually, international trade deals aren’t so interesting, however, these are wild times. Due to the hostility and unpredictability we’re facing from our former friends in the south (Note: government administration does not equal the majority of the people).
Obviously, the main focus for Carney has been to diversify our exports to make us far less vulnerable to the going-ons of the States. Progress has been made in other venues, but China has always been the whale.
Aside from agriculture and forestry products, we need China (and India) to be picking up our oil and natural gas, of which we have quite a bit. Unfortunately, the relationship between China and Canada has been rough over the last decade; for good reason. There are massive value differences between our two countries, and we’ve never been shy with our opinions (we’re polite, not quiet).
As Carney was announcing the new trade deal with China, he said something that really stuck with me-
“We take the world as it is, not as we wish it to be”.
In times like these, I can appreciate that pragmatism. Gone are the days when the western world can be the world’s morality police. We lack that standing. And right now, we need Chinese trade, we need Chinese investment and we need to help re-establish a law-based world order that has been pushed aside recently (See: Venezuela).
And while some may complain about letting in 49,000 Chinese Electric Vehicles per year into the Canadian marketplace with a 6.1% Tariff, this will strongly benefit consumers and help pick up slumping EV sales.
Overall, I’m cautiously optimistic with these developments, but we’ll see what we’ll see.
-sohmer
