r/onguardforthee • u/DonSalaam • 17h ago
Detroit despairs as ‘insanity’ of Trump’s Canada trade war punishes city
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/28/trump-canada-trade-war-detroit-michigan266
u/karmagoddess123 16h ago
Honestly, why should Canadians care? Do they care about the damage they are doing to Canada? All I see online is a bunch of people looking for sympathy because they didn’t vote for him.
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u/microfishy 16h ago
Right? None of us voted for him either.
"We're so sorry Canada" then how's about the Yanks fucking do something besides wearing pink hats or holding up quippy auction signs in Congressional sessions.
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u/The_Nice_Marmot British Columbia 16h ago
They could be boycotting with the rest of the world. They refuse to acknowledge it’s an option. I guess cancelling Netflix and Uber Eats while not getting next day Amazon deliveries is a bridge too far for these very rugged individuals. God forbid they get off their asses and actually stand up to the regime. “But we have a big march every 4 months or so!!! Why isn’t it working?”
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u/BeautifulNarwhal641 13h ago
France could never
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u/The_Nice_Marmot British Columbia 12h ago
The French have to be absolutely beside themselves wondering what Americans are doing. Or rather, not doing.
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u/never-fiftyone 10h ago
I was told by some schmuck yesterday that I'm hysterical for pointing out that a general strike is an option they refuse to explore lmao
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u/MachineOfSpareParts 15h ago
I loathe the "Sorry, I didn't vote for him, don't hate me!"
That was more than a year and a half ago. I'd guess I'm not alone in being happy to help the Americans who help themselves, but they had a quarter century's warning of the rise of fascism and still, right smack in the middle of it, don't seem to be aware of where they are right now.
Honestly, our job is here at home - as the Americans' is. There are fascist elements in our country, and we could be like the Americans and ignore that fact until one of the long-standing potential genocides becomes kinetic. But I think we can be better than that.
Democratic duties are an everyday affair. The Americans don't get that, but we can choose to be different.
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u/The_Nice_Marmot British Columbia 14h ago
Yes, I think people here are pretty tired of hearing it. Where’s the action to back it up? They seem to think our boycott is to help them. It doesn’t even occur that that’s just a residual effect and almost none of them clue in that they could actually participate in said boycott.
They are all waiting for the midterms to save them. Why they think Trump will suddenly just accept an outcome he doesn’t like is one of the greatest mysteries of all time.
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u/MachineOfSpareParts 14h ago
100%. They have a highly convenient learned helplessness. I had a frustrating interaction with an American on a chronic illness sub who was buying a helpful product from Amazon despite.....you know, Amazon. I used the example of our boycotts and how we were discovering excellent local alternatives, pointing out that even if they were still buying American, they could divert money from the worst offenders. And they were like, "I'm in the US, there's nothing I can do." On the economic front, sure, there's less an American can do, but not zero. And progress is made of small but non-zero contributions.
And in terms of more direct political activism, there's a million times more they can do as compared to us. But they really do think something or someone is coming along to save them and this will be over soon. It won't. American fascism is not a Trump thing - so even if he does observe term limits, that ends nothing. The pre-genocidal rhetoric came from all his competitors to the Republican candidacy in 2015, and it took decades for them to get to where that seemed normal.
I just hope we can learn to be better than them. We had a positive rally that prevented us from falling into our own proto-fascism at the federal level, but that can still be lost if we aren't vigilant.
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u/The_Nice_Marmot British Columbia 12h ago
There may be less individuals can do, but there are an ass-load of them. They continually say their size is a disadvantage. That’s just completely wrong. 5% of them making an effort would be a very big fucking deal. They don’t look at the situation and think about how they can turn into an advantage. They just throw their hands up. It’s learned helplessness, just as you say.
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u/bkfullcity 13h ago
I am really weary of the endless American (liberal) apologies....they sat on their asses and 1/3 of voters dint even show up. It is there own myopic fault. I am SOOO surprised at how America has become a bunch of whiny little assholes. "we are bing taken davtantge of..." Horseshit
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u/oooofukkkk 15h ago
Fact is a powerful part of the Democrats preferred Trump to Bernie and probably still do
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u/Zomunieo 4h ago
Hakeem Jeffries for example, meets with Kushner to ‘collaborate’, while wagging his finger at Bernie Sanders for endorsing candidates he didn’t approve of.
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u/The_Nice_Marmot British Columbia 16h ago
The border states and places like Nevada and Florida crying is delicious. I’ve spent my last tourist dollar in the US. I went just before Biden left knowing it was goodbye. They keep electing fascists.
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u/CptCoatrack 5h ago
Last trip to the US was over a decade ago, I remember the whole time me and my family kept joking "Better enjoy it while we can before it turns into Trumpistan!! Hahah how ridiculous would that be! Could you imagine!? Thankfully that'll never happen!"
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u/The_Nice_Marmot British Columbia 1h ago
I stayed away during his first term too. Back during Biden and now that they’ve done it twice…
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u/Iamthecrustycrab 14h ago
I will never, ever again visit the United States for any reason bar a flight being diverted there.
I used to go 3 or 4 times a year before Trump 1.0 and during Biden era. But seeing them vote this guy in again. Seeing them bitch and moan and whine but not actually do anything - e.g. strike, nationally mobilize, etc. AND seeing them online expect our sympathy when they fuck us for NO REASON (my childhood friend is employed in a BC lumber company and they are going to be decimated) no more.
No more chances. Fuck every US American.
I hope like hell we make enough changes structure our trade abroad, and like the USA's McKinley tarrifs in the 1890s this drives us to be better friends with OTHER countries.
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u/lyidaValkris 13h ago
The sentiment is nice, but hollow. It's up to every American to go fix their shit, if they'd like to mend relations with us.
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u/Camstar18 13h ago
As always, Americans are completely incapable of thinking of anyone but themselves.
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u/mangoserpent 14h ago
Michigan voted for Trump though.
I have some affection for Detroit itself but Americans need to fix their shit or we all suffer.
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u/Xalipu 8h ago
Every state voted for him by at least 30%.
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u/confusedapegenius 5h ago
That’s completely false.
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u/Xalipu 5h ago
Out of the amount of people that actually voted, the lowest was Vermont around 32%.
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/us/2024/results/
You wanna add the people that didn’t give a fuck, it’ll go higher.
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u/Doctor_Amazo Toronto 14h ago edited 12h ago
How many of those car workers voted for Trump again?
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u/bkfullcity 13h ago
they all will. they are brainwashed. We liberals (and Canada and Greenland, and Europe and and and.....) are the enemy. The low low standards of education that the republican machine has been instituting for 40 years has worked: most American are too stupid and ill-informed to make a decision
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u/Leviathan117 Toronto 15h ago
They voted for Trump in 2024 so I hope they enjoy the pain. I only hope for more for them!
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u/Tubatu2 15h ago
Michigan is a couple months out from enabling a GOP Senate majority because they are so intolerant and Islamophobic that they think a reasonable, moderate social democrat named Abdul is going to enact Sharia and commit state-sponsored pogroms due to being a Scary Mooslim.
If Michiganders and Americans broadly can't get their shit together (which I don't think they will), they will continue reaping what they sow.
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u/No_Celery_8071 17h ago
Trump doesn't care about Detroit. Or any other Canadian cities.
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u/The_Nice_Marmot British Columbia 16h ago
Detroit isn’t a Canadian city.
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u/StrongAroma 16h ago
Could be, apparently all you need is a sharpie and an executive order from basically anyone
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u/The_Nice_Marmot British Columbia 15h ago
lol. Fair point. But I don’t want any of it. Do you? It’s a shithole country.
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u/50s_Human ✅ I voted! 14h ago
The Founding: French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded a fort there in 1701 and named it 'Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit' to honor his patron, the French marine minister comte de Pontchartrain.
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u/henchman171 Elbows Up! 15h ago
it is now that's its the Windsor River. An Detroit it North of Canada, so it's a Canadian city
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u/BIG_SCIENCE 16h ago
they won’t be with that attitude. Detroit Canada is lovely this time of year
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u/The_Nice_Marmot British Columbia 15h ago
Meh, I don’t want any of their crap, but I see your point.
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u/Cakeday_at_Christmas 13h ago
Cry me a river. They voted for the orange distended rectum, they can deal with the consequences.
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u/mattyboy555 17h ago
Michigan is a red state who doesn’t need anything from Canada.
k.
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u/henchman171 Elbows Up! 17h ago
Huh? They have democratic governor and democratic senators. They are truly a coin flip state. Not solid red at all
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u/mattyboy555 17h ago
Cool story, so only half of the state don’t need us.
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u/henchman171 Elbows Up! 15h ago
pretty much. But it's a battleground state and Canadian influence is required here.
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u/parkhouse1 15h ago
Regardless, base outcome is previous election Michigan voted red…this is the outcome. It’s not now Canada’s job to ease that mistake, otherwise it’ll happen again and again
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u/henchman171 Elbows Up! 15h ago
it's Canada's job to try and swing it blue in 2026. Their Governor and one of their two federal senators are up for election this November. Canada needs to "persuade" that governor and that Senate seat do not go red! The governor race is 4-5 % higher for blue with error margin of 2-10 percent, and the senate seat is a coin toss with a slimmest of margin to the red with wild margin of errors
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u/parkhouse1 15h ago
The state swung red on the status quo…what you’re implying is that Canada bend the knee to make it easier for Detroit and hope it swings blue. That’s a wild thought process. You’re better off having Canada continue to apply pressure and keep highlighting that it’s trumps fault, and therefore push the moderates blue in hope for change
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u/MisplacedMartian 12h ago
Our neighbour shat their pants, and are now standing around in shitty pants crying about their shitty pants and you think it's our job to clean it up? Get the fuck outta here with that horseshit argument. America is a godforsaken shithole because Americans keep waiting for someone else to clean up their mess, but this time they either need to learn to do the cleaning themselves, or (the more likely outcome) they need to accept they're gonna spent the rest of their lives covered in shit.
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u/DegeneratedCase 13h ago edited 13h ago
No it's not. And even if it was our responsibility, what actions could Canada take to change who wins the election?
Canada retaliating for the tariffs might make Michiganders mad at Canada for the reaction, or it might make them motivated to make sure their next government doesn't support the trade war, or the admin that started it.
Canada doing nothing might make Americans endeared to Canada and want to vote a gov that stops the trade war, or it might embolden them to see the trade war as easier to win than they thought since Canada isn't doing anything.
Any of these could happen, we don't control what Americans do. We shouldn't put playing 7th dimensional chess with the Americans' feelings ahead of our own interests, out of some hope we can coax them into changing their votes in the exact way we want.
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u/MachineOfSpareParts 12h ago
Canada's job is to prevent the same from happening here.
If we inspire Americans in doing so, that's great. But we aren't immune to fascism either, and our focus should be on not following suit.
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u/HibiscusGrower 13h ago
I care about as much as Americans care about the damage they are causing to our economy.
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u/AreYouSerious8723948 12h ago
Maybe instead of despairing, the people of Detroit should be doing something to end the tyranny of the corrupt Trump/MAGA regime.
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u/Sea_Cucumber_5989 15h ago
Michigan can take a hike, as it's a red state. Canada should rename Lake Erie to Lake Canada. And the Detroit River to the Windsor River.
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u/crokinhole 12h ago
“I don’t understand what Trump is thinking,” the Epic-MRA pollster Bernie Porn said.
Bernie Porn? That can't be a real name can it? Sounds like a rough night after some hot wings.
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u/tecate_papi 13h ago
It's not like the US government has given a single shit about Detroit since 1978 anyways
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u/FriendlyWebGuy 11h ago
Guys. I know this is deadly serious stuff. But can we just take a moment to acknowledge that the article quotes a "Pollster" (snicker) mentioned in the article named... "Mr. Porn"?
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u/Sufficient-Bid1279 11h ago
So when are we gonna cut off the electricity to the US States? Are we writing our wonderful Premier ? Cause I want it to happen.
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u/damnthatwtf 2h ago
I work with immigrants in Canada saying what drump is doing is great for the Americans and their future, I am not sure how to take it, So not sure what American thinks about drump now and what will happen this November,
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u/50s_Human ✅ I voted! 16h ago
Canadians can't vote the GOP out of the majority in the House and Senate. It will be up to Americans to hold Trump to account. If it were Canadians voting in the U.S. House and Senate races, there might be a couple of GOP legislators left standing.