Ottawa may have to let U.S. President-elect Donald Trump serve as a “senior partner” in the Canada-U.S. relationship, even if it makes Canadians “nervous,” says a prominent Republican critic of the incoming president.
Jeff Timmer, a longtime Republican official and strategist in Michigan who helped lead the effort to defeat Trump in the last U.S. election, says the Canadian government will need to treat Trump as “the man in charge” to ensure Canada’s interests are protected during what emerges. The US administration is expected to be protectionist.
“I think Donald Trump is an easy guy to read and an easy guy to play poker with,” he told Mercedes Stevenson in an interview that aired Sunday. Western bloc. “You have to treat him the way he wants to be treated.
He added: “I know it’s not fair to put this on Canadians, but Donald Trump likes to see the United States as the largest partner in the partnership between the two countries. … This may anger Canadians, but it may help achieve their goals.”
Canada is expected to face enormous pressures on cross-border trade, immigration and defense spending under a Trump presidency. The federal government says that Canada is prepared to deal with any impacts on these and other files, after having prepared for months for the possibility of Trump returning to the White House.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on Friday expressed confidence that her government’s alliance with the United States over Chinese tariffs puts Canada on a “solid footing” in upcoming trade negotiations.
She said previous trade disputes under Trump’s first administration showed neither country benefiting from tariffs on cross-border goods, which could ensure Canada is exempt from the sweeping tariffs Trump promised on foreign imports in his next term.
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“There is no doubt that Trump will continue to put NATO allies on standby” to meet their commitment to spend at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense, Temer said.
That is likely to be a weak point for Canada, which has said it will not reach the target until 2032, despite new doubts about the government’s plan to get there.
But Timmer said Canada needs to address immigration concerns before Trump takes office in January, given the global challenges driving increased immigration to North America.
“I think every country in North America — Canada, the United States, Mexico — should be very concerned about the influx of migrants from their southern border,” he said.
During this year’s election, Timmer served as campaign director and chief operating officer of the Lincoln Project, a group of former Republican strategists bent on ensuring Trump’s defeat. It was among several Republican groups that united with former GOP lawmakers and members of the first Trump administration who supported US Vice President Kamala Harris.
Although Trump’s victory itself was not a surprise, the scale of his victory was a “shock to the system,” Timmer said. Trump won the popular vote for the first time in his three presidential elections, and post-election polls indicate that he has captured the support of almost every traditional Democratic bloc, especially black and Hispanic men, while improving his support among younger, non-college voters.
When asked why he thought Trump won so easily, Timmer pointed to a phrase attributed to James Carville, the strategist for Bill Clinton’s successful first presidential campaign, in 1992: “It’s the economy, stupid.”
“I think the economy gave older, wealthier white voters the cover they needed to hide their xenophobia and sexism, because they still play a role, especially with older white voters,” Timmer said.
“But there are people who are not as well off, even though the economy in general is. And those are younger Latino men, younger black men, younger white voters who are graduating from college (or) dropping out of high school and starting their careers, and finding… Economic conditions are more difficult than previous generations faced.
Overall, a second Trump administration will likely operate similarly to the first, with “a lot of chaos, a lot of disinformation, a lot of missteps, a lot of overstatement,” Timmer said.
He added that the extent to which Trump will go in implementing his vision — including planned mass deportations, deregulation across industries, and reform of government structures — depends on the extent to which Republicans control Congress.
Republicans announced control of the US Senate in the elections, but the results in the US House of Representatives – where Republicans have a slim majority – will take more time to determine as votes continue to be counted in close races.
“There is still a chance that Democrats could take control, which would have a huge impact on what Trump can do and what Republicans can do,” Timmer said.
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