After Trump declares a trade war, Canadians grapple with a sense of betrayal

15 comments

1. Submission Statement: According to President Kennedy, “geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends, economics has made us partners and necessity has made us allies”. Now, to a manner even worse than during Bush’s invasion of Iraq, the president has turned one of our closest national allies and partners into an enemy. According to this article, the damage will last a generation.

   Commentary: There is no evidence that Canada was pursing a predatory relationship towards its more powerful neighbor- in fact the trade balance inverts when oil is removed from the equation. Instead, Canadians will now see the United States as an expansionist predator, similar to how China’s and Russia’s neighbors view those superpowers.

   Besides, any GOP president in 2029, even if he wants to avoid conflicts, will likely have limited room for maneuver anyway thanks to the current president’s grip on the conservative grassroots.

2. This ☝️ 🇨🇦

3. But they have no issue with being on the winning end of a trading deficit, do they? I also feel betrayed when business doesn’t go my way. But if i’m winning and others are losing, i’m cool with it, baby

4. Trump himself negotiated USMCA, if he feels it’s unfair then he needs to work on his deal making abilities.

5. Remember those parodies of snooze inducing political discussion in The Simpsons. That would have been nice with Kamala, literally something to doze off to in relation to the minutiae of Canadian US trade relations while doing a crossword on a Friday afternoon with a coffee that has no power against the tedium, vastly preferable to this circus.

6. This whole thing is once again proof that Trump doesn’t understand how to conduct diplomacy; in attempting to deal a personal blow to Prime Minister Trudeau, he’s set back relations on our continent to their lowest level since before the Great Rapprochement. Canada is one of America’s closest allies (if not THE closest). If the goal was to get Canada to meet its NATO defense commitments and and more strictly guard it’s borders, surely there was a better way to do it than this?

7. First time?

8. Good. I hope American businesses and jobs that rely on Canadian trade suffer.

   It’s time the rest of us feel Trump like all the women who have told him no and he raped anyways.

9. It’s cool Canadians. Turns out Trump was cool to accept things that were literally already going to happen before he announced tariffs… can’t make this shit up

10. >The Canadian jitters, some worry, could go beyond the moment. “The damage is going to be long-lasting,” said Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto. “The Americans won’t be trusted anymore. The 51st state stuff is just contemptuous. It treats Canada like we don’t even exist.”

    Trump did enough damage in 48hrs to set back US/Canada relations years.

    And for what? To get the exact same deal he was offered on Dec.17th? wtf!

    Immensely stupid of him.

11. American here…. Trump is incredibly, painfully, embarrassing. My apologies to any of our Canadian brothers reading this.

12. I hope it’s a jolt to wake us out of the bureaucracy that has taken over Canada. We need lightening fast pivots and futuristic leadership. So much potential with this country bogged down in Commonwealth idealism.

13. He’s just a bully. I don’t think there’s deeper analysis than that.

    Canada should feel betrayed; and they should take steps to ensure their prosperity is not tied to the whims of a bully

14. As a Canadian I can say this betrayal has united many of us in ways traditional messaging never could have dreamed of achieving.

    Before trump, concervative majorities were assumed for the next provincial and federal elections. These are parties very close to and in support of trump.

    Theyre now trying to distance themselves from him as he has plummeted their popularity.

    Its now its looking more like they will have to fight for a majority / minority or lose these elections entirely.

15. Just a couple months ago I was vacationing in the Dakotas and had a lot of wonderful experiences meeting and talking to Americans. It’s definitely a little galling for the sudden about-face where we’re now pretending that Canada is a narco-state and that border issues exist in one direction only.

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