[namshe]

> I’m not even sure what we are trying to extract from Canada at this point.

Their energy, their focus, their attention. Your attention. All the time people spend in stress / outrage / fear / whatever in reaction to these events, that's time and energy not available to look at the news that get less coverage (which are usually the more important).

It also sucks all the air out of other internal political discussion - US trade relations take #1 priority and so everything else either gets forgotten or put on hold.

Easy way to set your opponents back when you have the upper hand like the US does.

[toomuchtodo]

“How can I decouple from the US as fast as possible?” is what this leads to.

Diplomacy is the art of saying “good dog” until you make it to the rock. The US will apply pressure for short term gain against allies while they move away long term.

[namshe]

Correct, that seems to be the intent behind these policies.

[blibble]

> Easy way to set your opponents back when you have the upper hand like the US does.

if the US had the upper hand it wouldn't have issued this partial climb-down

so much winning

[3vidence]

Not sure how this is setting Canada back.

It's actually pushing us to improve our economic policies that we've been debating about for years because the country is mostly united.

Getting rid of interprovincial trade barriers is a net good for Canada as is increasing trade diversification.

The US definitely seems like the one set back so far...