I saw someone saying recently that Canada has made a huge shift away from the US. As someone Canadian, I haven’t noticed anything beyond relatively minor individual decisions (IE, not going to the US as a tourist). I’d like to be wrong, but from my understanding, this is effectively nothing. Has there actually been any sort of large scale move away from US dependence?
Most provincial governments have stopped importing US liquor.
And store all their critical data with US providers
Absolutely, Canada has now even made defense agreements with EU joining the EU SAFE program, and very early on trade agreements were expanded.
They have been very active rerouting export goods hit by US tariffs away from USA to other destinations, helped by the government paving the way for these new trade routes.I can see from other comments that some Canadians don’t think the government has done enough, but I doubt they are aware of the speed the Canadian government has acted with, these things are very difficult to do quickly.
Look for instance on the trade agreement between south America and EU, it has taken 25 years to make!!
Canada has already made several international trade agreements beneficial to Canada in less than a year.
The fact that they are also looking into buying fighter jets from Swedish SAAB a non US country is also a very big deal. Which I as an EU citizen really hope goes through, because it seems like such a good deal on cooperation on sharing technology and make better planes on both sides. With SAAB and Canada partnering, instead of Canada just becoming a customer.The net result of it all is that despite US sanctions against Canada, the Canadian economy has grown more than the US economy in 2025!
EDIT PS:
Technically the US GDP growth is slightly higher than Canada, but that is driven by the AI bubble, the real economy of USA when not counting AI is slowing down, as can clearly be seen on lack of job creation that falls far behind the increase in population.To chime in from the Great White North, I agree with much of what you’ve written, though I haven’t spoken to anyone that thinks Canada has moved too slow.
What’s been done so far has happened as efficiently as government workings can be done, but when I go to a restaurant I don’t skip the entree if the waitstaff brings out the appetizer with haste.
How much does GDP growth actually benefit regular citizens?
There has historically been a correlation. However, this bubble doesn’t require a lot of labor so wages have been stuck.
Hell, if it weren’t for the AI bubble, it is likely that the US economy would be in recession.
Canada has been boycotting American products and imposing counter-tariffs on them. Their prime minister also announced a plan to reduce reliance on the US by requiring its federal government to buy from local suppliers, creating a fund to help sectors most affected by US tariffs, investing in Canadian agriculture, and training its local workforce, among other things.
Here’s a link to that goes into detail about the measures being taken.
Due to globalization, all economies of the world are intertwined. Short term steps will be small; also the effects by customer boycotts. Yet, behind the curtains, the damage is done, as all former partners of the USA have begun to look for cooperations elsewhere. This “psychological damage” acts long term and will be huge.
There was that announcement about building out freight track up to Churchill as a port for natural resources trade directly with Europe. It’s just an announcement, but a fascinating idea
They were talking about buying Swedish Gripen instead of US F-35. I’m not sure exactly how far along those plans were.
I suspect that was purely a pressure tactic against the US; the F-35 orders are still being financed and production hasn’t halted.
Which seems crazy to me, because the F-35 design can be fully remotely controlled by the US military, which also collects all telemetry.
Canada is still sucking heavily at the teat of the American auto cabal. As a Canadian I want to bring in those Chinese EV’s and make driving affordable again for most Canadians. $60,000 average price for a vehicle. That’s jumping the shark big time! I do see a lot of positive changes regarding our conscious uncoupling though, as the poster indicates.
We were part of that cabal - it was called the auto pact. In a sane world it integrated our manufacturing processes so that we could be players rather than consumers. The Canadian market is small and fragmented so we don’t wield any power as a consumer nation. Be careful what you wish for.
The problem is could you get any of those manufacturing jobs?
Well we did have them. Still do in many cases although they are under pressure. And the Stronachs built their fortune through Magna supplying parts into manufacturing facilities.
I don’t know if we can cut those deals with China or not. But the low cost of those vehicles reflects low wages. So you can have cheap vehicles where every dollar supports a foreign economy, or more expensive vehicles where we pay a good wage to our friends and neighbours.
No warning required. I wish for cheap Chinese EV’s, not that fat bloated crap they are producing out of North America nowadays.
The only thing I can think of is that the big car unions are charging too much for dues and the workers are suffering. /s
I’m with you. My ideal vehicle would be the electric equivalent of the Mazda B2000 - compact single cab short bed pickup. Slate held some promise but I’m not sure that’s going to happen. The closest thing is the Maverick but it’s over-engineered and a crew cab.
I don’t agree with much that the Ford Government says in Ontario here, but bringing in a Chinese EV manufacturing plant into the province would a net positive.
Canada could become a clean energy powerhouse if it wanted TBH
Canada has failed to make important and needed concrete shifts. Bank of Canada increased its US holdings by 15% = $9B over the year, with Canadian institutions adding $50B. It chickened out on taxing big US tech, and eliminated all counter tariffs.
Worst by far is the completely unphased military posture of amplifying US force projection and warmongering propaganda. It has not reversed a single demonic lie it accepted in the past from the US, including Russia provoked war in Ukraine, Venezuela had illegitimate ruler, Russia and China are threats to Canada’s arctic, and Mexican drug cartels are state sponsored terrorism. Canada has accepted subordinate NATO members role to be proxies in war on Russia by accepting the funding burden for US containment/diminishment policy on Russia, as well as US arms purchases to help with force amplification in future war on Russia.
Canada’s continued commitment to F35 (with kill switch) purchases, defense pact with US dictatorial puppet in Philippines who, like Ukraine, is happy to be bribed to suicide itself on China. It cooperated with US navy in Carribean late last year.
