US President-elect Donald Trump’s increasingly bold threats against Canada’s economy and sovereignty indicate that “something serious is brewing” and a serious response is needed, a US analyst says.
David Frum, a writer for The Atlantic who has covered American politics for decades, doesn’t think Trump actually wants to make Canada a US state, but he says the fact that the next president keeps repeating that idea means he’s eyeing some kind of aggressive action. .
“If you’re living with a mentally unstable partner and they say, ‘I’m going to push you down the stairs,’ they may not literally mean to push you down the stairs,” Fromm told Mercedes Stevenson in a broadcast interview. Sunday Western bloc.
“If he then adds, ‘I’m going to chop you up with a knife,’ he may not literally mean chop you up with a knife, but you better have a plan because he’s going to do something. There’s something dangerous in the brewing process that you need to pay attention to.”
“Does he mean some plan of aggression and hostility towards Canada? Clearly he does.
Trump surprised international allies last week during a press conference in which he refused to rule out using military action to seize control of Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally, as well as the Panama Canal.
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He also said he would use “economic force” to force Canada to join the United States and get rid of the “artificially drawn line” between the two countries, rejected the need for Canadian imports such as cars and dairy products, and again threatened “major tariffs” on Canadian goods that would… That would harm the Canadian economy.
Trump has not backed down from his threat to impose 25% tariffs despite initially linking it to demands for enhanced border security, which the Canadian government has sought to address.
Frum said Canadians should prepare for this “tariff aggression,” which Trump could pursue through several unilateral actions, including declaring a national emergency to justify it.
He added that Canada would also be affected by Trump’s aggression toward Latin American allies, especially Mexico.
Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance He owns They said they wanted to deploy the US Army against Mexican drug cartels and to stop the flow of dangerous drugs into the United States, Which may be considered an act of war.
Canada may soon also see the arrival of thousands of people who fear deportation from the United States seeking refuge to escape Trump’s pledged crackdown on illegal residents and immigration, Frum said.
“The immigration threat that looms right now in North America is people moving from the United States to Canada,” he said.
“If you can get to the border and walk across it, you can take advantage of Canada’s more lenient rules.”
Trump and the people around him have a “more established hostility” toward U.S. allies and institutions ahead of his second term, which will require a different approach from the Canadian government, Frum said.
While Frum believes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government “did a very good job” of managing US relations during Trump’s first term by making some concessions while rallying allies, “I don’t know (if) this playbook will work again.” .
“In (Trump’s first term), messing with North America was not a top priority for Trump, whereas (in his second term) it really was,” he said.
“He does not believe in collective security. He believes in domination and being dominated, and he wants the United States to dominate because that is the only relationship he can understand.”
Whoever takes over as prime minister from Trudeau, who announced his intention to resign after selecting a new Liberal Party leader in March, will have to be willing to consider all possible reactions to Trump — no matter how “crazy” they may be.
“You have to get in a room with ten highly experienced Ottawa civil servants, provincial and national security officials, and say to them: There are no limits here, I want to hear your thoughts,” he said.
“Reconciliation, compromise, working with partners, that’s Plan A. But you really need a Plan B that includes more extreme ideas that say, ‘You know what? This president may not be interested in reconciliation, and he may not be someone who can be calmed down with concessions.”
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