Americans don’t understand Trump’s trade war against Canada. Here’s how to explain it to them

Canadian spokespeople have been all over American airwaves this week, answering questions about the trade war and getting an overwhelmingly sympathetic response.

But there’s one mistake, an error of omission, that most of them keep making.

They usually fail to open their interviews by explaining – framing, as the comms teams put it – what this trade war is really about.

There are simple answers – so simple and honest that Canadian politicos aren’t offering them, and American journos aren’t asking.

So, what’s this all about?

It comes down to this: Canada and the United States have a free trade agreement. The Trump administration wants to violate it by hitting Canada with a bunch of tariffs. We don’t want that.

That’s it.

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The free trade agreement was negotiated by President Donald Trump, signed by President Trump, praised by President Trump and ratified by the U.S. Congress. It says that almost everything that crosses our shared border will do so tariff free.

Because it’s a free trade agreement.

Canada wants to keep free trade between two long-time allies and partners. The current administration does not.

So, why did negotiations break down?

The Trump administration wants tariffs on Canada. We want free trade with the U.S.

Washington demanded that Canada sign papers saying that we’re okay with the tariffs slapped on us over the last 18 months – even though those violate the letter and spirit of the free trade agreement.

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In return, the White House demanded that Canada not introduce countertariffs and make other concessions, including restrictions on our ability to trade with other countries.

If Canada didn’t agree, the Trump administration said it would not only keep all of the existing, treaty-violating tariffs, it would also tack on a new 50-per-cent tariff on another $28-billion of Canadian exports. Those new tariffs are now in effect.

But I heard that the two countries almost had a deal?

The U.S. offer was this: Let us punch you in the face, and don’t punch back, or we’ll club you over the head with a two-by-four.

Mr. Trump was set on punching us hard enough to knock out our teeth, though he was open to merely breaking our nose.

Either way, the White House was adamant about its need to injure us. So, we walked.

And that’s The U.S. Trade War on Canada for Dummies.

Dominic LeBlanc, the Minister for Canada-U.S. trade, made several appearances on U.S. TV this week. He was honest and diplomatic, but his focus on complex negotiating details left no room to draw a simple, big picture for American viewers. And for Canadians, some of what he had to say was troubling.

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He repeatedly said that Canada accepted the Trump administration policy of imposing tariffs on all other countries, including Canada. Negotiations were over details, not principles.

It’s the latest evidence suggesting that Ottawa made a huge up-front concession, with Canada prepared to sign on to at least some U.S. tariffs.

If so, the Carney government was saved from the wrath of Canadians by the Trump administration’s last-minute demands.

Now that negotiations have broken down, let’s put all that aside. The job of the moment is to persuade Americans of the benefits of free trade with Canada, and the cost of any and all tariffs on Canada.

Canadians appearing in U.S. media this week have received a remarkably friendly reception. The average American journalist, like the average American, can’t get their head around an attack on what they think of as Hobbiton. Only the most hardened MAGA supporters – people who’d join a march against Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, if Dear Leader told them to – can work up an animus against Canada.

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Eighty per cent of Americans have a positive attitude toward Canada, according to a recent Gallup poll. Canada’s net favourability rating is plus-65 per cent. Mr. Trump’s approval rating is minus-28 per cent.

We’re a sympathetic plaintiff, going into the court of public opinion against a repeat offender, whose defence is torn from the satirical pages of The Onion.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump wrote on social media that Canada had been “‘Ripping Off’ the USA for decades.” He said that the world’s “most difficult and unreasonable” country had “driven many wonderful U.S. companies out of business.”

But he promised that, thanks to him, the bully Canada “will be entitled no longer!”

Americans aren’t buying it.

A “success” in the trade talks, under the harsh terms on the table last week, would have been a failure for Canada, and would have harmed both countries’ economies.

But the failure of talks, and the overwhelmingly negative reaction of Americans against this insane trade war, could open the door to a better deal – for both countries.