“Geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies.” That’s what John F. Kennedy said in 1961. Fast forward to today, and that sentiment is nothing but a relic of a bygone era.
The so-called Canada-U.S. partnership is over. Since Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term, he’s made it clear that Canada is a target. His trade war isn’t just tough negotiation; it’s economic warfare masked as a crusade, and we’re taking a hit.
If Canada is going to survive this fight, we need to keep our elbows up and stop hoping the Trump administration will come to its senses. The aggressive, strategic and unapologetically self-interested approach to commercial diplomacy must continue.
The U.S. has turned, so must we
As Benn Steil, director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, pointed out in February, nation states around the world are weaponising trade. Since 2019, national security has become the go-to excuse for hoisting up trade barriers, and Trump has doubled down on that strategy with his usual flair.
For weeks, he’s used national security and the need to protect American interests as a smokescreen to punish Canada, pummelling the stock market and fueling fears of a dollar-driven recession. His tariffs are nothing short of extortion, and his threats to secure our resources, reset the border, and undermine our independence are a blatant power play.
Trump is playing dirty. This isn’t a partnership anymore. It’s a fight for economic survival.
How can we win the war?
Canada must hit back just as hard as the U.S.
This isn’t just about trade—it’s about sovereignty. If we let the U.S. dictate our future, we will lose control over our borders, economy, industries, and long-term stability. A recent New York Times article exposed this reality. Trump’s bluster isn’t just talk, it’s an intentional, adversarial foreign policy position being taken by his administration to revise the Border Treaty of 1908, tear up the Great Lakes agreements and conventions, and review the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
We need a complete mindset shift and we need to go on the offensive.
- Fix the house first
Interprovincial trade barriers are a joke. It’s easier for provinces to trade with the U.S. than with each other so we need to tear down these barriers so we can weather the storm in the short term. Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston has the right idea, but we need action from every province, now. Doug Ford has shown a willingness to play hardball with retaliatory tariffs. We need more of that, and a united front across the board. - Cut dependence on the U.S.
For decades, Canada has put all its eggs in the U.S. basket. That gamble has failed. We need to aggressively expand trade with other nations, including BRICS and EU nations—not through the slow, bureaucratic deals we’ve come to favour, but with targeted, high-impact agreements. The BRICS nations might not share all our values, but guess what? Neither does the U.S. We need to play where we can win, not where we’re comfortable. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first overseas trip to the U.K. and France is a good sign. - Match fire with fire
Trump is transactional. His only language is power. If he wants to make Canada pay, we need to make him feel the cost and continue using the current approach of retaliatory tariffs and leveraging our critical minerals and energy resources as bargaining chips. It means calling out U.S. hypocrisy on the world stage and rallying allies who are just as fed up with America’s bullying as we are.
The old rules don’t apply
Kennedy’s words may have meant something 64 years ago, but they’re just hollow nostalgia now. Canada can no longer afford to be the nice person at the table. The U.S. has changed, and so must we.
Elbows up. The fight is on.
