XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, can.politics   
   From: super70s@super70s.invalid   
      
   COLLATERAL DAMAGE   
   Petty Trump Plots to Knife His Own Base in Latest Revenge Scheme   
   The president is so eager to get back at an adversary that he's willing   
   to screw over a key supporter bloc.   
   By Janna Brancolini   
   The Daily Beast   
   Published Feb. 19 2026 12:15PM EST   
      
   President Donald Trump is so desperate to punish Canada that he's   
   willing to trigger catastrophic losses for American businesses,   
   including a sector that has been key to his campaign victories.   
      
   Farmers have consistently been among Trump's biggest supporters, with   
   nearly 78 percent of voters in rural, farm-dependent counties backing   
   his re-election effort in 2024, Investigate Midwest reported.   
      
   But now, the president is considering blowing up his own North American   
   trade deal to get back at Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, with   
   domestic farming one of the key industries that would bear the brunt of   
   the collateral damage, The New York Times reported.   
      
   Trump, 79, signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)   
   during his first term, hailing it as a signature economic achievement   
   that replaced the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).   
      
   With the agreement scheduled for a mandatory review this summer, the   
   U.S. has been pressuring Canada to concede to various demands,   
   including opening up its dairy sector and restocking U.S. liquor, which   
   was pulled from the shelves in some provinces in retaliation against   
   Trump's tariffs on Canadian products.   
      
   But Trump is also angry with Carney, who has responded forcefully not   
   just to Trump's trade war, but to his threats to annex Canada and make   
   it the 51st U.S. state.   
      
   The Canadian prime minister received a standing ovation at the World   
   Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he said the U.S.-led global   
   world order was over and urged "middle powers" to work together instead   
   of competing for favor "in a world of great power rivalry."   
      
   Instead of reviewing the U.S.M.C.A., Trump is reportedly leaning toward   
   scrapping it altogether and negotiating separate, individual agreements   
   with Mexico and Canada, according to the Times.   
      
   For companies that have structured their business around the   
   U.S.M.C.A., which governs trillions of dollars of trade, abandoning the   
   agreement could be devastating, with farmers and automakers   
   particularly hard hit.   
      
   "There's no real advantage to it -- it's irrelevant," Trump said of the   
   agreement in January. "Canada wants it. They need it."   
   U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also said last month that   
   Trump was "inclined to leave" the U.S.M.C.A.   
      
   Some experts think the tough talk is designed to get concessions from   
   Canada, but Canadian officials told the Times the government is not   
   expecting a full renewal of the agreement, and are preparing for the   
   potential breakup of the U.S.M.C.A.   
      
   The officials also said Carney's team questions whether Canada could   
   trust any fresh trade agreements with Trump, given that he imposed   
   tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products despite the existing agreement.   
      
   The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.   
      
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