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If China Can Ever Bully the United States Like It Is Canada, We’re in Serious Trouble

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The United States started a trade war with China. The Justice Department requested Canadian authorities to arrest Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of China’s telecom giant Huawei, on allegations that she had violated sanctions against Iran by committing financial fraud.

China hasn’t taken Meng’s arrest very well. It viewed Meng’s arrest as a politically driven “kidnapping” aimed at curbing China’s technological ambition and forcing China to make trade concessions. Beijing feels it has lost face internationally and in front of its domestic, nationalistic audience. Therefore, Beijing has been in revenge mode. However, its main target so far has been not the United States, but Canada.

Since Meng’s arrest, China’s foreign minister has summoned the Canadian ambassador to China, John McCallum, multiple times, to lodge a “strong protest” and tell him Meng’s arrest caused “serious damage to Sino-Canada relations.” Beijing demanded the immediate release of Meng, or Canada would face “grave consequences” for Meng’s arrest. The same Chinese foreign ministry also summoned the U.S. ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, a day after meeting the Canadian ambassador, to protest Meng’s arrest as being “unreasonable.” In diplomatic language, the U.S. ambassador was treated with kid gloves.

The Canadian government has tried very hard to explain to Beijing that Meng’s arrest was not politically driven and its timing, which took place on the same day as the President Trump and Chinese President Xi Xinping’s meeting at the G20 in Argentina, was pure coincidence. The Justice Department launched a criminal probe into Huawei’s dealings in Iran in April 2017. The arrest warrant for Meng was issued in August by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and Meng was charged with “conspiracy to defraud multiple international institutions.” To U.S. authorities, arresting Meng in Canada was a natural choice, because Meng stopped traveling to the United States in 2017, but she does travel to Canada regularly as a legal resident there. . .

Last week, Beijing arrested two Canadians on charges of “endangering national security.” One is Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat and now a senior adviser with the International Crisis Group (ICG). According to ICG’s website, Kovrig “conducts research and provides analysis on foreign affairs and global security issues in North East Asia, particularly on China, Japan and the Korean peninsula.” China declared that ICG is not a legally registered non-governmental organization (NGO) in China. Thus, Kovrig might have also violated China’s notorious foreign NGO law, which gives Beijing the ability to prevent international organizations it doesn’t like, such as human rights organizations, from operating legally in China. (Read more from “If China Can Ever Bully the United States Like It Is Canada, We’re in Serious Trouble” HERE)

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Trump ‘Very, Very Close’ to Moving on Mexico Deal, With or Without Canada

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Canadian officials are running out of time to join the U.S. and Mexico in a trade deal to replace current North American Free Trade Agreement terms, according to an administration source this week.

In a Fox News interview Friday morning, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett pointed to an Oct. 1 deadline in the ongoing negotiations.

“We’re still talking to Canada, and we’re getting very, very close to the deadline where we’re going to have to move ahead with Mexico all by themselves,” he said.

The Trump administration is fast-tracking the new terms to finalize an agreement before the end of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s term.

Some lawmakers see Canada’s inclusion in a new deal as vital to the preservation of NAFTA framework.

Nieto’s administration has been willing to negotiate with the U.S. and Canada, but leftist president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador would likely be less open to renegotiated terms.

Hassett placed the onus on Canadian officials he believes are refusing to negotiate in good faith.

“I’m a little surprised that the Canadians haven’t signed up yet,” he said. “They’ve got a really, really good deal that they should be participating in. … I worry that politics in Canada is trumping common sense, because there’s a good deal that was designed by Mexico and the U.S. to appeal to Canada, and they’re not signing up.”

Canadian officials have pointed to a key NAFTA provision affecting its dairy industry as a specific sticking point in the negotiations.

According to Hassett, the fact that Canada has not agreed to the terms has “everybody over here a little bit puzzled.”

Among the terms reached by Mexico and the U.S. so far are requirements that would impact the auto industry by requiring an increased amount — 75 percent — of a vehicle’s parts to be made in North America in order for NAFTA to categorize it as a duty-free product.

The renegotiated agreement would also require that at least 40 percent of all workers producing automotive parts earn the equivalent of $16 per hour or more.

Hassett’s comments this week echoed remarks U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin made last month on the issue of North American trade.

He said that the Trump administration prefers to have Canada as an active participant in the negotiations, but it would be willing to move forward with a bilateral agreement if necessary.

“I think our objective is to try to get Canada on board quickly,” Mnuchin said. “This is a great deal for American workers. If you remember one thing, this deal is about more trade for U.S. companies and goods and services, and that’s what we’re focused on.” (For more from the author of “Trump ‘Very, Very Close’ to Moving on Mexico Deal, With or Without Canada” please click HERE)

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And That’s When the Mic Was Taken Away: David Hogg Thought Canadians Could Donate Money to American Political Campaigns

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Well, David Hogg (yeah, remember him) is back at it again. This time forgetting whom his audience was at a premiere for Michael Moore’s latest film Fahrenheit 11/9, which deals with the 2016 election. He, along with Cameron Kasky and Emma Gonzalez, formed the Parkland Three, an anti-gun activist wing that was started after the tragic shooting at their high school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, which left 17 people dead. It placed the National Rifle Association in the crosshairs—again. CNN held a town hall event with the students and surrounding community, which was more of a kangaroo court for liberals to bash gun owners, NRA members conservatives, Republicans, and rural America—pretty much half the country. Since then, other news has taken precedent, but they scored some legislative wins, with Florida increasing the age to purchase firearms to 21. Vermont did the same thing—and both states have pro-NRA governors. It’s also a grossly unconstitutional provision. Other localities in blue America, like Deerfield Illinois and Boulder Colorado, passed ordinances banning so-called assault weapons (i.e. the widely owned and circulated AR-15 rifle).

Well, he wasn’t as effective in Toronto, Canada, where he seemed to forget that he was…in Canada. He told the audience to turn their “shame” into action by voting…in American elections. Oh, and he didn’t know that Canadians couldn’t donate to American political campaigns. That’s illegal, something that even Moore pointed out before taking the microphone away from Hogg. Moore’s film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this month (via Real Clear Politics):

“I have a question for you guys: Who’s ready to save America? Who’s ready to make America the country we say it is on paper and make it the actual country that it wants to be?,” Hogg asked the Canadian crowd. “I think the most important thing to realize, however, is the problems we face as a country, whether it be water in Flint, Michigan or the amount of mass incarceration of people of color that can’t vote.”

. . .

“I think Canadians can donate to political campaigns in the U.S.? They can’t? Well, uhh, vote here. Learn from us, don’t let this happen here. We’ll need to come to you guys if we stay on this track.”

(Read more from “And That’s When the Mic Was Taken Away: David Hogg Thought Canadians Could Donate Money to American Political Campaigns” HERE)

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Canadians Declare a Boycott on American Products to Punish Donald Trump. There’s One BIG Problem.

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Canadian consumers are launching a “boycott” of American goods, The Wall Street Journal reports, in retaliation for Trump Administration tariffs and President Donald Trump’s penchant for poking fun at their beloved Prime Minister.

But there’s one big problem: many of the consumer products Canadians believe are made in Canada are actually made in the United States, or by American corporations.

The “boycott” officially began in July, in response to the Trump Administration’s new 20% tariff on Canadian steel (and a host of other, less significant tariffs on things like Canadian aluminum), and after President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “weak” at a meeting of the “group of 7.” Angry at being disrespected, Canadians pledged to purge their shopping carts of anything made below their southern border.

“Usually we don’t pay that much attention to it,” one Canadian consumer told the WJS. “You tend to buy the products that taste good or you buy the products that are low in price where taste isn’t an issue.” But, he added, this summer it got personal.

Most products assumed to be Canadian, though, are actually American. Old Dutch chips, for example, are mostly consumed in Canada, but are made in Minnesota. And, it turns out, Americans make a lot of products that people use every day. Canadians might be able to do without Heinz ketchup, but they probably won’t give up drinking Starbucks or Coca-Cola, using Apple and Microsoft technology, eating at McDonalds and Pizza! Pizza! (the local iteration of Little Caesars) or wearing American-made clothing. If they do, they’ll hurt local Canadian franchise owners before they harm American business interests. (Read more from “Canadians Declare a Boycott on American Products to Punish Donald Trump. There’s One Big Problem.” HERE)

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Trudeau on Groping Allegation: I Did Nothing Wrong but Someone May Have Experienced It ‘Differently’

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By Townhall. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded again Thursday to allegations that he groped a female reporter nearly 20 years ago at the 2000 Kokanee Summit festival. . .

Initially the Canadian Prime Minister told The Washington Post that he remembered “no negative interactions from that day. . .

However, on Thursday, Trudeau admitted that he did apologize to the reporter and that he respects that she “might have experienced” the interaction “differently.”

“If I apologized later, it would be because I sensed that she was not entirely comfortable with the interaction that we had,” he said, before finally admitting, “I apologized in the moment.”

“I’ve been reflecting very carefully on what I remember from that incident almost 20 years ago,” he added. “I do not feel that I acted inappropriately in any way. But I respect the fact that someone else might have experienced that differently.” (Read more from “Trudeau on Groping Allegation: I Did Nothing Wrong but Someone May Have Experienced It ‘Differently'” HERE)

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Woman Who Accused Trudeau of Groping Breaks Her Silence

By CBC. The woman who alleged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau touched her inappropriately some two decades ago issued a statement Friday saying the incident happened as described — but she now wants to be left alone.

“I issue this statement reluctantly, in response to mounting media pressure to confirm that I was the reporter who was the subject of the Open Eyes editorial, published in the Creston Valley Advance in August of 2000,” Rose Knight, the former journalist, wrote.

“The incident referred to in the editorial did occur, as reported. Mr. Trudeau did apologize the next day. I did not pursue the incident at the time and will not be pursuing the incident further. I have had no subsequent contact with Mr. Trudeau, before or after he became Prime Minister.”

Knight, who said she has since left journalism, added she will not speak any further about the incident. (Read more from “Woman Who Accused Trudeau of Groping Breaks Her Silence” HERE)

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Canadian PM Slammed With Sexual Assault Accusation

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While on tour to celebrate Canada Day this past Sunday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denied groping a female reporter who tried to interview him almost two decades ago at the 2000 Kokanee Summit festival. Trudeau’s comments about the allegation of sexual misconduct came nearly a month after the incident was first brought to national attention by Canadian media in early June.

“I remember that day in Creston [the site of the festival] well… I had a good day that day,” Trudeau told reporters in Regina, Saskatchewan. “I don’t remember any negative interactions that day at all.”

Trudeau’s denial marked the first time that he has publicly responded to the accusation, which was originally levied in an editorial in the Creston Valley Advance, a small local paper in the western province of British Columbia. The unsigned article (almost certainly written by the reporter who claimed to have been sexually assaulted) was published shortly after the conclusion of the festival in August. In the piece, the writer provided scant details of the encounter, only obliquely referring to Trudeau “inappropriately ‘handling’ the reporter” and “groping a strange young woman.”

But in a seemingly damning bit of evidence, the article also suggested that Trudeau acknowledged the grope and apologized to the reporter for assaulting her because she reported for a national newspaper (she was also working for the National Post and the Vancouver Sun at the time), allegedly telling her: “I’m sorry. If I had known you were reporting for a national paper, I never would have been so forward.” Moreover, according to a recent investigation by the same National Post, the reporter had (and still has) the full faith and credit of her former superiors at the Creston Valley Advance. (Read more from “Canadian PM Slammed With Sexual Assault Accusation” HERE)

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After Trump’s Relentless Hammering, Trudeau Just Caved and Denounced Iran

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. . .[President Donald Trump is] relentlessly hammering the Islamic Republic of Iran for its support for terrorism and its own nuclear weapons programs. And despite criticism, there are signs it’s paying off, even among some Trump critics.

After the weekend’s G-7 summit of leading industrialized nations ended with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau engaging in a very public dispute with Trump over trade, that same Trudeau abruptly reversed his government’s course toward the mullahs in Tehran to one that’s much more in line with Trump’s position. . .

Led by a vote from the prime minister himself, Canada’s ruling Liberal Party voted in the country’s parliament on Tuesday to support a Conservative Party motion calling on the government to halt moves toward normalizing relations with Iran. . .

“Trudeau campaigned on restoring diplomatic relations with Iran, and this motion calls for the government to abandon its current plan and immediately cease any and all negotiations or discussion with the Islamic Republic of Iran to restore diplomatic relations.

“So what Trudeau did by standing up in support of an opposition MP’s mere motion was to signal a complete change in the Canadian government’s Iran policy. What had previously been characterized as a policy of appeasement now appears to be one rooted in toughness and holding the regime to account for their conduct.” (Read more from “After Trump’s Relentless Hammering, Trudeau Just Caved and Denounced Iran” HERE)

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Here’s the Photo You Didn’t See: Moments From Merkel’s Viral G7 Shot the Scene Changed

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A photo German Chancellor Angela Merkel shared on social media has gone viral, with liberals claiming she’s berating President Trump while she stands over him at the G7 Summit.

The photo has been claimed a “victory” by both liberals and conservatives, despite the fact that it shows who’s really in charge (i.e., the guy casually sitting down while others jump through hoops for his attention).

Merkel, who has been dubbed “German Hillary,” clearly understands the power of propaganda and getting your narrative out first. While the photo she shared went viral with the “she’s-the-boss” narrative that Merkel wanted to promote, what people didn’t see was that in the same moments, Merkel and the entire group burst out into laughter.

German reporter Fabian Reinbold tweeted several different angles of the photo, showing how each world leader put him or herself at the center of power in the informal group snapshot. Apparently, the photographic arms race is even fiercer than the nuclear arms race.

(Read more from “Here’s the Photo You Didn’t See: Moments From Merkel’s Viral G7 Shot the Scene Changed” HERE)

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Hey, Liberals, Is Canada Racist? Trudeau’s Government Tells Illegal Aliens Don’t Come Here

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An onslaught of left-wing celebrities threatened to move to Canada during the 2016 presidential election if Donald J. Trump happened to ascend to the highest office in the land. Much of the liberal backlash against the future commander-in-chief stemmed from what some claimed was his “racist” anti-illegal immigration rhetoric. President Trump’s promise to secure America’s border was deemed nativist, isolationist, and just plain mean. Canada seemed like their only hope for tolerance. But, now Trump is president. His immigration policies are being enforced. And this has the Canadian government telling illegal aliens that are looking to venture to the Great White North, “Don’t come here illegally, folks. It’s against the law.”

Randy Boissonnault, a liberal member of Parliament and a special advisor to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, spoke to a variety of illegal immigrant groups in South Florida about what to expect should they choose to exit the United States and criminally enter into Canada.

While on what might as well have been a “Canada First” speaking tour, he said that it did not matter whether a family in Canada has been living there for “four centuries, four decades, four months or four minutes: A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian…Other than indigenous peoples…our country has been built on, and will continue to be built on, immigration…But if you cross the border illegally, you will be breaking the law. You will be apprehended. And after that, you will be in detention.” (emphasis added) . . .

In the past year, Canada has seen bursts of U.S.-based immigrants crossing illegally into Canada, mostly into the Quebec province that borders New York and other northeastern U.S. states.

In August, Royal Canadian Mounted Police caught more than 5,500 people trying to illegally cross from the U.S. Those were mostly Haitian immigrants who will soon lose Temporary Protected Status as part of the Trump administration’s phase-out of the TPS program that has protected more than 300,000 people from countries struck by war and natural disasters.

(Read more from “Hey, Liberals, Is Canada Racist? Trudeau’s Government Tells Illegal Aliens Don’t Come Here” HERE)

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Trump Drops Hilarious Line in ‘Testy’ Call With Canadian PM

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In a very important, very “exclusive” report by CNN, sources say that President Donald J. Trump waxed historical in his rather “testy” call with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau.

According to CNN, in his May 25 phone call with Trudeau about the new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports the Trump administration is imposing on Canada, Trump went full 1812 on the prime minister. CNN reports:

According to the sources, Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a “national security” issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, “Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?” referring to the War of 1812.

Unfortunately, as CNN makes sure to point out, Trump got his facts a little crossed up: Yes, the White House was set ablaze during the War of 1812, but it was the British who were lighting fires. And like most Trump mix-ups, there’s a kernel of truth somewhere in there. . .

Anxious to follow up on its exclusive information, CNN asked one of its sources how Trudeau received Trump’s quasi-historical joke, the not particularly gleeful source replied: “To the degree one can ever take what is said as a joke. The impact on Canada and ultimately on workers in the US won’t be a laughing matter.” (Read more from “Trump Drops Hilarious Line in ‘Testy’ Call With Canadian PM” HERE)

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