My Take | Canada is between a rock and hard place
- Ottawa’s foreign policy establishment and diplomatic corps have been asleep at the wheel as the country is caught in a tug of war with the United States on one side and China on the other
Given its geography, trade and economics, Canada has few options other than being a faithful ally of the United States. In the past, this steadfast Washington-centric policy of Ottawa had mostly paid off.
However, the rise of China, which is also Canada’s second largest trading partner after the US, has presented a long-term challenge to Ottawa’s decades-old policy assumptions. The US presidency of Donald Trump has become an immediate problem for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, so much so that the latter’s political career has been directly imperilled.
Much of Trudeau’s current predicament in foreign affairs stems from his government’s swift execution of an American request to arrest Huawei Technologies’ No 2 Sabrina Meng Wanzhou for extradition. Since then, China has detained two Canadians; announced it would execute two Canadian drug smugglers; halted Canadian canola imports, the country’s most important cash crop; and suspended the permits of two major pork producers.
Beijing has refused to discuss any of these issues at a senior official level despite repeated attempts from Ottawa. The reason is simple: Canada has no leverage over China, except, perhaps, through Washington. But Trump’s is not a Canadian-friendly White House. Just to gain a small advantage in trade talks with Ottawa last year, he imposed tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium imports on national security grounds. If Canada were a threat, the US would be at war with most countries around the world by now.
Canada tried to press the US to link Huawei – the Chinese telecommunications giant – with their ongoing trade negotiations. Unsurprisingly, it has been given the cold shoulder. With uncommon naivety, Trudeau and his foreign policy and trade ministers now complain about the lack of American cooperation, arguing the US has a responsibility to help.
Through all these travails, it’s extraordinary his government still follows America’s international lead over Venezuela, Latvia and Nato. It’s almost laughable that Canada’s ambassador in the US, David MacNaughton, now says Ottawa will no longer respond so positively to American requests in foreign policy matters without reciprocity.
