At the G-7 summit in Charlevoix, Canada, on June 8. On May 17, 1961 US President John F. Kennedy and Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker meet to begin talks on US and Canadian problems in Ottawa, Canada. In the early 1960s, there was a bitter rift between the two countries because Diefenbaker baulked at US pressure to be more aggressive in Cold War manoeuvrings.—AP
Later, the Vietnam War caused some divisions, as Canadians including Justin Trudeau’s father, then-Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau welcomed American draft evaders who crossed the border. And some Canadians, notably the Ontario intelligentsia, tend to regard Americans as more crass and gun-happy than people north of the border.
“In general, Canadians have looked at us as a large, powerful, unruly but basically good child, a big animal that they don’t have to worry about but does stupid things now and then,” said Stephen Blank, an American academic who has taught at universities on both sides of the border.
The flare-up came as the recent G-7 summit in Quebec concluded. While Trump headed to his meeting with North Korea’s leader, Trudeau told reporters that Canada would retaliate against new US tariffs it viewed as unfair. Trump was furious, pulling the US out of the G-7 joint communique and calling Trudeau “dishonest” and “weak”. “There’s a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door,” said Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro.
Across their political spectrum, Canadians were outraged. Trudeau, who has embraced many left-of-centre policies on behalf of his Liberal Party, has received strong support from his normally hostile conservative rivals.
Jason Kenney, leader of Alberta’s United Conservative Party, said he was stunned that Trump would attack the prime minister while getting chummy with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.
“It is increasingly bizarre to see an administration heaping praise on a totalitarian dictator while using unprecedented language to condemn the elected head of government of the United States’ closest ally,” Kenney said.
#ThanksCanada
David Frum, a Canadian-American political commentator, said the tiff would only boost Trudeau’s stature among Canadians.
“Trump’s revenge-tweets from Air Force One back at his Canadian hosts probably did not lose him any friends in Canada, for the basic arithmetic reasons that a few alt-right YouTubers aside, he had no friends in Canada left to lose,” Frum wrote in The Atlantic.
However, Lawrence Martin, a columnist with The Globe and Mail, suggested Trudeau’s defiance might be harmful to Canada and advised him to seek conciliatory talks with Trump rather than risk further trade reprisals. “The big dog has all the advantages,” Martin wrote. “While only 16 per cent of US exports go to Canada, 72 per cent of Canada’s go south.”
Bruce Heyman, former US ambassador to Canada, said he believes the Trump administration is determined to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement and has created “an anti-Canadian narrative” that will help him when he pulls the plug. An ensuing trade war will be painful to Canada, but ultimately beneficial, Heyman said: “It will force Canada to diversify.”
Some Americans have rejected Trump’s vitriol, using the hashtag #ThanksCanada on Twitter to highlight positive things that Canada has done. The Globe and Mail said it received dozens of letters from Americans, many of them dismayed by the president’s behaviour.
“We in America very much need your nation’s good character and clear-eyed sense of mission as a reminder about what truly makes America great,” wrote Tom Gerson of Old Saybrook, Connecticut. “I know we as your friends to the south can count on Canada for this inspiration and so much more now and always.”—AP
Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2018