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- cross-posted to:
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Summary
Canada is preparing to retaliate against Donald Trump’s proposed 25% tariffs on Canadian imports, which could trigger the largest trade war between the nations in decades.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised counter-tariffs worth $37 billion, with potential for further measures, depending on Trump’s final order.
Canadian officials warn the tariffs could harm both economies, disrupting key sectors like automotive, energy, and agriculture.
Labor leaders expressed concerns over job losses and urged collaboration. Canada hopes to avoid tariffs by highlighting their mutual economic impact to U.S. lawmakers.
So, essentially, every bank was issuing its own currency. But banks fail all the time. And no one knew what was real money. I’m saying this on Lemmy so I’m clearly for distributed things but cash money needs a central bank, for trust reasons. Gold is a stable element so it was that for centuries but it also led to horrible things. Like an entire hemisphere dying of smallpox.
So, long story short, after WWII. we settled on the U.S. dollar, which was then pegged to gold. Eventually, Nixon decided to unpeg it from gold. Which was fine because gold was arbitrary. We could have pegged it to any element on the periodic table. Bretton Woods is what to google to read more.
So, what is the dollar backed by now? Mostly the U.S. Navy and trust built over time. It’s not perfect. America has never defaulted on its debts and you can exchange dollars for local currency at any airport. The independence of the U.S. central bank is a big reason. But if you’re writing a contract for a global deal, you use dollars. If Argentina wants to buy something from Vietnam, the contract uses dollars.
In the 1800’s, there was no agreed upon currency. Banks made their own currencies. And it was a catastrophe.
Basically, if you go buy dope, the dope man isn’t taking foreign currency except maybe U.S. dollars. Euros are probably fine but the dope man isn’t taking shit that can’t be changed into local currency. He’s got bills to pay too.
American dollars have value for irrational reasons but they have proved the test of time.
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