Numbers

[Zinjanthropos]

Believe what you want to believe. Know nothing re American Bazaar

https://americanbazaaronline.com/2026/10...gy-489557/

[Syne]

Yeah, there doesn't seem like there was ever a plan on how to transition to US goods. More expensive imports only matter if there are sufficient domestic competitors. Any reduction in the trade deficit will likely lag by years, while US manufacturing reestablished.

[Zinjanthropos]

You know, I think one problem is that there’s almost 9 times more Americans than Canadians. We can sell to 350 million Americans whereas we’re at 40 million. Naturally more American buyers of our goods than there are Canadians. Possibly our low dollar makes us attractive but not sure. I imagine all trade is done in USD. FYI…this week 300 Canadian business and govt people are in India for trade talks and I hear it’s going very well. This is what we’re doing, becoming less dependent on USA, should have been done years ago.

Anyways, I drove past the truck inspection station at the Peace Bridge 4 times in last 3 day, twice this morning, and have yet to see a truck that came from the US side in there. But when I look from Canadian side of the bridge I see trucks, not a whole lot but enuf heading stateside. Don’t know if it’s like that at other border crossings.

[Syne]

Overall, Trump's hangup with trade deficits, specifically, is not really worth all the ire, IMO. That's largely a matter of the US dollar being the global reserve currency, which is a good thing. But the only way that happens is for other countries to sell us good in exchange for US dollars.

I am all for more US manufacturing, not benefiting from exploited workers, and fair trade that doesn't involve all of our trade partners being protectionist and tariffing our goods. I think it's fair that, if you want your products to have access to the US market, you allow ours in yours on the same terms. At worse, that helps make the US a manufacturing powerhouse, and people can spend less money with authoritarian human rights violators, like China.

[C C]

Believe what you want to believe. Know nothing re American Bazaar

https://americanbazaaronline.com/2026/10...gy-489557/

Sources have been carrying on for years that the smart machine revolution would make it cheap enough to bring manufacturing back to the US even without the incentives of tariffs, etc (example at bottom). The potential cost problem, however, is some states just continuing their intensification of increasing the bureaucratic burden on industry to pay for their dysfunctional social utopias.

At any rate, Trump's short term was never going to be time enough to see a change in the uptick on overseas dependence. While tariffs make former suppliers more expensive, retailers turn to different ones that haven't been levied or that have found ways to elude it, like funneling goods through proxy countries.

If going by Zeihan's contentions, even Democrat presidents have been gradually turning anti-globalist (especially Biden, who kept some of Trump's tariffs on China in place and started a chip factory, etc as part of the weaning). But Dems have been supporting globalism so much as part of their rage package of automatically being against anything Trump is for that there is the danger of them forgetting and retaining that kind of propaganda momentum even after they get back into power.

As all sorts of rogue countries and rebel groups acquire smart drones and other innovations that equalize things militarily for them, piracy and control of choke points will continue to undermine the shrinking US Navy's traditional post-WWII ability and duty to maintain the freedom of shipping lanes. Globalism is going to get more expensive and logistically troublesome one way or another.
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(May 2026) The Return of Industrial America: Inside the U.S. Manufacturing Revival
https://www.theglobaleconomics.com/2026/...s-revival/

EXCERPT: Massive public and private investment is pouring into domestic chip production as the U.S. attempts to reduce dependence on Asia for advanced semiconductors.

For much of the past three decades, the story of American manufacturing was defined by factory closures, offshore production and shrinking industrial towns. Today, however, a new industrial narrative is emerging across the United States. From semiconductor mega-plants in Arizona and Texas to AI-powered smart factories in the Midwest, America is witnessing a manufacturing revival that is reshaping investment flows, labour markets and geopolitical strategy.

This resurgence is not simply about rebuilding old assembly lines. It represents a structural transformation driven by reshoring, automation, advanced manufacturing and aggressive industrial policy. The modern American factory is becoming increasingly digital, data-driven and strategically vital in a world where supply-chain resilience matters as much as cost efficiency.

The shift accelerated after the pandemic exposed the fragility of global supply networks. Dependence on overseas suppliers for semiconductors, medical equipment and industrial components triggered alarm across Washington and corporate boardrooms alike. The result has been a broad push to bring critical manufacturing capacity back onto American soil.