Montreal, Canada – In his first speech as Canada’s prime minister who decides, Mark Carney delivered what observers described as a breathtaking statement.
“I know these are dark days,” said Carney on Sunday to a room full of supporters after winning the race for the leading liberal party. “Dark days that are brought by a country that we can no longer trust.”
The country in question? An ally, with which Canada shares the longest distributed land border of the world and until recently apparently irrelevant relationships: the United States.
“This is stunning in the broader context,” said Jon Parmenter, history professor at Cornell University in the state of New York.
Experts say that the idea that the United States is no longer trustworthy reflects a feeling that has been Spread quickly in Canada In the past few months.
During this time, the Canadians observed with a mixture of shock, confusion and anger, as US President Donald Trump repeatedly aimed at their country – both in the context of his global trade policy and his expansion sampling.
Trump has imposed Canadian goods steep tariffs and threatened more. He regularly demands the annexion of Canada and he did unfounded and derogatory claims About the outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian electoral system.
“The damage to the relationship is considerable,” Parmenten told Al Jazera. “It will be durable.”
But when Trump’s attacks against the northern neighbor of his country stop unabated, many observers now ask: Why?
Why is the president aimed at a country that was widely regarded as one of the most reliable partners in the United States? Why does Trump seem to be so fixated on Canada?
“Next goal”
While the current trade war of the US Canada is “unprecedented” in modern history, according to Aaron Ettinger, a professor of political science at Carleton University in Ottawa, he is not surprisingly in the context of Trump.
The US President pursued similar “America First” wesergine policy, including Ettinger, including Ettinger during his first term in office Customs imposing On Canadian steel and aluminum imports in 2018.
“None of it is new. We know that this comes. He has telegraphed everything. But now he talks about it 50 percentages Customs. The aggressiveness is more than seven or eight years ago, ”said Ettinger to Al Jazera.
As part of the controversial approach of the Trump government on foreign policy, Ettinger said that he does not believe that Canada is particularly special. Instead, it is “simply the closest goal together with Mexico”.
“Trump treats all countries as if they were subordinate to his wishes. He loves her leaders when the leaders play along, and he doesn’t do it if they don’t, ”said Ettinger.
“So Canada is hit with tariffs like countries of the European Union and Mexico. Canada is nearby nearby. Canada also plays against guy and is currently fighting back quite hard. “
The Canadian government has Remodored retaliation tariffs At billions of dollars worth American goods worth the value of Trump’s anger. It was said that the measures remain until the US President withdraws and eliminates the threat from taxes.
Personal hostility
But Trumps Concentrate on Canada goes beyond the tariffs and economic policy alone.
Even before he entered the White House in January, the Republican leader Canada asked to become the 51st US state. He repeatedly described Trudeau as a “governor” instead of a prime minister.
Trump also framed the plan, Canada as a blessing for Canadians and a way to avoid tariffs, annexed.
“People would pay much less taxes than they are paying. They would have perfect military protection, ”said Trump recently.
While Trudeau and other Canadian leaders initially twitched the comments as good -natured ribs, they quickly started to take Trump’s repeated demands for annexation more seriously.
Last week Trudeau said reporters said that Trump “wants a complete collapse of the Canadian economy because it will make it easier to annex us”. The outgoing prime minister Said Canada will never become part of the United States and referred to the administration’s tariffs as a “very stupid” policy.
Trump and Trudeau never had a particularly warm relationship, and she met publicly In 2018 also about trade and tariffs.
This hostility could play a role in Trump’s latest rhetoric against Canada, said Geoffrey Kabaservice, Vice President for Political Studies at the Niskanen Center, a Central Right-Think Tank in Washington, DC.
“Trump is always looking for a way to take revenge and rent people who have criticized him in the past, and Trudeau would certainly fall into this category,” he told Al Jazera.
A 19th century vision
But Kabaservice said Trump’s “idea of the 19th century”, which it means to be a great force, is the heart of his annexion rhetoric.
“When Trump talks about” making America great again “, a component of what he has through size in mind is a country that is expansive that is new to new territory and claims that it enlarges itself,” he explained.
That means when the US President says he wants Canada the 51st state isHe probably does not think about what this would mean in practice, including the admission of a country with 40 million people, American politics would change, said Kabaservice.
“It’s like just (a) boys ‘fantasy:’ Wouldn’t it be great if America could expand to take all of these other countries? Wouldn’t it be great if America were like Great Britain in his imperial days when the world map was covered red? ‘
“I think that’s the level at which he thinks of these things.”
And while Trump’s basis may not annex Canada on his list of priorities, the supporters of the US President enjoy “making his enemies and even many of his allies unhappy” when he suggests things.
“They welcome what they consider as his boldness, his willingness to imagine a new world, and his ability to own dragonflies and make them cry.”
According to Amy Koch, a Republican political strategist, Trump’s policy towards Canada should also be seen as part of another urge to dominate in the western hemisphere.
Customs to Canadian and Mexican goods, requires control over the Panama Canal and the repayment of the Panama Canal and Acquire Greenlandand an executive order rename the Gulf of Mexico The “Gulf of America” are all elements of this effort.
“It is the complete dominance in the western hemisphere, and I think Canada is part of it,” said Koch to Al Jazera.
“Tactics without strategy”
Wherever Trump’s true motivation is, observers agree that his attitude towards Canada could have a permanent effect.
“The jumping point on Donald Trump is that he is a tyrant and bullying bullying people who are susceptible to their strengths. And he does that, ”said Kabaservice.
“Trump can do things like Levy tariffs because he has the leverage over Canada and has the latitude in relation to the responsibility of the managing director.
Ettinger added that people in the United States and Canada keep trying to find the reasons for Trump’s actions, but the president ultimately “apply tactics without strategy”.
For example US stock markets Fall this week In the midst of uncertainty about Trump’s tariffs, which cause fears that the country could get into a recession.
“He knows that he wants to beat hard or he wants to set tariffs, or he wants to escalate. However, there is no strategic calculation of the strategy here, ”said Ettinger. “And that makes the guy fundamentally irrational.”
