Keith Boag

Martin, with precisely zero provocation, Trump said a year ago that he intended to “annex Canada” and make it the 51st state by applying “economic pressure;” - He imposed lifted, increased, decreased, re-imposed and repeatedly threatened tariffs on everything imported from Canada, in gross violation of the CUSMA agreement that he signed, calling it “the greatest trade agreement in history;” - He initially did so on the entirely specious grounds that Canada was a major source of fentanyl imports and illegal migration to the US, both claims completely contradicted by data, and US law enforcement agencies. The claims were so ridiculous - even for Trump - that he has not repeated them for the past ten months; - He has repeatedly said the US needs “nothing” from Canada, specifically mentioning our energy - He continues to maintain crippling sectoral tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and certain auto components in violation of CUSMA, tariffs that are costing the Canadian economy billions of dollars and thousands of jobs; - Senior Administration officials (Greer, Lutnick et al) have been intimating for months that CUSMA will not be renewed; - Trump has repeatedly referred to the Canada-US border as “imaginary” and “fake.” - His insults and provocations are too many to list, but just in the last week he has said that Canada has been “completely taken over by China” because of a discrete tariff agreement requested by western provinces and initially *endorsed by Trump*; and insulted the honour and memory of our troops, claiming that they “stayed a little back from the front lines” in Afghanistan. Given all of that and more, you blame the Prime Minister of Canada for CUSMA being in jeopardy? WTH? After a year of this, how can we still have some Canadians blaming Canada for Trump taking a wrecking ball to the relationship? Under these circumstances, Prime Minister Carney has exercised remarkable restraint. What would satisfy you? Grovelling subservience? Giving the US total control over our trade relations with the rest of the world? We Canadians can and should debate the most prudent way to deal with the completely unpredictable and destabilizing threat from Trump. (I, for one, don’t support the recent deal with China.) But surely no reasonable person can conclude that Canada provoked or is any meaningful way to blame for this crisis.