Caco?

On the eve of Canada Day, No. 158, did we just get CACO?

That, of course, means ‘Carney Always Chickens Out,’ the maple-flavoured version of TACO. As we all know by now, Trump has imposed massive, gruelling and historic global and national tariffs, only to chicken out repeatedly with delays, pauses, revisions and cancellations. As a result, Mr. Market has gone from a heart attack to a shrug.

But Carney backing down isn’t exactly consistent with the ’Elbows Up’ and the ‘Canada Strong’ that helped the guy win a federal election and sent Pierre Poilievre to some Dog-forsaken, hillybilly coven of cowboy Con conformity to try and win back a ticket to the House of Commons. So, wassup Mark?

As you likely know, late yesterday Ottawa threw in the towel and rescinded the Digital Services Tax. The first payment by Trump’s tech billionaire buddies was due today – about two billion – representing a levy on their Canadian earnings since 2022. Trump heard about it and said unless the tax was trashed there’d be no more trade talks with Canada. Moreover he would lay a big, juicy, suffocating new tariff on all our exports within seven days.

Carney blinked. Tax gone. In the best interests of the country, he said.

It’s not the first time lately, is it?

The shiny new PM agreed to raise our defence spending to the NATO target – something Trudeau failed to do for ten years,  which Trump demanded. We have thrown more money and resources into ‘beefing up’ our massive border, which was just peachy for the last century and a half – until Trump arrived. We imposed retaliatory trade levies, and then backed off when Trump said that would trigger even higher ones. And now we’ve caved to Meta and Netflix, as the American president decreed.

“Trump is a bully & every ‘concession’ made simply gives him that rush of power that he craves, effectively reinforcing his bully behavior because he gets the reward he desires,” one of the regulars posted here last night. “Basically at this point he is effectively ruling Canada because thus far his demands have seen Canada commit to higher NATO spending, bump up border enforcement, pause reciprocal tariffs & now back down on the DST. All of which sees Canada spending more & receiving what in return? More demands & continued tariffs along with helpings of ‘failed country’ & ‘should become 51st State’ comments. That went well – not!”

Why did the feds bring in a digital services tax in the first place?

Simple. It makes sense. Canadian advertisers hand over $25 billion a year to American social media platforms, which pay no corporate tax in this country. A whack of that cash no longer flows to our own content producers (like news organizations, which are croaking as a result). The DST was designed to harvest a modest amount (3%) of those revenues, with a portion of that then being given over to Canadian outfits, helping ensure their survival, so Facebook, Insta, X and TikTok don’t eat us completely.

Most of us can dig that. We don’t let Americans take over our airlines or banks, so we have flights into Charlottetown and tellers in Fort St. John. Why should they be allowed to kill off our remaining media, making us dependent on Musk, Zukerberg and Fox News?

Anyway, this is why being in government sucks. No easy answers. When America turns rogue on us, threatens, intimidates and hurts citizens as it abrogates a valid trade agreement, whaddya do? Fight and get creamed? Capitulate and be ravished? Or try to massage your way to the best possible outcome?

Trump hurts Canada. He has no allegiance to anything but self-interest. The American brand globally is being tarnished as never before, from bombing to aid withdrawal to embracing authoritarianism to fomenting a world-wide trade war to dumping on close allies and strategic partners. No lasting good will come from this presidency, even as he makes investors happy and the wealthy wealthier.

Carney blinked. He had no option. But it stings.

About the picture: “Here is Shadow, our 18 month old Australian Labradoodle,” writes Alex, “enjoying some hammock time after a hard day chasing one of his many tennis balls, and keeping the local squirrels at bay. Keep up the good work, I’ve been here 15 years and counting, 

To be in touch or to send a picture of your beast, email to ‘garth@garth.ca’.

Source: https://www.greaterfool.ca/2025/06/30/caco/