President Donald Trump’s authoritarian fantasies and economic destruction successfully chased Canada into China’s waiting embrace on Friday.
Trump has made lofty promises to restore global respect for the United States, which he asserts was lost during the Biden administration. Just days ago, in fact, he absurdly claimed that inflation has been defeated, the economy is booming and America is “respected again like never before .”
And Americans got a taste of what that “respect” looks like on Friday, as the prime minister of the U.S.’ northern neighbor and of a fellow NATO ally cheerily posed for photos with authoritarian leader Xi Jinping and announced a new era of partnership with China.
The two countries announced a deal that will see Canada cut its tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in exchange for lower tariffs on Canadian farm imports, the Associated Press explains.
Trump’s tariff war and his obsession with the idea of forcing Canada to become the 51st U.S. state seem to have ignited greater kinship between the two countries. Feast your eyes.
French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron warned his nation’s ambassadors last week that Trump’s infatuation with calling Canada the “51st state,” as he has repeatedly, risks upsetting the global order. And that appears to be coming to fruition.
In a press release announcing the partnership, Prime Minister Mark Carney said:
“In a more divided and uncertain world, Canada is building a stronger, more independent, and more resilient economy. To that end, Canada’s new government is working with urgency and determination to diversify our trade partnerships and catalyse massive new levels of investment. As the world’s second-largest economy, China presents enormous opportunities for Canada in this mission.”
Asked Friday on CNBC whether the new partnership would impact U.S.-Canada trade relations, Trump’s trade representative, Jamieson Greer, claimed the deal would somehow be “problematic for Canada.” He went on to say, “there’s a reason why we don’t sell a lot of Chinese cars in the United States” — and that reason, he said, is because tariffs are in place to “protect American autoworkers.”
And yet, the administration suggests, the sight of one of the United States’ closest allies partnering economically with one of the nation’s chief economic rivals is nothing to be concerned about. It truly is no wonder why a large majority of the American public opposes Trump’s handling of the economy, according to a new CNN poll. In reality, Trump’s tariffs have led to price increases to the American auto industry and his anti-EV agenda has undercut electric vehicle production here, as well. In fact, Trump and his administration’s policies have broadly damaged the manufacturing industry and blue-collar work, as a whole. Just this week, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer warned about the bleak outlook for the U.S. auto industry if Trump’s policies — in particular, his rift with Canada on trade — continue. “When we fight our neighbors,” she said, “China wins.”
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog. 
