How realistic is it for Canada to diversify its trade?

Q:  With Canada heavily reliant on the US for exports, how realistic is it for Canada to diversify its trade relationships with Europe, Asia, and Latin America in the next 5-10 years?

A:

Diversifying trade for Canada is not only realistic but natural. Canada has three oceans: the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Arctic. Trade through the oceans is the key to the rise of capitalism. Modern capitalism originated from the Hanseatic League, a seaport-city association. It is the trade via sea that created the modern world.

Sea trade is so important that contemporary superpowers are essentially a sea trade monopoly. Dutch, Portugal, Spain, Britain, and now the US are superpowers in turn in history. If we examine the world, we will find that most economic hot spots are seaports: New York, London, Amsterdam, Los Angle, Hamburg, etc.

The Canadian economy, relying on trade with the US, is unnatural. The majority of economic activities are in Ontario. This is insane. Look to the South, the most economic activities happen along the coast. Canada has three oceans, but its economy looks like an inland economy. If Canada embraces the free market, Halifax and Vancouver should be larger economies than Toronto. Montreal used to be the largest city in Canada because of the St. Laurence River. Montreal is a port city. It used to be the largest fur trade port city.

Halifax to Canada should be like New York to the US. BC to Canada should be like California to the US. That’s natural.

If Canada is a real member of the G7, market-wise, its coast should be more prosperous than the inland. The Canadian economy should be an entity of the world economy. Yet, Ontario is the most prosperous province. The Canadian economy is not a part of the world economy, but only part of the North American economy. The Canadian economy is unnatural. Heavy reliance on exports to the US is unnatural. It is a long-time geopolitical and ideological manipulation that has shaped the Canadian economy into the trap of US mercantilism. It reduced Canada to a vassal state of the US.

Trump is making Canada great again. Now, Canada does not have a comfort zone as a member of North America. Canada is forced by Trump to find its position in the global economy. Port development is the key. The Canadian coat of arms has the motto: From Ocean to Ocean, in Latin. This motto gives Canadians pride and a position in the world economy. Canada should develop ports, rails, highways, and pipelines to connect to the ports, so that the Canadian economy becomes a real member of the global economy.

The Carney government needs a feasible financial scheme to build this infrastructure. Because the infrastructure has a positive impact on Canada's economy, there must be a feasible way to finance the construction of these infrastructures without bankrupting the government.

In order to accomplish this, Canada has to eliminate the distractions from geopolitical and ideological manipulation of our economy and public perception. If the policy is manipulated by geopolitical and ideological agendas, then Canada has no economic policy. All the economic policies serve the geopolitical agenda and will fail. For example, Canada had an EV strategy and invested heavily in EV batteries. It looks like an economic policy. But it is essentially a geopolitical policy. And it failed.

Canada is an energy-rich country, yet the energy cost in Canada is one of the highest. The high cost at the gas pumps makes living costs high, and salaries need to be high, making Canada's economy uncompetitive. Because our energy has no access to the world market and can only export to the US at a deep discount.

Canada excluded Huawei and other Chinese communication companies, so that there is no market competition. The communication cost is high and making the Canadian economy uncompetitive.

Canada has many Chinese talents, but they are not trusted and are squeezed out of the forefront of research.

It is the economy, stupid. The heavy reliance on exports to the US is stupid. The heavy reliance on exports to the US is not economic. It is geopolitical and ideological. It is stupid. No politician says we should rely on exports to the US. But their narratives are full of ideological slogans that shaped national policies and made Canada rely on exports to the US. Diversity has been a consensus for decades, not just after Trump's tariffs, but it never works. It did not work before and does not work today, and will never work if the policies are all ideological. All the policies are for defending democracy and human rights worldwide. There are no economic policies. Canada only does business with like-minded allies, and the leader of the allies is the US. That’s why Canada relies heavily on exports to the US. Stupid, stupid, stupid.