7mo ago

Mexico says Canada wishes it had its ‘cultural riches’ amid tariffs feud

www.theguardian.com

Summary

Tensions between Mexico and Canada have escalated amid Trump’s threat to impose 25% tariffs on both nations.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum criticized Canada’s handling of border issues and claimed Canada “could only wish” for Mexico’s cultural riches, intensifying the feud.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought to highlight Canada’s border management compared to Mexico’s, while Mexican officials accused Canada of using Mexico as a political scapegoat.

Both nations continue efforts to persuade Trump to reverse the tariffs. Diplomatic relations remain strained as the dispute unfolds.

32 comments

Who cares honestly...the carrot man is just putting Canada vs Mexico like they do with poor vs not so poor. Focus on the problem, trump
- It's telling you say this now and not when Trudeau started it....
  Even before Trump’s announcement, the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and a handful of provincial premiers had mused openly about cutting Mexico out of future trade talks, instead pivoting towards a Canada-US trade pact – a move that Mexico’s lead negotiator called a “betrayal”.
  There was/is a three way trade deal, and before Trump's even in office he was openly saying US and Canada can just drop Mexico...
  That's incredibly fucked when the real move is for Canada and Mexico to lock arms and force trump to the table.
  They're the only land border, and a key piece in disguising products as "made in America".
  
  Still, this basically feels like a speed-run of losing the Prisoner's dilemma.
  
  I hate to say it, because it's gross... But it's probably the pragmatic move for Canada to attempt a bilateral agreement with Trump.
  His political base is fueled by trashing Mexico. Build a wall. Mexicans are taking my job. Etc etc. Trump and his supporters will absolutely cut off their noses to spite their face with Mexico.
  But, they're pretty apathetic towards Canada.
  It isn't pragmatic for Canada to lash itself to Mexico under these circumstances. Ultimately, it's the government of Canada's responsibility to act in the best interests of Canadians. Given the circumstances, that's probably avoiding the situation.
  
  Interesting, I don't follow politics for the most part but it's being shoved in my face by overly loud individuals so I'm playing a bit of the catch-up game on all the bs they all keep doing.
  Thanks for the extra info
Dear Mexico,
How about instead of fighting each other because our mentally disturbed neighbour is threatening us with Tariffs. Let’s instead increase trade with each other to strengthen our economies and let the Americans enjoy the shithole they just elected themselves into.
Canada
Sheinbaum then dug deeper, adding that Canada “could only wish they had the cultural riches Mexico has”, pointing out her country has civilizations dating back thousands of years.
Canada also has civilizations dating back thousands of years.
All of them were brutally murdered and robbed by European settlers. I don't think Mexico gets to play the rich indigenous culture card here because they did all their murders a couple hundred years earlier.
- What?
  Mexicans may have some Spanish ancestry, but it's not the same as US or Canada where the vast majority of people have zero indenginus heritage.
  Do you really think it's the same?
  
  "Some". Better than 80% of the country has Spanish ancestry and basically everyone speaks Spanish. I suppose the local indigenous people just found those Spanish colonists so goddamned attractive and loved their language better than their own.
Both leaders lack the spine to stand up to Trump. Its kind of pathetic.
And us Americans in the middle of all this are going: "Well this is weird! Usually we're the ones pissing off our North American neighbors!"
Is this an anglophones stick together kind of thing? I mean this isn't a very productive statement to be fair but Trudeau is trying to throw Mexico under the bus to appease Trump here and they decided to put Steinbaum's statement as the headline.
- 20 million left leaning United States citizens should move to Canada to escape their corrupt government. Those left Leaning immigrants then vote out Canada’s Right wing problem.
There's plenty of finger-pointing to go around on this one with both countries, but I think Ms. Sheinbaum might remember that many of Mexico's "cultural riches" were looted.
- Just curious, for the sake of clarity. Do you mean they were looted from Mexico, and therefor are no longer available to Mexico as a source of trade/pride whatever. Or do you mean that Mexico looted them from other places and so has no right to brag about them in the same way that the British have never done anything of note aside from stealing from other cultures and then NOT USING ANY OF THOSE SPICES IN THEIR FOOD!? Okay sorry I got sidetracked.
  
  Looted as in Mexico is the product of settler-colonialism like the rest of the Americas.
  
  The Spanish came, stole as much from the Aztecs, Maya and other peoples that they could, then founded Mexico.
  Then, for centuries, they did things like dig up graves to loot even more. And the people they subjugated are so poor and desperate that they're often the ones looting their own ancestor's graves on behalf of Mexico's "cultural riches."
  The U.S. has a lot of "cultural riches" from various indigenous groups too. They also didn't generally donate them.
Call me when millions of Canadians are fleeing the country en masse like they are in Mexico. Nice "cultural riches" you've got, there.
- I mean isn't that like 90% the US's fault?
- I'm just saying that the Mexican government cut almost 30% of culture, including archaeological sites.
Cultural wealth? The Mexican government doesn't give a damn about cinema and prefers to exalt the culture of drug trafficking.
- Wow that's pretty fkin shallow my guy, try going to Mexico one day. There are ancient ruins the size of modern cities everywhere, unique construction styles that make Hollywood look like a tin shack town, and a very rich show/restaurant scene. I mean it's a huge fucking country, and I don't think you're gonna find Mexicans that see drugs as a good Christian lifestyle
  
  Having archaeological sites doesn't mean that you're going to give them a budget to keep them from deteriorating, and the Mexican government is very hypocritical because they don't care about their culture. They literally cut the cultural budget for next year by almost 30%, basically these are measures that Musk would apply to the federal government, and the government is "left-wing."
  I'm sending you news, but it's in Spanish, so I recommend that you use a translator to understand better.
  https://www.proceso.com.mx/cultura/2024/11/16/presupuesto-2025-preve-recorte-de-30-cultura-el-mas-bajo-desde-su-creacion-340473.html
  https://www.eleconomista.com.mx/arteseideas/presupuesto-egresos-2025-recorte-todas-areas-cultura-20241115-734497.html
  https://viceversanoticias.com/actualidad/recorte-presupuestal-del-2025-pone-contra-las-cuerdas-a-zonas-arqueologicas/

32 comments