Canada is a bit of America what Switzerland is to Europe: lakes and mountains, Francophonie, Multilingualism, Federalism, Pacifism. Musicans will even remember that the two nations share an icon: Céline Dion, who won Eurovision in 1988 under Swiss colors. In short, a postcard where zenitude and sequins are mixed. Some will therefore have been surprised to see the homeland of Leonard Cohen and Shania Twain take out the claws in the face of the threats of annexation and the trade war launched by Donald Trump. Bluff or serious threats? Never mind. Because In Canada, the hostile outings of the American president do not make anyone laugh. Ottawa replied by announcing new customs duties on certain American products. Counter-offensive massively supported by the population. While a call for boycott of American products begins to feel in the figures: “The share of American products in our total sales is in free fall,” said the CEO of Empire Co. Ltd., owner of Sobeys and Safeway, two large supermarket chains in Canada.
An attitude deemed ungrateful by the American Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, who estimated that Canada should “say thank you” to its “greatest trading partner in the world, vital to its existence”. Canadians, not grateful enough? “Lunick thinks that we are a nation of polite and docile people who go to racket work and thank each maple they meet by passing. He would better take a look in the classification of penalties of all time in the NHL (National Hockey League) and to note where most of these harshs to cook were born,” replied the columnist at Toronto Star Vinay Menon. And too bad if, economically, it is David against Goliath (around 75 % of Canadian exports are intended for the United States).
“In trade as in hockey, Canada will win,” said Mark Carney, the new Canadian Prime Minister, replacing Justin Trudeau. The Liberals can also thank Donald Trump for giving them colors in the polls as the legislative elections scheduled for next October. First promised to defeat, they are now ahead of Pierre Hairyvre, leader of the Conservative Party. “The fact is that if Trump had not brandished the threat of new customs rights or multiplied the casual statements on the transformation of Canada into 51st state, he could have kept a friendly and even complacent neighbor. Instead, even if the Conservatives take power, the Canadians will expect their manager that he defends them, recently in Foreign Policy Kevin Yin. Would the all-powerful American president underestimated the 9th world economic power?
A glance in the rear view mirror recalls, however, that this is not the first time that Canada has been rebuilt. During the War of 1812, even before becoming officially Canada, the inhabitants of this vast territory under British domination pushed the American invader. The President of the United States, James Madison, had indeed declared war on the British Empire by attacking the colonies of the Haut and Bas-Canada. Convinced that the victory would be rapid, the Americans thought of taking advantage of the fact that Great Britain was already widely mobilized by the Napoleonic wars in Europe. Which made William Eustis say, the American war secretary: “We can take Canada without soldiers, we just have to send officers to the province and the people […] will join our banner. “But to their surprise, the local populations did not welcome them as liberators. Two years later, the conflict ended on a failure for the United States.
“Living by your side is like sleeping with an elephant”
A century and a half later, it was the Vietnam war that revives tensions between the two neighbors. In 1965, Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson – Nobel Peace Prize – called for a break in the bombing in Vietnam, which earned him a lively admonition of Lyndon B. Johnson, reported by journalist Lawrence Martin In The Presidents and the Prime Minister (1982). The case will go no further. At the end of the 1960s, Pierre Elliott Trudeau – Father of Justin – became the bane of the American president Richard Nixon. The wrong Canadian leader? Having distanced themselves from a military level in the middle of the Cold War, but also recognized Communist China in 1970.
A year earlier, the Canadian leader said about the United States: “Living by your side is like sleeping with an elephant. No matter what good will, we are affected by each of his movements.” Another discord: the protectionist turn of the Nixon administration which briefly imposed in 1971 an increase of 10 % of customs duties on all imports of very foreigners, including Canadian products. An electroshock that will push Ottawa to diversify its trade in order to reduce its economic dependence on the United States.
Closer to us, in 2003, if we remember Dominique de Villepin’s speech against the war in Iraq, we often forget that Canada, despite American and British pressure, also refused to participate. On March 17, under a thunderous applause in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced that, without resolution of the UN, Canada would remain away. Resolution that will never come, but which will not prevent the United States from launching the offensive on Baghdad three days later. “George W. Bush was disappointed. He did not think that Canada would say no,” said Jean Chrétien for years later. Curiously, if the United States had a hard tooth against France, they once again forgive its Canadian ally … “There is a lot to admire in Canadian culture, and the Americans appreciate it”, analyzes with L’Express, Joseph Nye, the former director of the Kennedy School of Govern in Harvard, theorist soft power. Ironically, he concludes, “by attacking Canada, Trump especially reminded Canadians why they are different … and why if they want to remain so”.
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