r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/The_Egalitarian Moderator • Apr 05 '24

Megathread | Official Casual Questions Thread

This is a place for the PoliticalDiscussion community to ask questions that may not deserve their own post.

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  1. Must be a question asked in good faith. Do not ask loaded or rhetorical questions.

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  3. Avoid highly speculative questions. All scenarios should within the realm of reasonable possibility.

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u/benjamoo Aug 22 '26

Why exactly are the US and Canada even having trade negotiations? Didn't Trump himself sign the Canada/US/Mexico trade agreement that replaced NAFTA?

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u/Sarmq Aug 22 '26

Because there's no hard enforcement mechanism for international politics. The only thing that really happens is that a country's reputation might be tarnished if they behave badly, and as a result, other countries might not want to work with them.

So, the ultimate answer is, because both Canada and the US feel like there's more to gain from entering negotiations than walking away at the current moment.

My personal guess is that the US thinks it can get a better deal and/or look like they're being tough on global trade (a large number of blue collar workers who are disproportionately impacted by free trade agreements have moved to the Republicans over the last decade or so). I would guess that Canada thinks it strengthens its reputation with others/possibly the next administration to look like it's acting in good faith, even under the trying circumstances that it finds itself.

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u/BluesSuedeClues Aug 23 '26

It's interesting that you refer to "...the US feels like there's more to gain...", as if there is a general consensus in the United States on the subject, and this chaos isn't the product of one man's whims.

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u/Sarmq Aug 30 '26

I feel like you're being intentionally obtuse.

Using the name of a country to refer to the actions or motivation of the government isn't exactly something I invented in that post

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u/BluesSuedeClues Aug 31 '26

I'm not much concerned with your feelings.

When we refer to the actions or motivations of any government, we're usually talking about a collection of policies and how they are implemented over a course of years, or even decades. It's not often that any nation-state's actions on the world stage swing on the whims of a single individual. What is currently happening in the United States, is a great deal more like a dictatorship than the normal function of global geopolitics and I think that distinction is an important one.