Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past six months you’ve probably heard several remarks, satirical or otherwise, about the potential of Canada becoming the 51st state of the U.S. of A. Canada, understandably, is doing just about everything to prevent an unfunny, overplayed, joke from becoming a stark reality. Following his election on April 28, Prime Minister Mark Carney has been outspoken about his views against recent American trade policy. Carney ran primarily for Canada’s liberal party that up until recently was losing ground. It appears that in the wake of recent American trade policy though, that the liberal party has gained ground in the Canadian political landscape.
In an article by AP News, Carney has been adamant about his stance on American interference in Canadian affairs, he has been critical of both President Trump and sentiment that threatens Canadian sovereignty. All this coming as massive American tariffs on imports have ruffled more than a few feathers in international relations.
So what does this mean for continued American and Canadian relations? Well seeing as our current commander-in-chief has seemingly made it his mission to burn every foreign policy bridge imaginable, we can likely only expect things to ramp up in the coming months. According to CNN, in a recent meeting with Prime Minister Carney, President Trump made it quite clear that he had no intentions of easing up the U.S. tariffs that have caused the cost of Canadian imports into the U.S. to steadily increase. In turn Canada put into place its own tariffs on American goods.
This trade war poses nothing but a threat to both the U.S. economy, since America’s economy thrives on imports of goods and the exporting of labor. Not to mention the animosity between the two leaders also threatens a breakdown in foreign relations. Canada is a key player in U.S. relations with Europe, seeing as it is still heavily tied to the U.K., so if Canada is lost as an ally it could put all of European relations into jeopardy moving forward. Canada is the first domino, and right now it’s on the verge of falling.
The way that our leaders choose to handle our closest neighbor will set a precedent for all foreign relations moving forward. At the moment it appears that they’re dead set on completely derailing every alliance we have. In turn, it has even caused Canadian officials to wish to veer away from the U.S. Canada’s own Foreign Prime Minister Melanie Joly, stated in a BBC interview that recent American trade policy has greatly affected the Canadian economy, and is becoming a root cause for Canada to reduce its dependency on the U.S. and gravitate closer to Europe for stability. Canada has been one of the United States’ closest allies for decades, and at this rate that could change within a matter of years.
It’s a turbulent time in America to say the least, and right now the last thing we need is the people in power creating more problems for us by going around and angering our closest neighbors and allies. The precedent that this administration sets in foreign relations could have widespread, long-term, and generally catastrophic consequences in the near future. So watch closely in the coming weeks and months; we’re witnessing history. It poses the question, will we learn from it in the future or continue down this destructive path?
