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Photo by Alex Wong /Getty ImagesBecause of Gutenberg-era deadlines, this piece is being written before we have any clear idea of how the trade discussions between Canada and the United States are going or know if the latest imposition of Trump’s tariffs will take place this week, though he did announce they would be frozen for three days on Tuesday night while the finer points of a deal are ironed out. I have much more confidence in the professional trade negotiators than I do in the politicians who are posturing on both sides about these very complicated questions. Canada’s trade negotiators have always been highly respected by foreign government officials who have commented upon them, none more flatteringly than President Trump.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorMy own intuition, which isn’t worth much on this subject, is that some compromise will be achieved that our opposition parties will represent as capitulation, the government will claim to have been a victory, and the U.S. administration will present as a satisfactory compromise. These tariffs would inconvenience a significant number of Americans and unless the Canadians were completely inflexible, which is almost inconceivable, the administration appears prepared to ease up on a few points in consideration of what promises to be a close-run campaign for control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections in November. (Considering some of the loopy Marxist candidates they have nominated, it seems to me unlikely that the Democrats could win the Senate.)The National Post newsletter that doesn’t hold back, giving readers the unvarnished truth on media, politics and culture.By signing up, you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Right? will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againWhatever happens, the fact that relations between this country and the United States have reached such a state of tension raises several points that should be considered, regardless of the outcome of the present negotiations. Prime Minister Carney made a skillful appeal in the election campaign last year to outright tribalism in mocking “orange man,” making a number of gratuitous comments about the United States generally, promising in a hockey metaphor (even though he was himself a goaltender) to keep his “elbows up,” and generally promising to defeat Trump’s alleged attempt to “break us.”This proved an agile political tactic and the largely biased and bigoted national political media amplified Carney’s pseudo-Churchillian histrionics. The large lead that the Conservative party had accumulated in the country’s belated response to the disaster of the Justin Trudeau decade, evaporated. (It was altogether unsurprising to me to see Justin, whom I have always liked personally, mirthfully presented on American television newscasts last week waving a toilet plunger around while jerkily dancing to lyrics composed by his son, in a hardware store on St. Laurent Boulevard in Montréal, near the Palais National, where Henri Bourassa and the St. Jean-Baptiste Society and Bloc Populaire held their rowdy proto-separatist meetings 85 years ago.)Carney’s subsequent campaign at Davos and other decayed intellectual fleshpots of bureaucratic authoritarianism to stir up hostility to the United States as a country that has abused its immense success and military and economic power, and his pretentious reformulations of Thucydides and other esoterica as he pretended to organize a league of aggrieved “middle powers” to confront Trump’s America, have not improved the ambience of Canadian-American relations. Any such initiative is like dragooning a group of mice to confront my late Siamese cat at the height of his self-confidence.However the trade negotiations turn out, there is an important point that we should grasp, and if they turn out poorly, there is a second point that we should at least keep in mind. Whatever happens, we should understand that it is not just the vagaries of his personality that have caused President Trump to think that Canadians are not really committed to having their own nationality. He is aware that roughly a third of our GDP is involved in trade with the United States; he has seen that the incompetence of the Ontario Securities Commission has largely destroyed our long-flourishing financial underwriting industry, and has noted the Liberals’ insane assault on the petroleum industry to defend against a nonexistent existential threat from climate change. And he has witnessed with unimpeachable astonishment the spectacle of our lowering official flags to half-mast for six months in penitent national shame for an atrocity that did not in fact occur, (the surreptitious burial in unmarked graves of hundreds of indigenous children beside a native residential school in British Columbia).He noted that Trudeau told him the Canadian economy would “collapse” if contemplated tariffs were imposed, and he was aware that Canada has been freeloading in its defence budget for more than 30 years. Trump and his advisers are also well aware of the strong separatist movements in Alberta and Quebec. He doesn’t detect any significant cultural difference between the large numbers of Canadians that he sees in Florida and New York and analogous Americans. Some of Mr. Trump’s comments and actions have been outrageous, as I’ve written here and elsewhere before, and have said to him. But the tentative conclusion that he arrived at, though erroneous, should give us all pause. However the trade issues may unfold, we should keep in mind that we are not an overly convincing nationality. The world knows we are a good people in a rich country, but doesn’t think we’ve made the most of what we have. We must resolve to be more purposeful and relevant to the world.If the negotiations go badly, even after the announcement of a tentative deal, and we really have to endure some hardship and retaliate strongly against the American Leviathan, it will be difficult but it will be an opportunity. And it will be only the second time in our history that a major foreign power has directly threatened Canada’s integrity as a country. The previous occasion was when General Charles de Gaulle came to Canada in 1967 ostensibly to help celebrate our centenary as an independent confederation and before a crowd of 200,000 in front of the Montréal City Hall and a television audience of many millions, he said that his trip that day from Québec City along Québec’s first Highway “had reminded (him) of the Liberation,” and he concluded to enormous applause by bellowing the separatist slogan “Vive le Quebec libre!” He was then rivaled only by Mao Zedong as the most formidable statesmen in the world and he committed a monstrous breach of diplomatic courtesy in a country that stormed ashore at Juno Beach to liberate France in 1944 while he sat in the Connaught Hotel in London listening to the radio. Canada had never before been directly singularly challenged, even in the world wars, when we were not in any direct danger. De Gaulle’s visit aggravated the separatist challenge but we prevailed. If necessary, we shall prevail again.National Post Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.