China is treating all its trading partners like they owe their existence to its largess like the Idiot as soon as it can and Beijing deems it beneficial. This is essentially what collaborating with China is about.

The US has become unreliable, but considering China as reliable is a grave mistake nevertheless. Beijing will engage in coercion as soon as it can (as it always does), and the propaganda machinery will then use Trump’s move for vindication. The tankies here will tell everyone that China’s coercion is justified because the US did it, too. Whataboutism as we know it.

Canada needs to expand trade with Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and other democratic countries.

You clearly haven’t digged into Chinese subsidies and economic policy.

Prices are disconnected from the cost of production. The price is determined at the marketplace by the customer’s willingness to pay (according to Behavioral Economics, which is mostly applied in modern economics, as opposed to the reservation price in traditional economics).

This is also one mistake some start-up founders make when introducing their product: calculating the costs and add a certain percentage, but this is not advisable (because, among others, this cost-up pricing could result in a price for your new product that customers are not willing to pay …).

… will only create black market opportunities for low price exploits

That would not work, if, say, you go to McDonald’s and buy through the app, as the McMuffin isn’t sold in advance … And even in some markets where a resale could theoretically be made (such as for concert tickets or flight tickets), it is often legally prohibited to resell a tickets above face value (that’s the case for concert tickets in the UK since the start of this year, for example) or the product is connected to your ID ( that’s the case with many airlines do with flight tickets).

This happens through a wide range of measures, depending on the kind of business, customer segments, products and services.

One major tool is Plexure, a New Zealand-based company that offers an app. It is used by McDonalds (which holds almost 10% in Plexure), Ikea, 7-Eleven, and hundreds of other companies around globe.

As the Prospect wrote in 2024 in an article:

It starts with using a cheap offer to entice users to purchase through the mobile app. After that, various factors go into the process of “deep personalization”: Time of day, food preferences, ordering habits, financial behaviors, location, weather, social interactions, and “relevance to key moments i.e. pay day.” …

If the app knows you get paid every other Friday, it can make your meal deal $4.59 instead of $3.99 when you have more money in your pocket. If it knows you usually grab an Egg McMuffin before class on Wednesday, or that you always only have an hour to eat dinner between your first and second job, it can increase the price on that promotion. If it knows it’s cold out, it can raise the price of hot coffee; on a scorcher, it can up the price of a McFlurry. And the app gets smarter as you agree to or turn down those offers in real time …

It may be just half a dollar or so, but with millions of customer interactions per day and an increase in customer engagement, companies like McDonalds make a huge profit increase, as the article says:

[Plexure] promises that using its app strategy will increase frequency of orders by 30 percent and the size of orders by 35 percent. Domino’s just attributed its strong first-quarter earnings, with income increasing by 20 percent over last year, to its loyalty program. Grocery stores like Walmart and Kroger have also gotten into this, leveraging purchasing history with digital targeting. And improving artificial intelligence can just make this all move faster …

But apps like Plexure are not the only way to personalize prices. The entire Prospect article makes an interesting read, and there is a lot of research in the meantime as Bots improve the ways of Dynamic Pricing substantially.

@Sxan@piefed.zip

Edit for an addition: If you like to have a quick read to know how the Plexure app works for McDonald’s, here is a brief description

I have to disagree. Taiwan has vast experience in dealing with China, and the opinion is even in line with many experts, including those from Canada (just read my other post from a few minutes ago in this community).

You have been seeing such things in China for years. Many carmakers have gone bankrupt. With Chinese imports to Canada, the situation will worsen for Canadian automakers as well as suppliers. Canada risks becoming dependent on China as well as it is (or was?) on the US.

And China will use this leverage for future political and economic coercion.

Chinese carmakers’ share in the North American market is next to zero, and Canada’s auto plants have not ‘abandoned’ EVs. But Canadian plants pay a multiple of what Chinese carmakers pay, and if you buy a car from a Canadian plant you can be sure that it is not made by slave-like labour.

As an addition, there is a podcast on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new trade deal with China:

Canada’s trade gamble: Why the latest deal with China may do more harm than good – (Podcast, 25 min)

Host Cristina Howorun sits down with Flavio Volpe, President of the Automotive Parts Manufacturing Association and one of the architects of CUSMA, to discuss the implications this deal could have on the EV market, the 90,000 jobs in the auto sector and tariff and trade negotiations with the States.

(Here is an Invidious link of the podcast if you prefer that.)

To put that in a broader global context:

In the Age of the Absurd Casus Belli, no Country is Safe - (Archived link)

In coming to the defence of Ukraine’s, Denmark’s Greenland’s and yes, Venezuela’s, sovereignty, we are defending our own. Imperial habits die hard. And Canada must be at the centre of these battles because our existence as a nation at stake.

…

The decision by the Trump administration to launch an arrest operation in Caracas, Venezuela, capturing Nicolás Maduro and his spouse Cilia Flores, has profound consequences for all of us.

…

The revelation that the United States would be “running Venezuela”, taking over the oil industry, replacing “free and fair elections” with a “judicious…very judicious transition”, … outlined in the recent U.S. National Security Strategy was the most expansive expression of American hegemony in the Western Hemisphere and beyond in decades.

…

The meetings in Paris this week of the Coalition of the Willing supporting Ukraine take on a whole new meaning and significance. The U.S. release of the National Security Strategy one month ago, the subsequent military buildup and invasion of Caracas, the collateral rhetoric about Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, Greenland, Canada — all point a revival of Great Power unilateralism at the expense of everyone else.

…

In the time leading up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, [Russian] President Putin released speeches and documents explaining the Russian grievance.

The Putin Doctrine is fundamentally this: Greater Russia has included Ukraine for centuries … Ukrainian nationalism is a fake concept promoted by Russia’s enemies … The decision to grant Ukraine independence in 1991 was a betrayal, aggravated by NATO “aggression” … Putin further claimed that Ukraine was committing a “genocide” against Russian speakers in Ukraine, and that therefore Russia’s invasion in February 2022 was fully justified as self-defence.

It is worth noting that these arguments were all heard, considered, and dismissed as having no merit by the International Court of Justice.

…

The third member of the P3, China, has its own narrative and explanation to justify its treatment of Tibetans and Uyghurs, among other minorities, its claim to Taiwan, and its status as a “Great Civilization”, giving it power and status above and beyond others.

…

Ukraine’s fate is ours. If the Coalition of the Willing cannot find the means and the will to defend Ukraine’s interests, the message to Russia, China, the United States and others would be clear: your region is your playground, and any casus belli — no matter how ludicrous — will do.

As Canadians, our interests, values, and nationhood are directly at stake. This is not an exaggeration. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s plan for greater national solidarity, aggressive search for new markets, and a sustained effort to reach a new CUSMA agreement all make good sense, but all of us need to recognize the costs and consequences of the lawless world we are now in.

It can’t be business or politics as usual.

…

Yes, that’s for sure. What I wanted to say with this is that the West (Europe and other allies) should do much more to support Ukraine to win this war. (Tomahawks, Taurus missiles would be one good idea.) At the moment Ukraine and its people pay a high price for protecting Western values imho.

How much does Europe (and the rest of the West) cost Ukraine?

What an absurdly weird interpretation.

As an addition:

Responding to questions about Canada’s pursuit of increased trade with India and China despite Canadian intelligence agencies reporting political interference, European Union Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection Michael McGrath says that ‘where you have evidence’ of foreign interference from a nation looking to do more trade, ‘you have to address it.’ McGrath argues the EU and Canada should be working more closely on online risks: ‘Our democracy is under threat.’

My fault. The members of the politburo are all male, those who make all the decisions.

But don’t make a mistake to think China’s People Congress is representing the people. In 2023, for example, a report said:

Ultimately, claims that the National People’s Congress reflects the voice of the Chinese people ring hollow. Neither delegates to the National People’s Congress nor ordinary Chinese citizens enjoy political freedom or the fundamental freedom of speech. Seeing the photos of the delegates arrayed in neat rows in front of the podium and, except for a flash of color from the rare female delegate or an ethnic minority in traditional dress, identically clad in navy blue suits with identical teacups at hand hardly conveyed the image of people who express their will. The delegates listened rather than spoke, sitting quietly except for subdued applause at appropriate points. They cast identical votes as well, unanimously according to General Secretary Xi Jinping a third term as president of China and chairmanship of the state Central Military Commission.

I can’t compare China and Japan’s culture regarding equality, but I would feel much better in a democracy where human rights are valued more than elsewhere.

Ms. Leavitt’s insult and the tonality is at the same low level as some comments here on Lemmy by the so-called “tankies”, it’s just that it now comes from the US government …

The South China Morning Post is a Chinese state-controlled propaganda outlet based in Hong Kong.

It’s a weird move choosing a woman. Our current administration doesn’t seem to respect women at all.

They elected a woman as party leader and prime minister. Compare this to China’s National People’s Congress, where all 2,977 members are male, there’s not a single woman. So I don’t say Japan is a country of perfect gender equality, but it is at least a step in the right direction I would say.

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