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So up first today, we cover the biggest headline of late in the news cycle as trade tensions between the US and Canada escalated over the past week and certainly into the weekend.

Uh, late last week, bilateral talks between the, uh, two leaders collapsed after both sides alleged the other attempted to include additional provisions after reaching an initial agreement.

Uh, but the dispute has since escalated to include US tariffs levied at 50% on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, with Canada planning to reciprocate on, I believe, September 8th, without any attempted de-escalation before then.

So Miles, what is at the core of the dispute between the US and Canada in the latest round of trade talks, and where exactly does China fit into the dynamic here?

Well, China is essentially the reason why, uh, this trade talk collapsed, and I don't think, uh, the discussion is really directly about China, but everything the US and Canada were talking about has a, a very, uh, direct link to what China is doing to North America.

You know, Canada, Mexico, and the United States, uh, since the 1990s, uh, uh, have tried to form some kind of a tr- uh, trade zone, um, and through NAFTA and now the USMCA.

Uh, the primary purpose of those framework is to indigenize supply chain in North America.

So in other words, Mexico, United States, and Canada will form one particular, uh, trading group, but also a manufacturing group that will be primarily use indigenous North American supply chain manufacturing capabilities.

That was the express purpose, so much so that in the USMCA, the agreement itself, there was a specific clause to prevent any of the three signature countries from independently, uh, making a, uh, free trade de- agreement with a other country outside of the North America, and this is, uh, um, article 32.10 of the USMCA, uh, agreement.

So Canada basically, and Mexico too, are in violation of both the spirit and the letter of the USMCA by enabling China to enter their manufacturing base and their market, and they're using the free trade status of Mexico and Canada to transship Chinese goods through their countries into the American market.

That is, uh, uh, basically, you know, defeats the original purpose of the, uh, of the, uh, of the agreement.

So what US trying to do is, hey, they gotta stop that, the backdoor access to the US market.

That's one thing.

Secondly, I think if you, um...

There's a major problem here in dealing with the, with the US government, particularly this, this administration, that is, people pay so much attention to the personality of President Trump, what he said, the manner in which he said it, but totally ignore the serious messages he's trying to send it to partners like Canada and Mexico.

Uh, that is, if you read the White House r- release of this negotiation, of his, uh, uh, decision to impose 50% of the tariffs on certain goods from Canada, it listed a whole bunch of very rational re- uh, reasons written by experts.

One of the reasons was, uh, obviously, is, uh, that, uh, Canada are discriminating against the American manufactured goods by impose unreasonable, uh, tariffs going from US to Canada.

But Canada simultaneously gave preferential treatment of the same goods from other countries, particularly China, and this is basically a no-no.

So that's basically one of the things.

But the reason why this talk, and I think the last straw of, of this intensification of US, Canada negotiation on trade, is really about national security.

The United States no longer treats this USMCA, uh, trading group nearly, merely as a trade or economic issue.

It's really about national security.

It's about how Canada has allowed China to impose, for example, uh, up to f- 49,000 Chinese electric vehicle a year to Canada at a very low, uh, most favored, uh, nation trading status.

So what that means is that, uh- The Chinese EV will flood Canadian streets.

And, uh, not only that, it's going to allow China to basically, uh, uh, potentially make batteries, EVs, uh, in Canada itself.

So up first today, we cover the biggest headline of late in the news cycle as trade tensions between the US and Canada escalated over the past week and certainly into the weekend.

Uh, late last week, bilateral talks between the, uh, two leaders collapsed after both sides alleged the other attempted to include additional provisions after reaching an initial agreement.

Uh, but the dispute has since escalated to include US tariffs levied at 50% on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, with Canada planning to reciprocate on, I believe, September 8th, without any attempted de-escalation before then.

So Miles, what is at the core of the dispute between the US and Canada in the latest round of trade talks, and where exactly does China fit into the dynamic here?

Well, China is essentially the reason why, uh, this trade talk collapsed, and I don't think, uh, the discussion is really directly about China, but everything the US and Canada were talking about has a, a very, uh, direct link to what China is doing to North America.

You know, Canada, Mexico, and the United States, uh, since the 1990s, uh, uh, have tried to form some kind of a tr- uh, trade zone, um, and through NAFTA and now the USMCA.

Uh, the primary purpose of those framework is to indigenize supply chain in North America.

So in other words, Mexico, United States, and Canada will form one particular, uh, trading group, but also a manufacturing group that will be primarily use indigenous North American supply chain manufacturing capabilities.

That was the express purpose, so much so that in the USMCA, the agreement itself, there was a specific clause to prevent any of the three signature countries from independently, uh, making a, uh, free trade de- agreement with a other country outside of the North America, and this is, uh, um, article 32.10 of the USMCA, uh, agreement.

So Canada basically, and Mexico too, are in violation of both the spirit and the letter of the USMCA by enabling China to enter their manufacturing base and their market, and they're using the free trade status of Mexico and Canada to transship Chinese goods through their countries into the American market.

That is, uh, uh, basically, you know, defeats the original purpose of the, uh, of the, uh, of the agreement.

So what US trying to do is, hey, they gotta stop that, the backdoor access to the US market.

That's one thing.

Secondly, I think if you, um...

There's a major problem here in dealing with the, with the US government, particularly this, this administration, that is, people pay so much attention to the personality of President Trump, what he said, the manner in which he said it, but totally ignore the serious messages he's trying to send it to partners like Canada and Mexico.

Uh, that is, if you read the White House r- release of this negotiation, of his, uh, uh, decision to impose 50% of the tariffs on certain goods from Canada, it listed a whole bunch of very rational re- uh, reasons written by experts.

One of the reasons was, uh, obviously, is, uh, that, uh, Canada are discriminating against the American manufactured goods by impose unreasonable, uh, tariffs going from US to Canada.

But Canada simultaneously gave preferential treatment of the same goods from other countries, particularly China, and this is basically a no-no.

So that's basically one of the things.

But the reason why this talk, and I think the last straw of, of this intensification of US, Canada negotiation on trade, is really about national security.

The United States no longer treats this USMCA, uh, trading group nearly, merely as a trade or economic issue.

It's really about national security.

It's about how Canada has allowed China to impose, for example, uh, up to f- 49,000 Chinese electric vehicle a year to Canada at a very low, uh, most favored, uh, nation trading status.

So what that means is that, uh- The Chinese EV will flood Canadian streets.

And, uh, not only that, it's going to allow China to basically, uh, uh, potentially make batteries, EVs, uh, in Canada itself.