Much air time over the past two months has been taken up with talk about tariffs. Trump has threatened Canada (and other countries) with import tariffs, seemingly believing that those tariffs will be paid for by the exporting country. Just one of many things that Trump doesn't understand.
In Canada, all levels of government are looking at ways to retaliate if those tariffs are put into place.
One problem with those strategies is simply that if we place a tariff on items coming into Canada, that will increase prices for Canadian consumers. That assumes, of course, that Canadians consumers are willing to have anything to do with American imports. Anti-American sentiment recently has been almost instantly negative in a way that I think has surprised many of us.
Tech writer Cory Doctorow wrote an article on January 15th, 2025, suggesting a different approach, one that seems to have merit. If adopted, it would save Canadians money AND it would hurt the huge tech companies in the USA who have mostly all decided to stand with Trump.
The whole article can be read here:
One problem with those strategies is simply that if we place a tariff on items coming into Canada, that will increase prices for Canadian consumers. That assumes, of course, that Canadians consumers are willing to have anything to do with American imports. Anti-American sentiment recently has been almost instantly negative in a way that I think has surprised many of us.
Tech writer Cory Doctorow wrote an article on January 15th, 2025, suggesting a different approach, one that seems to have merit. If adopted, it would save Canadians money AND it would hurt the huge tech companies in the USA who have mostly all decided to stand with Trump.
The whole article can be read here:
As a background, around 2000, the USA, Canada and Mexico, negotiated a replacement to NAFTA, which became known as USMCA, although it wasn't really much different from the agreement it replaced. Trump boasted how it was a "big, beautiful" trade agreement. It would appear it only took 5 years for his opinion to change.
Part of the agreement included "anti-circumvention laws" which make it illegal to tamper with digital locks on a whole range of items, from tractors to iPhones. Mexico was brought in under those new laws through the USMCA; Canada had already capitulated. We can blame two Canadian Conservative politicians for that, Tony Clement and James Moore, who sold Canada out back in 2012.
What it means, in practice, is Canadian owners of a whole range of items end up not really "owning" what they purchased and so are forced to buy proprietary ink for printers, parts for cars and other machines (like tractors) and any apps written for iPhones MUST go on the Apple Store minus 30% skimmed off the top by Apple.
Doctorow goes into a bit more detail, but basically, since Trump is tearing up the USMCA, Canada should go ahead and develop a Canadian App Store and provide jailbreaking kits to enable Canadian owners could put what apps they want on their phones, Canadian developers would receive more money for their work and Canadian farmers would gain the ability to increase the operability of their tractors by bypassing John Deere's digital locks. Canadian farmers (and farmers around the world) would acquire the right to repair and modify their own equipment.
He concludes his article by saying:
"What’s standing in the way of a Canadian industrial policy that focuses on raiding the sky-high margins of American monopolists with third-party add-ons, mods and jailbreaks?
Only the IP laws that Canada has agreed to in order to get tariff-free access to American markets. You know, the access that Trump has promised to end in less than a week’s time?
Canada should tear up these laws — and not impose tariffs on American goods. That way, Canadians can still buy cheap American goods, and then they can save billions of dollars every year on the consumables, parts, software, and service for those goods."
Part of the agreement included "anti-circumvention laws" which make it illegal to tamper with digital locks on a whole range of items, from tractors to iPhones. Mexico was brought in under those new laws through the USMCA; Canada had already capitulated. We can blame two Canadian Conservative politicians for that, Tony Clement and James Moore, who sold Canada out back in 2012.
What it means, in practice, is Canadian owners of a whole range of items end up not really "owning" what they purchased and so are forced to buy proprietary ink for printers, parts for cars and other machines (like tractors) and any apps written for iPhones MUST go on the Apple Store minus 30% skimmed off the top by Apple.
Doctorow goes into a bit more detail, but basically, since Trump is tearing up the USMCA, Canada should go ahead and develop a Canadian App Store and provide jailbreaking kits to enable Canadian owners could put what apps they want on their phones, Canadian developers would receive more money for their work and Canadian farmers would gain the ability to increase the operability of their tractors by bypassing John Deere's digital locks. Canadian farmers (and farmers around the world) would acquire the right to repair and modify their own equipment.
He concludes his article by saying:
"What’s standing in the way of a Canadian industrial policy that focuses on raiding the sky-high margins of American monopolists with third-party add-ons, mods and jailbreaks?
Only the IP laws that Canada has agreed to in order to get tariff-free access to American markets. You know, the access that Trump has promised to end in less than a week’s time?
Canada should tear up these laws — and not impose tariffs on American goods. That way, Canadians can still buy cheap American goods, and then they can save billions of dollars every year on the consumables, parts, software, and service for those goods."
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