COMMENTARY: Trump is Causing Historic Damage to a Globally Unique Relationship

Almost all of the coverage and commentary on President Trump’s decision to use executive powers to impose a 25 per cent tariff on exports from Canada (10 per cent on energy) and Mexico, and the retaliatory measures from both countries have rightly focused on economics. There’s an important aspect of this current disagreement, which many have accurately characterized as a trade war that’s been missed. President Trump’s unilateral actions have damaged and potentially jeopardized one of the most unique and longstanding bilateral relationships in the world. The consequences of the changes in this relationship could be costly and longstanding for both countries.

Consider that Canada and the United States share the longest border between two countries (almost 8,900 kilometres) that’s largely unpatrolled. Combined, the two countries represent the largest land mass in the world, far outstripping the size of Russia. The two-way trade between the two countries is amongst the largest in the world. And as President Franklin Roosevelt observed in a 1936 speech in Quebec City, there is kinship and familiarity between the two nations not experienced anywhere else. Specifically, he noted how Americans don’t refer to Canadians as “foreigners” but rather simply as “Canadians” and vice versa.

Indeed, there is almost a century of experience with U.S. Presidents recognizing the special, unique relationship between the two countries.

In 1947, after World War II, President Truman addressing the Canadian Parliament noted that: “Canada and the United States have reached the point where we no longer think of each other as ‘foreign’ countries. We think of each other as friends, as peaceful and cooperative neighbors on a spacious and fruitful continent.”

Perhaps most eloquently, President Kennedy said when addressing the Canadian Parliament in 1961:

“And I must say that I think in these days where hazard is our constant companion, that friends are a very good thing to have.”

“Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder.”

“What unites us is far greater than what divides us. The issues and irritants that inevitably affect all neighbors are small deed in comparison with the issues that we face together–above all the somber threat now posed to the whole neighborhood of this continent–in fact, to the whole community of nations. But our alliance is born, not of fear, but of hope. It is an alliance that advances what we are for, as well as opposes what we are against.”

Critically on the issue of trade, President Reagan, one of the architects of the original Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States said aspiringly before a joint session of Parliament in 1987 that “We can look forward to the day when the free flow of trade, from the southern reaches of Tierra del Fuego to the northern outposts of the Arctic Circle, unites the people of the Western Hemisphere in a bond of mutually beneficial exchange, when all borders become what the U.S.-Canadian border so long has been: a meeting place, rather than a dividing line.”

President Clinton in 1995, just after the approval of NAFTA, which extended free trade to include Mexico noted that Canada and the United States “We’re neighbors by the grace of nature. We are allies and friends by choice.”

Finally, President Obama in 2009 while visiting Ottawa said prophetically:

“I came to Canada on my first trip as President to underscore the closeness and importance of the relationship between our two nations, and to reaffirm the commitment of the United States to work with friends and partners to meet the common challenges of our time. As neighbors, we are so closely linked that sometimes we may have a tendency to take our relationship for granted, but the very success of our friendship throughout history demands that we renew and deepen our cooperation here in the 21st century. We’re joined together by the world’s largest trading relationship and countless daily interactions that keep our borders open and secure.”

And there are numerous monuments commemorating the relationship between Canada and the United States. The Peace Arch on the Canada-U.S. border between Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington was dedicated in 1921 to symbolize the long history of peace and openness between the two countries. It includes several inscriptions including “Children of a Common Mother” on the exterior U.S. side and “May These Gates Never be Closed” on the inside of arch above mounted iron gates.

And despite this century-plus recognition of the special relationship between Canada and the U.S., we now find ourselves on the precipice of a recession imposed solely by the acts of President Trump and his imposition of tariffs. And it is not just the action of imposing the tariffs but the manner in which it was done, including overtures that Canada could be the 51st state, threatening the very independence of a longstanding, sovereign ally.

Some of the rationales for the tariffs could be justified as a ploy to force Canada to, for instance, finally meet its NATO defense commitments, an issue of great importance and sensitivity to President Trump and the Americans more generally. This is a longstanding issue and one that should have been solved years ago.

Other rationales offered by the President for the tariffs are highly questionable such as the volume of fentanyl and illegal migrants crossing into the United States, since while troubling, the numbers observed are miniscule compared to the numbers crossing from Mexico.

Moreover, the President has publicly stated his ambition to eliminate personal income taxes and rely instead on tariffs as a source of income for the federal government. So, it’s actually not clear whether President Trump is using the tariffs to motivate action on specific issues like defense spending and border security, or whether this is a larger move to fundamentally reorient the U.S. economy.

Irrespective of President Trump’s long-term ambition, there can be no disagreement that he has treated Canada, the United States’ longest and closest ally, with disrespect and disregard for the wellbeing of its neighbour. The approach to the disagreements is a dramatic break in the century-plus norms for the two countries and has the potential to create a longstanding fissure between the two countries and its peoples, which will impose enormous long-term costs on both countries.