The trade dispute between the United States and Canada is escalating, with two new proposals emerging that could potentially exacerbate the situation. The first suggestion involves Canada disregarding U.S. intellectual property laws and establishing itself as a hub for exporting jailbreaks. The second proposal is to ban access to PornHub, a popular adult website.

As the reciprocal tariffs imposed by Trump are set to come into effect on April 2, the economies of both nations are likely to be disrupted. Recently, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to the U.S. before putting it on hold pending negotiations. The outcome and severity of this trade war are uncertain, and it is difficult to predict how much hardship people will endure.

Cory Doctorow, a Canadian science fiction writer and tech journalist, recently proposed an innovative idea that could put significant pressure on the U.S. In a paper for the Canada Centre for Policy Alternatives, he asked, “What if Canada stopped upholding U.S. tech companies’ intellectual property?”

American tech companies charge substantial fees for their services. For instance, most app stores run by Amazon, Apple, or Google take a 30% commission on every transaction. Similarly, John Deere farming equipment requires expensive software unlocks to repair, and car manufacturers like Tesla lock basic features behind electronic paywalls.

Doctorow suggests that instead of imposing tariffs on U.S. goods, Canada should revisit its trade agreements with the U.S. and renegotiate the laws related to big tech’s intellectual property. He proposes that Canada could create its own app store, allowing Canadian software authors to sell their apps to Canadian customers at a lower commission rate of 5% instead of the standard 30% charged by Apple.

Furthermore, Doctorow recommends that the Canadian app store should not be limited to Canadian software authors. It could offer a 5% commission on sales to U.S. and global software authors, providing jailbreaking kits that enable device owners worldwide to install the Canadian app store, thereby avoiding the high fees charged by American big tech companies.

According to Doctorow’s calculations, Canada could manufacture devices and software to help jailbreak John Deere tractors, Teslas, and other American cars. This could lead to a scenario where farmers pay a one-time fee to a Canadian company for a software update, rather than constantly paying rent-seeking computer updates to John Deere.

Doctorow questions what is preventing Canada from implementing an industrial policy that focuses on reducing the high margins of American monopolists through third-party add-ons, mods, and jailbreaks.

A more humorous suggestion has gone viral, thanks to an Instagram reel by Canadian comedian Matthew Puzhitsky, who proposes banning PornHub, a Montreal-based adult website that attracts millions of American visitors each month. On March 6, Puzhitsky published a skit on Instagram where politicians discuss banning the site as a way to win the trade war.

The skit gained significant attention and was covered by The New York Post and The Daily Mail. Puzhitsky told The Post that if Canada could ban PornHub in the U.S., it would effectively win the trade war. However, it is worth noting that PornHub is already banned in 17 states due to restrictive laws that require users to show ID to access adult websites.

Rather than complying with these laws, which pose significant privacy and technological concerns, PornHub has chosen to block access to its services in these states. In these uncertain times, particularly during the second Trump presidency, all options should be considered, and nothing should be off the table.