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Comment by pimlottc | Hacker News Reader

What do you mean by putting "friends" in scare quotes?

Not GP but presumably implying that is not how you treat friends and/or a policy targetting China has collateral damage.

> a policy targetting China has collateral damage.

It is still a policy from someone threatening economic annexation of Canada. He's dropped the rhetoric, but I doubt he's given up on the concept. "Targeting China" is a very kind, possibly even forgetful, way of phrasing it.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5071665-trump-ec...

Believe it or not, not everything is about Canada.

Trump hates China. His boss told him to.

No, but it hardly seems irrelevant when root comment links a Canadian Broadcast Corporation story about Canadian Mom'n'Pop stores

Not everything is about Canada, no.

Mexico has also been disproportionately impacted by these protectionist policies. And that’s just the immediate neighbours with which the US has pursued trade agreements for decades.

I can’t speak for all Canadians but all the ones I know do not see America as a friend or partner anymore. The entire tone has changed in a way I’ve never before experienced.

I think the thing some Americans mess themselves up with is thinking that the world perceives their domestic politics the same way they do. From our level of abstraction, America voted and Americans decided the country is going to be an anti-science, protectionist menace.

I can't speak for all Americans, but you're not wrong.

Protect yourself. If and when we have enough good governance to be friends again, we'll need your friendship.

Yeah, that’s probably the other palpable sentiment worth sharing: Canadians badly want to be best friends with Americans. It’s been a very regrettable cultural divorce.

Seconded. But also, don't forget that the same exact shit can happen in Canada as well. Especially with a national threat actor now physically next door (little green men, etc).

Which straw broke the camel's back. Was it insulting the prime minister as a governor, threatening to annex the territory, threatening to "redraw borders", or calling Canadians "nasty people"?

I think if we could point to a specific pivotal moment, it was when tariffs were first announced and Trudeau came on TV and discussed the difficult times ahead, the relationship as we knew it being over, and the announcement of counter tariffs and other plans. Then the Premiers announced things like removing American alcohol from shelves (Jack Daniel’s said this week that Canadian sales fell 62%), and shutting down various historical courtesies. For me at least that’s the moment it went from confusion, anger, and frustration to coordinated effort to take a defensive stance against the new aggressor nation.

The petty child-like name calling from the American president was mostly just an evocation of “I’m embarrassed for you.”

Justin Trudeau said it best:

the U.S. launched the trade war against Canada, “their closest partner and ally, their closest friend. At the same time, they’re talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin, a lying, murderous dictator. Make that make sense.”

Ah, I was thinking of friends on an individual basis, not in geopolitical terms.

Well, this has affected my friendships with Americans. Most of them I’m still friends with, but being politically ambivalent or worse, supporting the president, is no longer acceptable. I tried to be open minded and have friends from different political backgrounds, but at this point if you are not explicitly on our side, you are an enemy and I am no longer talking talking to you. You either oppose the American government or you are evil. There is no alternative remaining at this point, and I’m not friends with evil people.

> Most of them I’m still friends with, but being politically ambivalent or worse, supporting the president, is no longer acceptable.

Don't worry, those of us not in those camps have long reached the same conclusion.

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