“But being a Canadian apologist, I will remind you that this started because.....”Canada refused to patrol our joint border harder.Canada refused to drop their ridiculous tariffs on products in part because of them being bought by unions.
Trump started to attack Canada after that.”
Trump played into Carney’s hand, with Carney defending himself as as MCGA populist - make Canada great again. Using Trump’s own playbook, he made himself and Canada come out as the “underdogs” against the big bad bully to the south. It does not matter what truth there is or is not in that, in terms of Canadian public sentiment. Entering the election Carney’s favorability rating was about 44%. Now it is closer to 60%, primarily on his “defending Canada” themes.
Trump could have pushed not for tariffs but for a total no-tariffs either way with Canada. That would have been received positively in Canada and backed more strongly by Canadian conservatives than the Liberals.
I think Trump helped get Carney elected, and has been helping Carney play the Canadian nationalist theme to Carney’s benefit - no matter how woke he is.
If we really wanted a better more open trade relationship with Canada we should have promoted it directly, not tried to force them into less restrictive trade with punitive tariffs - which has hit U.S. domestic auto makers most of all. And offsetting those tariffs is not being met with more U.S. suppliers, but other foreign alternatives to the Canadian suppliers. So much for “bringing it all home”.
Trump could have brought the U.S. and Canada closer. Instead he’s done the opposite.
Doubtful. Trump imposed the tariffs because Canadians wouldn't drop theirs.