On Jan. 7, United States President Donald Trump stated that he wants to use “economic force” to join Canada and the United States at a news conference in Palm Beach, Florida. During the news conference, Trump said he doesn’t understand why the U.S. spends two billion dollars to care for Canada.
He said Canada has access to the U.S. military and inaccurately exaggerated the trade deficit between the two countries. He also said the U.S. does not rely on Canadian goods such as milk, wood and cars while the U.S. supports Canada’s security and military.
“This is an entirely implausible scenario,” said Emmett Macfarlane, a political science professor at the University of Waterloo.
“The Canadian population is overwhelmingly opposed to the idea even if the United States is successful at imposing an economic recession on us by using tariffs and other means, Canada is not going to suddenly capitulate and decide to become part of the United States,” he said.
Recently, Trump started advocating for America to gain more global territory. He says he is willing to resort to using military force if necessary. Trump repeatedly stated that the U.S. would take over Greenland from Denmark and reclaim the Panama Canal after the U.S. returned it to the Panamanian government on Dec. 31, 1999.
Macfarlane said if Trump’s measures to annex Canada are to impose economic suffering through his business tariffs, all it will do is damage the Canadian economy, increase the price of goods and damage the U.S. economy. The ongoing tariff threat is happening during a politically challenging time for Canada.
On Jan. 6, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as prime minister and the leader of the ruling Liberal party. However, he will remain in his position until the Liberal party elects a new leader by March 9.
“We’re not currently leaderless,” Macfarlane said, explaining how the Prime Minister has the tools needed to respond to tariffs or other kinds of economic attacks by the U.S.
“We don’t need parliament to enact retaliatory tariffs of our own, to take border measures or other things we might do to respond to Trump,” he said.
John Malloy, a political science professor at Carleton University, said the tension between Canada and the United States is the proposed business tariffs, not Trump’s claim that he will annex Canada.
“I think the threats of annexation are just an exaggeration. I don’t think anyone’s looking at that,” Malloy said.
He said Trump doesn’t understand that Canada sells more products to the U.S. than the U.S. sells to Canada, because of Canada’s energy market and its energy exports. This causes a trade imbalance between the countries.
“Both have been prospering. Canada is an important market for the United States for goods, services and tourism,” Malloy said. He also said Trump’s actions could cause more tension between the two countries.
Malloy also predicts that from a political and governmental standpoint, if Trump doesn’t enact tariffs and focuses on something else, the tension between Canada and the U.S. will calm down. However, if he enacts tariffs, this could be one of the worst situations both countries have seen in a long time.
“I think there’s enough goodwill between the two countries and close ties that we’ll see them coming, that we will see a resolution to it,” he said. “The United States depends on us for a whole bunch of stuff including oil, electricity, wheat and a whole pile of things. We have the power to retaliate. I think the United States will come to its senses but getting there could be rocky.”
Contributed Photo/Joyce N. Boghosian for the White House
