The trade war between the United States and Canada has become annoying, and two new suggestions on how to give Canada could make the situation worse. First of all, Canada violated U.S. intellectual property laws and became a country that exported jailbreaks. The second is to ban Pornhub.
Trump's reciprocity tariffs will begin on April 2. If experienced, they will destroy the economies of both countries. Last week, Ontario premiered Doug Ford exported 25% of the electricity bill to states before “suspending” its waiting talks. It's hard to know where all of this is, how annoying it will be and how much suffering people will endure.
Canadian science fiction writer, tech journalist and Gizmodo Cory Doctorow made a good suggestion last month that would put incredible pressure on the United States: “What if Canada stops maintaining the intellectual property rights of American tech companies?” he asked in his paper on Canadian policy alternatives.
American tech companies charge a lot of rent. Most App Stores run by Amazon, Apple or Google enjoy a 30% discount on each transaction. John Deere's agricultural equipment is difficult to repair without paying companies to unlock expensive software. Automobile companies, especially Tesla, lock in the basic functions behind the electronic payment wall.
Doctorow's suggestion is that Canada will not impose tariffs on U.S. goods, but reimpose tariffs through trade negotiations with the United States and “ripped up these laws”, which agrees with Big Tech's IP.
“Do you know what can Canada do? Canadian App Store. It's a store where Canadian software authors can use to sell Canadian apps to Canadian customers, charging a standard payment processing fee of 5% instead of Apple's 30%. Canada can also create app stores for Android, PlayStation and Xbox,” Doctorow said.
He also suggested that the app store should not limit itself to Canadian software authors. “The Canadian App Store can offer five percent sales commissions to U.S. and global software authors and offer jailbreak kits that allow device owners around the world to install Canadian App Stores where software authors are not stripped of by big U.S. tech companies.” This is much better than most of us when we buy things on our phones.
In Doctorow's calculations, Canada can produce equipment and software to help jailbreak John Deere tractors, Teslas and other American cars. Imagine a world where farmers pay a Canadian company at one time, once, instead of constantly returning to John Deere for a rental computer update. Imagine a world where you pay for the device on your new car at once, which unlocks all its software features forever.
“What is Canadian industrial policy, focusing on the high edge of attacking American monopolists with third-party add-ons, mods and jailbreaks?” the doctor said.
Another suggestion is rapidly gaining popularity thanks to Canadian comedian Matthew Puzhitsky's Instagram reel: Ban Pornhub. The porn giant is based in Montreal and has millions of American tourists every month. On March 6, Puzhitsky posted a short show on Instagram where politicians are looking for ways to win the trade war against Canada, suggesting banning the location.
The short drama was shocked and has been covered by the New York Post and the Daily Mail. If Canada can ban porn dance in the United States, we will win the trade war. That's it. There is no trade war,” Puzhitsky told The Post.
The United States does not need help. Pornhub has been banned in 17 states as part of new restrictive laws in the country's conservative region that force people to show IDs to visit adult websites. Instead of following a law on privacy and technology nightmare, Pornhub prevents access to its services in these states.
In the chaotic era of the second Trump presidency, nothing is possible and nothing should be lost.
