Opinion Piece published in The Globe and Mail, March 20, 2025
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-nothing-about-trumps-treatment-of-canada-is-normal
Richard Armitage heads Armitage International and served as an ambassador during the George H.W. Bush administration,as well as deputy secretary of state in the George W. Bush administration. Kevin Nealer is a principal with The Scowcroft Group and was a career diplomat and member of Barack Obama’s intelligence advisory board.
We have worked in both Republican and Democratic administrations and, respectively, for the Senate majority leaders of both parties. There is nothing in what the current White House administration is doing to America’s bilateral relationship with Canada that is normal. Far worse: none of it is in the national interest of the United States. Truth be told, this trade war is not even a dispute about any policy or practice – it is a bullying tactic, and it makes no sense.
Let’s review the fundamentals: Canadian-American security and economic relations have been highly functional and exquisitely co-ordinated for many decades. We disagree on a regular occasion, but that has always occurred with highest regard for the professionalism and integrity of our interlocutors. Even by the standard of our coarser American brand of manners, demeaning our colleagues is simply not done, because it would diminish something in which we both have too great a shared interest.
Canada is the largest single U.S. export market. The U.S. has a surplus in services trade with Canada. Take away oil and gas buys, and Canada has the trade deficit. But in realizing that the U.S. population is almost tenfold larger than Canada’s, it’s stunning that the trade imbalance isn’t much bigger. On a per capita basis, Canadians buy nearly $7,000 worth of U.S. goods each year – many times more than the amount that Americans spend on Canadian items. There is no problem that this trade dispute is solving.
Together, Canada and the U.S. started to move toward a unitary market with the 1965 Auto Pact, building economic confidence and habits of co-operation that matured into the Canada-U.S. free-trade agreement, which became the North American free-trade agreement, and then the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement. Our private sector investment communities and manufacturers have maintained their national identities while building trust and supply chain integrity. That confidence and predictability has resulted in shared growth and innovation across many sectors.
Are there any disagreements? Plenty. But the risk to bilateral relations that these problems may present is managed every day by a workmanlike and trustworthy process that begins with interested firms and unions talking to each other, and can escalate to legal remedies if necessary. The most intractable issues, like lumber and dairy disputes, become government-to-government policy matters. Policymakers talk and the goal is always the same: markets hate uncertainty, and good policymakers make sure to manage down the risk of disruptions.
The security relationship is qualitatively different. That conversation is not about money, but the lives and safety of our citizens. Every day, the Canadian and American intelligence communities bring unmatched diligence to protecting our people against terrorists and malign actors in the real world and in cyberspace. Across platforms and around the world, Canadians and Americans work together to protects interests that are not simply aligned, but effectively identical.
Our experiences in intelligence and security co-operation have been informed both by the awesome responsibility our choices carry, and by a history written in the blood of our countrymen. Canadian and American militaries and intelligence agencies trust each other with their lives in relationships forged in the crucibles of two world wars, the Korean conflict, Desert Storm, and Afghanistan. Our Central Intelligence Agency recently celebrated its 75th anniversary. It was founded at “Camp X” – near Oshawa, Ont.
No American official has ever dared to diminish that legacy by questioning Canada’s sovereignty. And to what advantage? To insult our neighbours is to devalue our shared interests and sacrifices. Worse, it causes every ally around the world to doubt American reliability and our basic decency. It is not a joke and it is dishonourable.
A Canada strong, proud and free has been a cherished asset to American business and our security ever since Canadians remodeled our capital in 1814. Discarding the trust and confidence of the past two centuries would be a tragedy for both countries.
The blame here is not symmetric; the U.S. started this problem for no good reason and it needs to end before irreversible damage becomes the legacy of this current American administration.