Is Trudeau ready to get tough with China?

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Originally Posted by Birdbuff

It’s never good to put your eggs all in one basket. Diversification across the globe would be preferential than just trusting China. But my thoughts always lead me to believe that it would be cheaper to produce goods where the natural resources are located. Since we are a leader in natural resources, why not subsidize manufacturing to advance ourselves?

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Because labour costs are high in Canada. Because taxes are high in Canada. Because energy costs are high in Canada. Because environmental regulations are very strict in Canada.
There is very little up-side to manufacturing in Canada. It is just too expensive.

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Originally Posted by werner.reiche

Because labour costs are high in Canada. Because taxes are high in Canada. Because energy costs are high in Canada. Because environmental regulations are very strict in Canada.
There is very little up-side to manufacturing in Canada. It is just too expensive.

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The power costs drove many businesses to the US, the Leamington greenhouses a few years back.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/winds...ohio-1.2917918

Then you add the carbon taxes to the heat, delivery/shipping, purchase costs and the payroll tax increase in CPP and EI and it just keeps getting harder.

I agree the cost would be more, but aren’t we ready for a change from the current narrative? Don’t we see enough cheaply made items we curse about? Don’t we argue about the current situation we are in, handcuffed to China? I’m not expecting a shift over night, but some kind of initiative to kick start our manufacturing sector wouldn’t hurt. Perhaps innovation will kick in and create shortcuts and cost savings. We just need to plant the seed.

I’m sure Canadian-Chinese debates have circulated throughout our population with the 2 Michael’s situation. Now might be a good time to capitalize on the current sentiment.

There is already a shift occurring as an example in the medical field. Where most recently manufacturing was done in China it is currently being redeployed to India.
CEO's are paying attention.

"In India is among the top 20 markets for medical devices worldwide. The market is expected to increase at a 37% CAGR to reach US$ 50 billion in 2025, from Rs. 75,611 crore (US$ 10.36 billion) in 2020. The medical devices sector in India comprises large multinationals and small and midsized companies"

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Originally Posted by werner.reiche

Re: the economics of manufacturing in China: There are many, many other developing countries manufacturers could work with instead of China. However, businesses have spent the last twenty years figuring out how to work with China and don't want to start over. The government should take a role in this (as it did getting business involved in China 20 years ago). Set up liason offices in India, Banglandesh, Vietnam, Cambodia etc to assist businesses in setting up in democratic countries. China doesn't really have any asset that makes it unique. There is no reason we have to do business with them.

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Well said Werner.

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Originally Posted by Birdbuff

I agree the cost would be more, but aren’t we ready for a change from the current narrative? Don’t we see enough cheaply made items we curse about? Don’t we argue about the current situation we are in, handcuffed to China? I’m not expecting a shift over night, but some kind of initiative to kick start our manufacturing sector wouldn’t hurt. Perhaps innovation will kick in and create shortcuts and cost savings. We just need to plant the seed.

I’m sure Canadian-Chinese debates have circulated throughout our population with the 2 Michael’s situation. Now might be a good time to capitalize on the current sentiment.

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One way would be to impose import taxes on Chines product-as in the good old days.Or other overseas "cheap"and unfair products.
Those taxes actually mean to protect domestic production-thus jobs(to a degree)from foreign ,cheap,polluting,unfair prices.

Alas-that does not bring money to the Big Businesses who are farming those jobs out ,and it does give no tax shelters to the same Big Businesses making their overseas generated profit (made on domestic customers )disappear somehow ,without benefiting the country the profit is made in.

Something tells me -Trump tried something like that ,and was stomped on by many for it.

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Originally Posted by gbk

One way would be to impose import taxes on Chines product-as in the good old days.Or other overseas "cheap"and unfair products.
Those taxes actually mean to protect domestic production-thus jobs(to a degree)from foreign ,cheap,polluting,unfair prices.

Alas-that does not bring money to the Big Businesses who are farming those jobs out ,and it does give no tax shelters to the same Big Businesses making their overseas generated profit (made on domestic customers )disappear somehow ,without benefiting the country the profit is made in.

Something tells me -Trump tried something like that ,and was stomped on by many for it.

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Trump failed in that trade war.

After shrinking for two straight years in 2015 and 2016, China’s total shipments grew each year after Trump took office, including in 2019 when exports to the U.S. fell.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-win-trade-war

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Originally Posted by werner.reiche

China doesn't really have any asset that makes it unique. There is no reason we have to do business with them.

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I'm not disagreeing with your statement, but how much does our farming/crops industry rely on China?

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Originally Posted by Bushmoose

I'm not disagreeing with your statement, but how much does our farming/crops industry rely on China?

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Only as much as we want. If India had our manufacturing business, they would have money to buy our agricultural output too.

List of the largest trading partners of Canada - Wikipedia

Based on that total exports to China is 23B. Not a big number. Have a look at the trade imbalance we have with them though

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Originally Posted by kokes

nice to see many on here agree that China is taking advantage of our country (as well as the USA)
Id like to see stronger ties with India..

I am doing everything in my power not to buy made in china and will gladly pay more for made in North America...
for example I am in the market for a lower end BBQ - Weber and Napoleon lower end units made in China...almost all Broil King bbqs made in Canada - you can guess which brand I will be buying! it might not be huge $ to our economy but I think alot of people are starting to shift to thinking this way in their purchase decisions!

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Wish I’d known that Broil-King was made here. We went looking for a new BBQ last year and I was in a buy-Canadian mission - we did some research but thought only the high end Napoleon’s were made here.

Not easy to do the right thing. I walked into Mr Safety Shoe before the holidays and said I was looking for work boots made in Canada. Got nothing she said, Royer has the maple leaf on the box and their office may be here but the tag says China like everything else.