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Personal Finance and Investing

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littlemissmartypants

(27,695 posts)
Thu Apr 10, 2025, 10:44 AM Apr 10

Carney's Checkmate: How Canada's Quiet Bond Play Forced Trump to Drop Tariffs [View all]


Carney, Japan And The EU proved America's Idiot Emperor Has No Clothes

Dean Blundell
Apr 10, 2025

Let’s talk about the moment Donald Trump blinked. It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t a tweetstorm or a rally rant. When the tariff threats that had the world on edge—125% on China, 25% on Canada’s autos, a global trade war in the making—suddenly softened. A “pause,” he called it. A complete turnaround from the chest-thumping of the past week. And the reason? Mark Carney and a slow, deliberate financial maneuver that most people didn’t even notice: the coordinated Treasury bond slow bleed.


Trump CAVES: Orders 90 Day Pause on All Tariffs While Increasing China's Tariff Rate to 125%
Dean Blundell
·
Apr 9

Social media post text capture from image:

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World's Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable. Conversely, and based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary


This wasn’t about bravado. It was about leverage. Cold, calculated, and devastatingly effective.

Snip...

Rewind a bit. While Trump was gearing up his trade war machine, Carney, Canada’s Prime Minister, wasn’t just sitting in Ottawa twiddling his thumbs. He’d been quietly increasing Canada’s holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds—over $350 billion worth by early 2025, part of the $8.53 trillion foreign countries hold in U.S. debt. On the surface, it looked like a safe play, a hedge against economic chaos. But it wasn’t just defense. It was a loaded gun.

Carney didn’t stop there. He took his case to Europe. Not for photo ops, but for closed-door meetings with the EU’s heavy hitters—Germany, France, the Netherlands. Japan was in the room too, listening closely. The pitch was simple: if Trump went too far with tariffs, Canada wouldn’t just retaliate with duties on American cars or steel. It would start offloading those Treasury bonds. Not a fire sale—nothing so crude. A slow, steady bleed. A signal to the markets that the U.S. dollar’s perch wasn’t so secure.

Snip...more...much more...

https://deanblundell.substack.com/p/carneys-checkmate-how-canadas-quiet


RESIST!!
❤️pants
35 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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They could strangle us with the bond market. Scrivener7 Apr 10 #1
Explainer: What just happened in the U.S. Treasury market? UpInArms Apr 10 #2
Heard an analyst opinion that we were approaching a financial meltdown close to the 2008 Bush wiggs Apr 10 #13
"Beautiful." "Big-league." "Perfect." "Bad people" Good God, his language skills are so limited. eppur_se_muova Apr 10 #31
Wow! I was wondering about that Raven123 Apr 10 #3
Yep. My son and I said TSF got hit hard by real economists selling off the sinkingfeeling Apr 10 #4
Do magas know what the bond market is? CrispyQ Apr 10 #26
Nicely leighbythesea2 Apr 10 #5
Wow. That was smart! ananda Apr 10 #6
Fascinating. Thanks! Dr. Carney, PhD Econ versus tRump, B.A. Econ (did he even sit the exams). nt Bernardo de La Paz Apr 10 #7
Mark Carney the banker Historic NY Apr 10 #8
This was not a death blow, more like a shot across the bow. Bluetus Apr 10 #15
Trump screwing with China who hold a lots of our debt. Historic NY Apr 10 #25
Luxembourg is surprising to me. Bluetus Apr 10 #30
Wow! the rest of the story Wild blueberry Apr 10 #9
Another way in which we can't stand against the rest of the world as enemy. nt wiggs Apr 10 #10
IIRC the EU represents the second biggest economy in the world. Combined with other countries TSF wiggs Apr 10 #12
I have seen absolutely no proof of this and not Bev54 Apr 10 #11
He was in position to advise this move since last September liberalgunwilltravel Apr 10 #18
Yes all true but where is the proof of these assertions, he was Bev54 Apr 10 #23
I Don't Think Anyone Actually Doing This modrepub Apr 10 #29
I kind of wondered if the Saudis are buying it up now. Bev54 Apr 10 #32
who is the genius? et tu Apr 10 #19
Well definitely not Trump but I don't know it was Bev54 Apr 10 #24
Kick! SheltieLover Apr 10 #14
Excellent info! Thanks for posting, pants! wordstroken Apr 10 #16
Carney, Japan and the EU beat trump at his own game. MLWR Apr 10 #17
And he's still saying it's "... raising the Tariff charged TO China..." William Seger Apr 10 #20
Wow! This is a must read. Joinfortmill Apr 10 #21
Thank you PM Carney! poli-junkie Apr 10 #22
Brilliant! Ocelot II Apr 10 #27
Mr. "art of the deal" progressoid Apr 10 #28
An example of the sad bond market: Vanguard Intermediate Term Treasury fund only 1.08%/yr since 1/2015 progree Apr 10 #33
This is fascinating! n/t yellow dahlia Apr 10 #34
I wouldn't normally contest this any further but because it got so many likes and Bev54 Apr 11 #35
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