Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of Washington Secrets. Tensions between Canada and the United States are at an all-time high, yet it needn’t have ended up like that. If only the vice president and a pal from his fantasy football league had been in charge of the negotiations, it all might have been different. Plus, what are the takeaways from last night’s primaries (anything you want, probably), and is it time to make the Washington Commanders affordable again?JD Vance was talking to a private audience in New York when he offered an intriguing detail on how trade talks with Canada went down.After ridiculing Prime Minister Mark Carney for trying to “out-tough” Donald Trump, Vance revealed that an old friend of his had opened a back channel, helping win what turned out to be a temporary reprieve last week.
“But the quiet sort of behind-the-scenes story is that this, like, random MP who has a good relationship with us has been a pretty effective advocate,” he said, according to a recording obtained by the Canadian Press.Jamil Jivani is not exactly a random Canadian MP. He has, in fact, been a close friend of the vice president ever since they bonded over their outsider status as students at Yale Law School.They are so close that the two are in a fantasy football league together, and Jivani delivered a Bible reading at Vance’s wedding.Vance’s office did not want to talk about contacts with Jivani during trade talks. Nor did the Conservative MP — Jivani did not respond to requests for comment.But it illustrates once again that personal relationships and unconventional diplomacy remain at the heart of the Trump administration’s approach to negotiations.Jivani has been open about his backchannel in the past. In February, he met Trump, Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a visit to Washington.
