WASHINGTON – When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the US capital this week for the first time since the election of President Joe Biden, two remarkable timing coincidences illustrated the situation facing Canada in its dealings with its closest and greatest ally. You could say that they describe the “state of the relationship”, which is an introduction to the first match.
The Canadian American Business Council, led by former diplomat Scotty Greenwood, hosts an annual gala dinner on the state of the relationship in Washington, which is as important a function for those working on cross-border issues as it exists. This year’s gala, in a luxurious hotel with a jaw-dropping view of the White House through its open windows, was scheduled for November 17 long before it was announced that the prime minister will attend a summit at the White House. the next day.
Naturally, that meant Trudeau and key members of his cabinet would join in the festivities – the prime minister’s speech suddenly became the main event. “Canada and the United States are the best of friends,” Trudeau said as his closing line, drawing big laughs from the corporate executives and US administration officials he was sitting with.
Sentiment can be a standard theme for a politician: “This is one of the easiest relationships you can have as American president and one of the best,” Biden said the next day, but it was also felt vividly in a crowded room. . working every day on cross-border economic, cultural and political issues. The formal presentations involved dozens of mayors and governors and members of Parliament and Congress who testified how dear the relationship between the two countries was.
That was in stark contrast to the other coincidence of the visit. Trudeau’s agenda in the city was spearheaded by concerns about an electric vehicle subsidy included in Biden’s economic plan, which would apply only to US-made and union-made vehicles. Trudeau said time and again during his visit that this threatened Canadian companies and jobs that for decades have been seamlessly integrated into a continental US-based auto industry.
So it was a slap in the face that the House of Representatives passed that measure, along with the rest of the economic package, on Friday, just hours after Trudeau left town.
I might add one more coincidence: On Wednesday, when Trudeau spoke to Congress and rubbed shoulders at the gala, Biden was at an auto plant in Michigan, bragging about the upcoming electric vehicle subsidy and the new green American jobs it would create.
The White House background reports and advance proclamations about the summit failed to mention Trudeau’s key issue. And while the Prime Minister’s Office highlighted it prominently in its reports on the Biden-Trudeau meeting, the White House summary of their personal meeting did not mention it.
This does not reflect so much malice as forgetfulness. Like Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi personally greeted Trudeau and said it was an honor to meet with him, just two days before passing the measure he had been there to oppose.
For Democrats, the vehicle subsidy is a small but politically very popular part of a giant domestic spending package that is at the center of Biden’s agenda. Getting that packet through your caucus has been like herding cats, very agitated cats that don’t like each other. Nationally, their electoral prospects are disastrous, even as they are caught in a fight for American democracy with the Trump forces that staged the January 6 riots on Capitol Hill. In foreign affairs, they are immersed in what they see as an existential struggle with China for global dominance and a constant political obsession with migratory flows on its southern border. And there is this pandemic that you may have heard of.
American officials know that your old and trusted best friend has some concerns about this vehicle allowance. But in their minds, it’s not on the list of emergencies they’re trying to juggle; It barely made the news in the United States during the summit.
At first glance, it doesn’t seem like it should be all that important for an old friend to express his protectionist measures in a way that brings his friend Canada into the bubble, as it has done with car manufacturing for decades. It’s an adjustment, and one that the United States has made many times before, one in line with the trade agreements it has signed. It just complicates a political slogan, one that was brandished at a politically difficult time.
Which could be where those cross-border relationships so evident at the business council gala become key. Scotty Greenwood, who was the host of that event, always talks to me about the importance of things like the “Canada-United States partnership roadmap” signed earlier this year, or the announcements of working groups or agendas for future discussions arising from meetings like this week. summit. It’s in those lower-profile follow-up discussions that the details are worked out, and perhaps where the strength of lasting relationships can be put to work, outside of the news cycle.
The state of the relationship, as illustrated by these two time coincidences, is that the sentiment of friendship toward Canadians is strong in the US, but that Canada’s problems hardly occupy a footnote on the American agenda. The challenge for Canada is trying to find a way to use friendship to avoid being overwhelmed by headlines.
Reference-www.thestar.com