Last week U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance made headlines when he told a closed-door fundraiser that Prime Minister Mark Carney had tried to “out-tough” Trump in negotiations. He also praised Conservative Party MP Jamil Jivani as a helpful advocate for trade and dismissed Official Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre as a “non-entity,” writes Stephanie Carvin in the Toronto Star.
Another of Vance’s points received less attention but was arguably more ominous: “the whole point of this is to change Canada’s behaviour,” he said, and shift the country “in a Trumpian direction.”
The recent trade talks mark only the end of the beginning of negotiations with the Trump administration. We should expect the U.S. to continue using its economic leverage to dominate Canada, potentially forcing our country into a customs union-like arrangement in which Washington dictates the terms.