Trump's latest #tantrum about Canada is nominally about our digital services tax.
But I don't buy it. That's been known about since long before the orange moron was elected.
I'm guessing the bit that has actually irritated him / the evil mastermind with a hand up his ass [1] is Canada's likely decision to scrap it's F-35 military jet purchase, and instead go with the Saab Gripen (which has been publicly acknowledged to be under consideration for some time, but which was almost certainly discussed during the NATO summit this past week).
The #Gripen is *far*, far cheaper to build, and even more dramatically cheaper to operate. The estimated per-flying-hour cost of the Gripen is $4,700 (Jane's, 2012). The F-35 figure from the same report estimates $26,000 for the (land-based) F-35A, and $38,000 for the carrier-VTOL F-35B/C.
There's also the benefit that the Gripen would be co-made in Canada, with #Saab locating factories and working with Canadian suppliers..
The US military-industrial complex is *not* happy with their disappearing export markets and their untold billions of dollars of revenue going down the tubes due to the rest of the world realizing that the USA is no longer a stable, reliable partner or even ally, and that buying weapons from them no longer makes any sense.
[1] as in puppeteer, not anything ... oh
#USPol #MilitaryIndustrialComplex #defence #contractor #arms #manufacturer #Canada #USA #NATO #MangoMussolini #MelonFelon
