The Cable
The Cable goes inside the foreign policy machine, from Foggy Bottom to Turtle Bay, the White House to Embassy Row.

Canada’s Trudeau Speaks Softly and Carries a Nice Shtick

Now Trump has met with at least one other member of NAFTA.

By , a global affairs journalist and the author of The Influence of Soros and Bad Jews, and , a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy.
trumpdeau
trumpdeau

The much-anticipated meeting between President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yielded a polite insistence on mutual respect, but with potential bilateral rifts simmering just beneath the surface.

The much-anticipated meeting between President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yielded a polite insistence on mutual respect, but with potential bilateral rifts simmering just beneath the surface.

The day began with a very firm handshake, but one that (unlike Trump’s clutching of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe) did eventually end.

Trudeau seemed to deliver a message to the Trump administration: We won’t disrespect your policies on immigration, with which we disagree, if you don’t disrespect us on trade. In that he echoed Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, who in her visit to Washington last week stressed the mutual dependence inherent in the trade relationship.

“At the end of the day,” Trudeau said at a joint press conference, “Canada and the U.S. will always remain each other’s most essential partners.”

Like Freeland, he noted that 35 U.S. states list Canada as major export market. So, too, did he cite the billions in two-way trade between the United States and Canada every day, and the millions of “good, middle-class jobs” that depend on it. He and Trump share a common goal, Trudeau said, which was to ensure prosperity for working families, later adding, “We have to allow free flow of goods and services and be aware of integration.”

Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States, making the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) a do-or-die agenda item for Trudeau. Trump, despite repeatedly threatening to scrap the free trade agreement, assured press on Monday he was focused on forging a stronger trade relationship with Canada. Pressed on what kind of changes he envisions for the U.S.-Canada bit of NAFTA, Trump said “tweaks.”

But what really matters on trade happens behind closed doors, John Weekes, who served as Canada’s chief negotiator on NAFTA, told Foreign Policy. Weekes said the tone of Trudeau and Trump’s private meeting itself could chart the future trade relations as much as anything.

“If this meeting goes well today, ministers will understand their bosses got along well and want to find a way to make things work,” Weekes said.

Less congenial was the subject of immigration and refugees. Trudeau sidestepped outright criticism when asked about it at the press conference. “Relationships between neighbors are pretty complex and we won’t always agree on everything,” he said. “The last thing Canadians would expect is for me to come down and lecture another country on how they govern themselves,” he added. (Actually, recent polls show Canadians may have wanted him to do just that.)

Trump, for his part, defended his immigration policies, both the now-blocked travel ban and deportations of immigrants all over the country.

“I’m just doing what I said I would do when we won by a very, very large Electoral College vote,” he said, still apparently smarting from his popular vote loss.

Trump only took two questions from the U.S. press, and no reporters asked him about revelations that National Security Advisor Mike Flynn discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office, or about North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile over the weekend.

FP staff writer David Francis contributed to this piece.

Photo credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Emily Tamkin is a global affairs journalist and the author of The Influence of Soros and Bad Jews. She was a staff writer at Foreign Policy from 2016-2018. Twitter: @emilyctamkin

Robbie Gramer is a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @RobbieGramer

More from Foreign Policy

The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.
The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.

America Is a Heartbeat Away From a War It Could Lose

Global war is neither a theoretical contingency nor the fever dream of hawks and militarists.

A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.
A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.

The West’s Incoherent Critique of Israel’s Gaza Strategy

The reality of fighting Hamas in Gaza makes this war terrible one way or another.

Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.
Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.

Biden Owns the Israel-Palestine Conflict Now

In tying Washington to Israel’s war in Gaza, the U.S. president now shares responsibility for the broader conflict’s fate.

U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.
U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.

Taiwan’s Room to Maneuver Shrinks as Biden and Xi Meet

As the latest crisis in the straits wraps up, Taipei is on the back foot.