OTTAWA | Here we go again with a president who handles diplomacy like a baseball bat.
The kind of gang leader who walks into a bar to beat up a small dealer who owes him $20.
This is how we should perceive Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs of 25% on all our products entering the United States from Canada.
The law of the strongest
It’s not that it shouldn’t be taken seriously. On the contrary. But the threat has nothing to do with his demands, which mainly target Mexico.
The goal is first of all to mark his territory, to make a splash, to make people talk about him. Negotiation through intimidation.
He puts the knife under our throats to show his electorate that he is the strongest.
Will he end up asking us for something other than our old pair of shoes in return?
We’ll have to see. If the past is any guide to the future, Trump will not carry out his threat or it will be greatly watered down.
Remember the renegotiation of NAFTA, which ultimately resulted in a completely acceptable agreement.
What undoubtedly surprised Trump, however, was to see that in Canada, people were scrambling to prove him right.
Important provincial premiers were quick to wave the white flag and not-so-subtly blame Justin Trudeau, as did François Legault, Doug Ford and Danielle Smith.
In the absence of a federal government firmly in place to lead the battle, the beggar-thy-neighbor strategy prevails.
It must be said that Trump puts his finger where it hurts for Justin Trudeau, namely immigration, even if his accusations concerning us are completely exaggerated and in bad faith.
It doesn’t matter. Trump already seems to have won a round.
It has sowed panic across the country and Ottawa suggested yesterday that it could deploy more resources to make the border more watertight, which is in itself a good thing.
Reproaches
Donald Trump criticizes Canada and Mexico for allowing thousands of people to enter through our porous borders who bring drugs and crime to the United States.
Illegal migration from Canada to the United States as well as seizures of fentanyl have indeed increased in recent years.
But this is out of proportion to what is happening on the Mexican border.
American authorities have carried out just over 20,000 arrests of migrants this year in the north. That’s more than 2.5 million at the Mexican border.
As for fentanyl seizures, they amount to approximately 100 from Canada and 1,000 from Mexico.
Make no mistake: Trump’s threats have nothing to do with trade.
Let’s imagine for a moment that Canada and Mexico threatened the United States with tariffs in order to force them to take seriously the trafficking of illegal American firearms which abound in our cities?
The proposition would be laughable.
Coming from Trump, this kind of threat must be taken seriously and puts the whole of Canada on alert.
Welcome to 2024, the age of Trump 2.0, where you can threaten to start a trade war at 8 p.m. on a Monday night with a 153-word message on social media.
