Close Reading

It’s trump….. it will never make sense.jumping through hoops for him won’t make a difference obviously. I haven’t a clue why he’s hurting his own people.

American here. It's obvious Trump is a traitor and a Russian agent who is following orders from Putin to dismantle the US government, and destabilize/destroy all Western alliances. It shouldn't be a surprise: Trump has had dealings with Russian oligarchs for the past 40 years. Trump is a clear and present danger to the US, the West, and the world. He will probably be the cause of World War 3 since he has put the US on the side of Russia - which destabilizes the entire world order.

Trump is obviously a Russian asset.

They aren’t “opponents” of Trump though… they are his “good friends”. He doesn’t want the allies America has always has. He wants Putin, he wants North Korea. Because they are the men he looks up to. He loves ego driven dictators. Because he is one. Also… this isn’t about fentanyl… that’s just the excuse he’s using. He wants to weaken relationships with allies. That’s obvious. He wants to appease Putin.

Trump is obviously transferring most of US assets in East and Southeast Asia. While we are seeing bad trade news after another, this is only focused mainly on Western countries.\n\nJapan and Taiwan recently pledging billions of USD as investments are one of the indications that Trump is relocating its financial and possibly military support to Asia. Philippines will also be conducting a meeting with him and I think he would have defense and economic deals with our country as well.\n\nCanadian and Mexican economies would indeed suffer while European security would be in danger with the US pulling out of NATO soon. But we are seeing an indication that the trade and defense assistance is being transferred to Pacific Asia for some reason. This would mean the economic repercussions would not bring down the US to its knees, but it would still be pretty significant early on since Asian markets would take a while to develop.

Trump seems to be an agent provocateur for Russia. Becomes more obvious each day.

The whole reason Trump is doing it is to try and crumble Canada's economy in hopes it deters Ukrainian aid.\nAnd ideally, Putin wants Trump to absorb Canada to cut Ukrainian funding out entirely from Canada.\nWhen you look at how Trumps actions help Putin, it becomes very obvious all the 2 IQ moves he makes.

Americans seem to be blind TRUMP is obviously a Putin agent you’re denied it long enough, do something before it s to late and a dear Leader has taken over ,,,,

.... Well I'll tell you what Trudeau,.... None of us people wanted these tariffs either... At least not the people who are sane... I don't even think the people who voted for Donald Trump wanted these tariffs against the rest of the world either....I really don't understand the sense behind it because this is not going to make America greater.... It's going to destroy the economy of America and whatever the country it is that he poses these tariffs on... He thinks this is a strategy for getting what he wants... But I'll tell you what, he may be shocked and sadly mistaken when he finds out that it might just backfire ...this is a very conceited attempt to get the type of economic condition that he envisions for his new Dictatorship over America....he has alienated United States from its allies in Europe as well as its allies here at home.... This is probably about as dumb as his treatment of Volodimir Zelensky that just transpired on Friday at the oval office...and that idiot Vance is the one actually that has started that little debacle....I don't know man I thought these guys had more sense than to do this kind of shit.... But see this kind of situation is not going to affect him or his billionaire buddies because they have so much money they can cushion themselves until the cows come home....these assholes don't have nothing to worry about except the American people finding an emergency way of getting his ass out of office unless he changes course on all of this... I don't know if he can be impeached or not... But it might be a smart thing to find out if it IS possible.... AND EVEN IF IT IS WE STILL HAVE HIS SITTING REPLACEMENTS STILL IN OFFICE AS WELL SO I DON'T SEE THIS GOING AWAY WITHIN THE NEXT 4 YEARS UNLESS HE COMES BACK TO HIS SENSES, AND POSSIBLY GOES TO A DOCTOR AND HAVE HIS HEAD CHECKED....\nDTheMadkat123\nFrom a borrowed phone \n....the only thing I really do support that he is doing is securing the border and dealing with immigration issues here.... That's it that's all I was hoping that he would really focus on being in the oval office, and possibly standing by Ukraine, and Israel during these evil days.... Buddying up to Putin is like the single most insane thing that has come from this as well..I just hope and pray that he comes back to his senses and backtracks on all of this shit.... Besides I like Canada House whiskey, and Canada Dry Ginger ale, and other products from Canada.... Stand strong Canadians, I love you all, and I hope we can make it through these tough times ahead...but obviously the road that we're traveling now there really is no guarantees is there ?? Lady can you shut the hell up and go back to what Trudeau is saying ??

People need to understand that the damage and fallout that will certainly come from all of the things that Donald Trump is doing is intentional. \nTrump's efforts to weaken NATO, destroying our relationships with our long-standing Western European allies, creating friction and distrust with our border countries of Canada and Mexico, taking a wrecking ball to all of our governmental institutions that hold this country together, sowing a lot of hatred and distrust among American citizens along racial and ethnic lines, using tariffs to destroy the American economy, efforts to cause Americans to lose trust in our courts, justice and Healthcare systems, trying to Villianize Zelensky of Ukraine while praising the dictator from Russia, is all part of a plan to weaken or maybe even destroy our country and to allow Russia to rise.\nIt is painfully obvious that Donald Trump is an agent for Vladimir Putin and Russia against the United States, Ukraine and the democracies of Europe. \nDonald Trump is a traitor! The Republicans in Congress need to do their jobs and remove him from office ASAP!

As an American, I want to apologize to Canadians for this completely unnecessary crisis. tRump (aka Krasnov) is obviously working with Russia to dismantle the US. Thank you for standing up to this egregious violation of the Oath of Office and the trust of the American people (not that I ever trusted this traitorous mob). I applaud your actions!

Austria here. Trump himself is the biggest scam ever. He says „make America great again“ while isolating it, breaking with allies, constantly telling lies, cuddling Putin as he would be his best friend. In truth he is obviously a Russian allie.

So following Trumps Logic, he wants to be like Putin, and get america to embrace that along with Russia. To do so, he is picking firghts with all of america's allies and then using their responsses to demonise them to get USA to embrace Russia, aka, bring down americas walls - so to speak and embrace dictators. So America, we stand up, or find ourselves in the company of dictators and subject to their whims. Again, Trump is selling Russia to us by stabbing our allies in the back demonising their obvious responses. When only 1 man is responsible for this, it's not a democracy

Trump is breaking his own trade deal his administration previously negotiated! Someone is on the Russian payroll here and it’s pretty obvious who!

Trump is an obvious symptom representing an abundance of ignorance within the society, so blame not one but all responsible for a deeply ingrained interpretation of reality!

More and more obvious every day. Trump is owned by PUTIN! He acts as an enemy toward we American people, and toward our true allies. He MUST be removed from power immediately. He is compromised and unfit to lead or to represent the real United States of America!! Just look at all the damage he has done already!!!

.... Ugh. I don't understand my fellow Americans. I do not understand why they would want to have someone like Donald Trump represent us. I mean is he trying to piss off everyone outside of the US? Don't even get me started on that Trump Gaza AI generated video. Does he really view himself as being a gold statue? I seem to remember a story in a book about people that worship the gold idle of a bull. So does Trump think he's bigger than God? Obviously. Maybe it's the end of times and Donald Trump or Elon musk is the Antichrist. But nevertheless it's a shameful time to be an American citizen.

It’s embarrassing that that none of these educated “leaders” still haven’t figured out that trump is wholly owned and operated by putin. It’s been obvious for almost a decade now.

Trump truly is an idiot I am shocked that our political system is crumbling right before our eyes becouse of one man and that is wanna be Dictator Trump who needs to be Impeached ASAP and his cronies starting with the disgusting and Discrase of a Vise President JD Vance who should resign immediately fellow Americans we need to wake up and Fast yes I had voted for Trump thinking he was gonna make America ?? great yeah well he duped us all he is slowly Destroying America he has his own agenda which obviously is not Good. God bless our Country and Slava Ukraine ?

The Russians own Trump. It's obvious.

Americans obviously didn’t understand what tariffs are, didn’t get that it’s an import tax which they must pay on goods and products they buy from Canada, a tax which tRump collects from Americans and uses to pay for tax-cuts for the richest citizens. But one more thing Americans don’t get is that before this fateful day an unofficial boycott against ALL US goods has been growing since tRump insulted Canada’s Prime Minister and threatened Canada’s sovereignty—whereas Canada’s official countervails ( which only kicked-in today )only target certain US goods, not ALL of them like ordinary Canadians are doing in growing numbers right now—in fact, the imposition of tRump’s tariffs today has only made the unofficial boycott bigger and more organized. It’s heartening that so many nations have solicited Canada, offering alternative sources for common US exports to Canada —citrus fruits, pharmaceuticals, and other manufactures, to name a few.\n\nI don’t think Canadians even realize how big this unofficial boycott is getting because it’s growing so fast. I’ve never seen a surge in Canadian patriotism like this. Never in my seven decades —which includes the two Referenda on Quebec separation. And there’s a federal election approaching when all partisans will be one-upping each other in the patriotism department—which manifests in more boycotts of US goods and hospitality services.\n\n Americans should know that the unofficial boycott is more harmful to US exporters than the official targeted countervails because it features immediate and longterm diminishment of Canadian purchases of US goods—all retailers know it’s very hard to recover lost customers once they’ve found alternatives (and the added patriotic effect only makes it worse). Included is diminishment of Canadian visits to the USA. Indeed, the internet is replete with testimonies of Canadian”snow birds” not only forgoing their annual sojourn in the Florida or Arizona sunshine but also of selling their properties there with the parting shot, “I will never vacation in the US again!” Already Mexico has seen its visits from Canadians (who have had a modest presence in Mexico for years) surge to unprecedented levels. I know from much-welcomed temp Mexican construction workers in BC (where I live) that they view Canadians completely differently from our mutual US neighbours—and now that affection is growing like never before. \n\nI’m continually amazed at how uninformed Americans are about tariffs—and misinformed by tRump and his goofy, preposterous, and ridiculous fantasy of world-domination. When tRump uses the lame excuse to implement emergency powers —that Canada is “allowing” (as Vance puts it) fentanyl to “pour into the USA”—it’s tantamount to saying Ukraine started the war with Russia. The man is a tendentious liar and narcissistic megalomaniac. \n\nI have faith that the great nation of the USA will reject tRump’s crazy policies—we all just have to hang on and let the needless suffering for both our nations (and the world with regard strategic alliances) play out until he either relents, is swamped in legal repercussions, is impeached, or otherwise removed from office!\n\nGood luck my American and Ukrainian friends!

As an American who opposes - STRONGLY opposes - the Trump administration and everything it stands for, I am sorry for what our country's government is doing to the rest of the world but especially to our oldest, closest allies. \n\nThe MAGA faithful will remain faithful even as the prices of virtually everything goes up and up and our economy tanks. They believe what comes out of Trump's mouth no matter what it is, no matter how obvious reality proves him wrong. Those of us who know what Trump really is have known what he's really about since the beginning. He's about himself and nothing more. His every move, his every word is about further enriching himself and patting himself on the back for his greatness.\n\nHis election to a 2nd term (and maybe more if he decides to ignore our Constitution) will be written about in the history books and it will not be favorable. This is what he wants, though. He wants to be thought of as an influential figure. Well, he is that. But so was a certain little Austrian monster who is remembered with great shame and disgust.

Hey Republicans, you are now are on call! Do something about your boy Trump or you each will pay dearly! He is obviously purposely trying to wreck our country and it your collective responsibility to do something to fix this problem! Trump has shown us, all Americans, that President Biden, was a better alternative than you in every aspect. You will go down and we, the people will collectively make sure you pay for your crimes! Moreover, any Republican politicians who aid you will go down with you. We, the American people, “will make America Great Again!

Obviously Trump is NOT a VERY SMART guy....he is NOT my president...I am american but I am ashamed and embarrassed for the USA....

You know there's an old saying that I'm sure Trump is very wise about you keep your friends close and your enemies closer I would say the way Canada is talking they consider us an enemy look at all these other countries that suddenly lined up against America who bailed all of them out of World War II and who brought down the Berlin Wall that shows how thankful you are and America's been paying the highest of the EU and the United Nations than any of you chicken countries I would just laugh at all of you you don't get it and all these comments are from Liberal Democrats who hate Trump it's real obvious that's who his fan base is Trudeau the little boy from the north who's not smart enough to come in from the cold poor guy he's in for a rude awakening she thinks he's going up against America and that we believe any of his BS

Trump is obviously helping Russia with imposing tariffs on these countries, it's another way of helping his buddy Putin to get back on board with his failing economy.

America voted for this… and the democrats helped by providing the worst presidential candidate ever smh… the majority of Americans voted for Trump and this is obviously what we wanted ??‍♂️

❤ Canada. We, the sane, non-MAGAt Americans, also do not want this, nor did we vote for this because we did NOT vote for an obviously mentally ill, functionally illiterate, elderly man with signs of dementia, whose main function besides destroying our country to enrich himself & all of his millionaire & billionaire buddies, is acting as a useful idiot pain for Putin. We, the Americans who value what our country has stood for, whose fathers & and grandfathers fought in both World Wars, who lived in the time before all of the current vaccines existed, who believe in equality, who value the immigrants--documented or undocumented, who believe our country should welcome them & make their paths to citizenship easier because we understand how our country & economy benefit from them living in this country, who understand & value the roles that the WHO, NATO, & the United Nations have played in keeping us ALL safer for many decades bc we REMEMBER or were told by our parents, what it was like b4 those things existed, who either lived thru The Great Depression or had parents & grandparents did, understand what the economic crisis that Trump & his band of greedy ahole idiots are deliberately causing. WE didn't do this. WE fought against it. We tried to explain & warn people about what is happening & what will happen, but you didn't EFFING LISTEN. WE are ANGRY. WE will NOT help any of you who caused this & this includes every MSM who is too afraid to speak truth to power. Start doing that NOW. Start with THIS: It's called The Gulf of Mexico, NOT the Gulf of America. Eff every Trump supporters & GOP politician--at EVERY level of government. Trump can TRY to hide what he's doing to the economy in his stupid reports. Do you honestly believe the average American pays attention to those? No, most are too busy worrying over how to pay their bills & all they'll see is that their situation is getting worse. They can't find a job. They can't afford gas. They can't afford groceries. You can't cover any of that up. WE stand with Canada, Ukraine, the EU, & every other ally nation. Not Russia. Putin can go straight to hell & the sooner the better.

It should be obvious to all by now that Trump is either insane, a Russian agent or both IMHO. Time for 25th Amendment & a ride to the funny farm for Trump.

America is no longer a reputable country. You're in the lap of Putin, whether you want to acknowledge it or not. THAT is what this is about. Trump is OBVIOUSLY a Russian asset. What other reason could he have? He's an idiot, but he's very sensitive to changes in the market, EXCEPT this time. Why is that? Your president is working for Russia. Get rid of him by any means.

NOBODY IS STATING THE OBVIOUS!! Trump flip-flps on stuff that effects the stock market. FBI needs to look into who dumped stocks before tariffs kicked in, and who buys stocks before he flip-flops AGAIN!! ???

? the comments on here are ridiculous. Why would Canada prefer a trade war over simply securing their border? Obviously they’re in bed with China who is the main supplier of fentanyl. Trump isnt just randomly saying this. He is guided by the best intelligence agencies in the world.

Trump is wrong about Ukraine your description of putin is a true!!!Americans mostly respect Canada as an ally, trump is after all NATO allies its obvious ploy for Ruzzia despot!!!

Thank you Mr Trudeau for your calm and honest words that Trump is out of control and obviously more interested in kowtowing to Putin than preserving our relationship with our allies.

Kudos to Trudeau for giving an elegant speech. I did not vote for Trump, aka Felon #47, for obvious reasons. He is a racist, unfit for the office and a damn FELON! It appears all of our allies have strong leaders. But the not the USA. We have a felon for the President that cannot form a complete sentence; unless he is talking about hate. Trump needs to resign.

It's really obvious that /trump is on bed with Putin. They have some back door deal going on for personal enrichment and art of that deal is for /trump to destabilize the free world and it might even be necessary to do that to close their deal. Trump isa very sick individual. No sane person would do his.

This is all just part of Trump's plan for dictatorship. It has nothing to do with fentanyl or trade imbalances. I'm surprised none of these CNN hosts and guests can't see through this. It's obvious where this is heading.

Its obvious trumps working with putin they probably made a deal if america dont get involved with Ukraine war . And putin wants him to do his best to cripple major countrys . Trump needs to go and quick becouse theres something were not seeing in this madness .

I'm a born Canadian and i'm BAFFLED at how you would turn around and impose tariffs on your closest ally. Canada and the US had a relationship that was built on trust co-operation and trillions of dollars and it means nothing to their current president. I used to be a fan of Trump, but the recent situation with Zelensky along with the tariffs i can see more and more that having him back in office was a huge mistake. Trump obviously doesn't care about how the tariffs affect his country and his people because he responded by threatening to raise the tariffs in retaliation to Canada's response.

Anyone with any intelligence, in the intelligence community, knows Russian asset behavior when they see it. It is quite obvious that the President of the United States is compromised and working directly for the Russians now. I believe Putin has very damning video and audio of terrible sins that Trump committed while in Russia for the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant. His so-called friends, the Alagarovs set him up, but Putin and the FSB were behind the entire operation, to be sure. There is no evil or traitorous action Trump will not take to save his own ass. Guaranteed.

Its pretty obvious Trump and his thugs are trying to hurt America, not help America.

I’m American. Never voted for the MAGA party - it’s all too obvious. Sickening by the way Zelenskyy was treated in our White House - TRump and Vance looked primitive and devolved when they desperately tried to look “strong”. We stand with democracy.

As a Trump supporter and a Trudeau detractor, it is becoming more obvious to me that this threat of tariffs has become Trumps way of bullying Canadians into becoming the 51st state. I also believe at the same time, Trudeau has finally grown a set of balls because he is on his way out. That being said, my respect for “Donald” is falling off. I have not lost respect for the American people but I have for current American policies…

Obviously this is the only kind of action towards Trump and Co that works. And obviously I’m not saying all Trump will understand because I don’t think he wants to understand- his aim is to build a worldwide oligarchy. People on paychecks will pay the price

The US has already tried the Tariff experiment.....\nTariffs in 30's by the US contributed to the great depression \nSmoot–Hawley Tariff Act. The Tariff Act of 1930 (codified at 19 U.S.C. ch. 4), commonly known as the Smoot–Hawley Tariff or Hawley–Smoot Tariff, was a law that implemented protectionist trade policies in the United States\nAnd obviously that didn't work, quite the opposite!\nDeliberate Economic Sabotage?\nSo much for Trump saying historically the American economy did the best under tariff policies\nTo make smart decisions you should also pay regard to history

has anyone asked the question why is trump doing it, theres obviously a huge reason why, clearly its to get something done of some sort.

Trump is not helping Americans is attacking americans and their friends. ITS F OBVIOUS

I will not subscribe to CNN because so many times, the coverage is missing the mark entirely about trump damage. But today it is obvious that when chosen, the coverage can be spot on!

You ask what it’s about…. obviously it’s about Trump’s thirst for power and money. His only goal is to accumulate more money. He doesn’t care who he harms in his quest for money. He doesn’t care about the American people. He didn’t care about our allies. He doesn’t care about anybody except himself. If he is successful, the world players will be Trump, Putin, North Korea and any other dictatorships fighting each other over earth’s resources. Trump‘s goal was never to represent the United States of America and bring prosperity to her Citizens. This is just about his thirst for money and power, obviously. He will destroy America in the same way he has destroyed all of his businesses.

Well, from a European perspective, Trump is making the US if not an enemy (yet, anyway), surely not an ally or a friend, as you used to be.\nLots of European contracts will be lost - European countries will rely more on each other and Canada, Australia and other countries that we know we can still trust.\nAnd European consumers will move from American products and companies, especially anything Musk related, because people are really bothered and upset here, how easily an erratic madman can take a democratic country into an oppressive, destructive country.\nWe have no issues with the American people, apart from that you voluntarily brought this upon yourselves (and us), although it was screamingly obvious already in 2016.\nAnd you did it twice...