Stop panicking about Trump's tariff threats
Published version: https://thehub.ca/2024/11/28/devastating-canadian-experts-react-to-donald-trumps-threat-of-25-percent-tariffs/
Stop panicking
By Roland Paris, director, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa
Trump’s tariff threat shouldn’t have come as a surprise. This is how he starts negotiations: by threatening dire consequences to throw the other side off balance.
Unfortunately, he succeeded. Some Canadian political leaders have responded by siding with Trump, by blaming Ottawa, or by talking tough–when what we really need is calm resolve to defend Canada’s interests and a shared commitment to mount the biggest advocacy and outreach campaign in the United States that this country has ever undertaken.
Justin Trudeau’s unpopularity makes him an easy political target for his rivals, but he is still the prime minister. And if Canadian political leaders fail to work together at this moment of national urgency, they will be doing our country a lasting disservice.