This article was published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s Washington office, the Center for North American Prosperity and Security (CNAPS.org). It originally appeared in the National Post. Below is an excerpt from the article.
By Derek Burney, March 3, 2025
Some readers reacted to my column about “Tumultuous times with Trump” by asking, “So what should Canada do?” There are not a lot of good options available when dealing with a U.S. leader who pays little heed to international trade laws, or to alliance considerations, or facts. Donald Trump’s disdain for Canada is as abhorrent as his unilateral concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Here are my suggestions:
1. After nine years of domestic neglect and global irrelevance, and now a government in limbo, Canada seems incapable of mounting a serious response to the provocations and threats by the mercurial U.S. president. An early federal election would be most welcome. Dramatic change is essential because of the deep rut we are in — sluggish economic growth and feeble security. Natural resources — our singular strength — have been squelched for more than a decade by blocked projects, excessive regulations, and will-o’-the- wisp climate fantasies. We must unleash our resource base and required transmission facilities to spur investment and create options to diversify our trade. Asian and European markets literally begged for access to our LNG but were rejected. Now the Americans are moving rapidly to fill the gap. Since we already subsidize our oil exports to the U.S., we should have no difficulty competing against them in Europe and Asia. And we need to augment security, especially in our Arctic.
2. Relationships are key to success in foreign affairs and are needed today. This was Brian Mulroney’s forte. He operated on the premise that the two most important functions for any Canadian prime minister are national unity and managing relations with the U.S. Mulroney established extraordinary access and influence with both Ronald Reagan and Reagan’s successor, George H.W. Bush, which yielded exceptional benefits for Canada: the Free Trade Agreement with Reagan and the acid rain accord (officially known as the Canada-United States Air Quality Agreement) and NAFTA with Bush Sr. He persistently pushed Reagan on acid rain but to no avail. But because Bush was a summer resident in Maine, he had direct knowledge and concern about the damage caused by acid rain. The Senate majority leader, George Mitchell, a Democrat, was also from Maine. He helped secure the necessary Congressional support.
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Derek H. Burney is a former 30-year career diplomat who served as Ambassador to the United States of America from 1989-1993, and a member of the Advisory Council for CNAPS.
