Trump paves way for a Trudeau resurgence
Following his misadventures on the India subcontinent, Justin Trudeau has to restore his once-lustrous international image. Donald Trump is his ticket.
The U.S. President has upped his reputation for running a gong show with his admission that he had no idea what he was talking about when telling the Prime Minister the United States runs a trade deficit with Canada.
He just made it up, the President admits on an audio feed from a private fundraiser on Wednesday. Didn’t know what he was talking about.
The confession, a rather unique one in the annals of relations between presidents and prime ministers, is a big boost for Ottawa negotiators in the trade debate, undercutting the credibility of the American posture. The Canadian side has been making the point about the U.S. having a surplus repeatedly over the last year. Washington has twisted statistics and data to claim otherwise.
The President is well known for fictional accounts. He averages, according to trackers, several falsehoods a day. So in that sense, the revelation, the added evidence that he is not terribly tethered to realities, comes as no great surprise. The line about Ronald Reagan – “If you walked through his deepest thoughts you wouldn’t get your ankles wet” – is much more applicable to Donald Trump.
Given Mr. Trump’s unpopularity, given that he is so offensive to so many Canadians, Mr. Trudeau is fortunate in that he cannot help but benefit by comparison.
Though a fellow conservative, opposition leader Andrew Scheer avoids Mr. Trump like plutonium. It’s a smart move. He wouldn’t want to risk wilt by association.
Mr. Trump thinks he has Ottawa boxed in on the trade file by playing the linkage game. As in, either pony up at the North American free-trade agreement negotiations, Mr. Trudeau, or you’ll be bludgeoned with steel and aluminum tariffs.
But in fact Mr. Trudeau has the upper hand and it is getting stronger. Larry Kudlow, the President’s newly appointed director of the National Economic Council, says it makes no sense to go after Canada. While alleging that Mr. Trudeau is “a left-wing crazy guy,” Mr. Kudlow added that exiting NAFTA “would be a calamitously bad decision.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-trump-paves-way-for-a-trudeau-resurgence/
Following his misadventures on the India subcontinent, Justin Trudeau has to restore his once-lustrous international image. Donald Trump is his ticket.
The U.S. President has upped his reputation for running a gong show with his admission that he had no idea what he was talking about when telling the Prime Minister the United States runs a trade deficit with Canada.
He just made it up, the President admits on an audio feed from a private fundraiser on Wednesday. Didn’t know what he was talking about.
The confession, a rather unique one in the annals of relations between presidents and prime ministers, is a big boost for Ottawa negotiators in the trade debate, undercutting the credibility of the American posture. The Canadian side has been making the point about the U.S. having a surplus repeatedly over the last year. Washington has twisted statistics and data to claim otherwise.
The President is well known for fictional accounts. He averages, according to trackers, several falsehoods a day. So in that sense, the revelation, the added evidence that he is not terribly tethered to realities, comes as no great surprise. The line about Ronald Reagan – “If you walked through his deepest thoughts you wouldn’t get your ankles wet” – is much more applicable to Donald Trump.
Given Mr. Trump’s unpopularity, given that he is so offensive to so many Canadians, Mr. Trudeau is fortunate in that he cannot help but benefit by comparison.
Though a fellow conservative, opposition leader Andrew Scheer avoids Mr. Trump like plutonium. It’s a smart move. He wouldn’t want to risk wilt by association.
Mr. Trump thinks he has Ottawa boxed in on the trade file by playing the linkage game. As in, either pony up at the North American free-trade agreement negotiations, Mr. Trudeau, or you’ll be bludgeoned with steel and aluminum tariffs.
But in fact Mr. Trudeau has the upper hand and it is getting stronger. Larry Kudlow, the President’s newly appointed director of the National Economic Council, says it makes no sense to go after Canada. While alleging that Mr. Trudeau is “a left-wing crazy guy,” Mr. Kudlow added that exiting NAFTA “would be a calamitously bad decision.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-trump-paves-way-for-a-trudeau-resurgence/
