This really isn't that surprising, blockading Canada's trade is likely also a big part of why Trump's been on about Greenland so much, to some extent. "China's gonna take it if we don't!", yeah, sure, right, whatever.

If they wanted to break Canada, yeah, blockading oil is an option to some extent. Another would be to leverage their massive services trade gap, and clip service to Canada for US tech products. That's something they've done in other regions too, such as Cuba. If they banned Microsoft from providing services to Canada, almost all of Canada's government agencies would go down, along with most of their critical infrastructure. Only reason they might 'not' pull that lever, if they were serious about this stuff, would be the espionage/intelligence gains from allowing Canada to keep using those services.

It'll be a cold day in hell when I agree that Canada should capitulate to the current demands of the USA.

Fuck that.

I don't think I'm the only Canadian who feels this way and yeah, it might suck for us for a year or two if it really comes down to it, but honestly, I'd rather a few shit years than continue to entertain the insanity coming out of the white house.... IMO, we should close talks, and decline to continue to work with the current regime, demanding that different leadership is needed before we'll continue to even talk to them about a trade deal.

They've made it clear to me that they don't want a deal. We almost had one, then they went off the rails again.... No. That's stupid. Stop moving the goal posts. Either play ball or get the fuck out. They've already told us that they're not going to play ball, so let's tell them where to go.

If they blockade the Strait of Georgia, that is an act of WAR. The US is run by madmen. Canada will fight if it comes to this.

Given the critical amount of oil imported for domestic refining by the US, shutting off access to Canadian oil would substantially impact US refineries, which would flow to both domestic supply of refined products as well as exports and be a devastating blow to US refineries. It feels a little like mutual assured destruction in the energy sector.

A blockage would also be nearly a declaration of war against Canada. I’m sure the spineless Rs currently in the US congress would simply wring their hands (and at least one Maine Senator would voice her “concern”) but a flip in both houses might substantially change to outlook.

More importantly, there is nobody in the US Republican Party who has even half the narcissism of Trump, and of those none have even a quarter of his charisma/cult following. As absolutely trashed as the US’ reputation is internationally, the colonial expansion era of the US will die when Trump is no longer directing policy.

The article has theoretical merit, but the practical application is so remote as to weigh very little on actionable policy. (IMHO, of course)