{"id":250847,"date":"2025-03-03T16:31:03","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T16:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/03\/whats-behind-trumps-love-hate-relationship-with-canada\/"},"modified":"2025-03-03T16:31:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T16:31:04","slug":"whats-behind-trumps-love-hate-relationship-with-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/03\/whats-behind-trumps-love-hate-relationship-with-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Behind Trump\u2019s Love-Hate Relationship With Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/28\/multimedia\/00dc-canada-lcjf\/00dc-canada-lcjf-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"What\u2019s Behind Trump\u2019s Love-Hate Relationship With Canada\" title=\"What\u2019s Behind Trump\u2019s Love-Hate Relationship With Canada\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There is the theory that President Trump is still bitter about his Canadian hotel ventures that went bust.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some, on social media, have speculated that a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/style\/2019\/08\/melania-trump-justin-trudeau-g7?srsltid=AfmBOorNt4vUJh3hiKLBrVNTIx_k1IzP0XYzzhrANcvZtri3vrHoOeOG\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">2019 photograph<\/a> in which Justin Trudeau appeared poised to kiss Melania Trump, the first lady, at a Group of 7 gathering in France, left Mr. Trump with a grudge against the dashing Canadian prime minister.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And then there is the transactional view, that Mr. Trump sees the acquisition of Canada as the 51st state as the ultimate real estate deal that would seal his presidential legacy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As Mr. Trump prepares to push ahead with a new round of tariffs on the United States\u2019 neighbors to the north and south, he has expressed a special brand of loathing for Canada. The bullying of a country whose most prominent stereotype is that its people are \u201cnice\u201d has led to political upheaval in Canada and created both consternation and speculation about why Mr. Trump wants to engage in a trade war with one of America\u2019s biggest trading partners.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI can\u2019t quite figure it out,\u201d said Stephen Moore, the Heritage Foundation economist and former adviser to Mr. Trump. \u201cWhether it\u2019s some kind of strategic leverage, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Noting that there is \u201cno love lost\u201d between the president and Mr. Trudeau, Mr. Moore added: \u201cWith Trump, politics is personal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump has threatened to hit Mexico and Canada with 25 percent tariffs on all imports on Tuesday unless the countries do more to prevent migrants and drugs from flowing into the United States. On Saturday, the president <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/01\/business\/economy\/trump-trade-canada-lumber.html\" title=\"\">picked another trade fight<\/a> with Canada, this time over lumber.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Intrigue abounds in Canada about why Mr. Trump has repeatedly belittled a neighbor and threatened to destabilize its economy with tariffs, a process that has brought relations between the two countries to a low point not seen in decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In contrast to the close and supportive relationship that Mr. Trudeau, who is entering his final week in office, enjoyed with another U.S. president, Barack Obama, his relationship with Mr. Trump has been fractious.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2018, following the Group of 7 summit meeting in Charlevoix, Quebec, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/06\/10\/world\/canada\/g-7-justin-trudeau-trump.html\" title=\"\">Mr. Trump heckled Mr. Trudeau<\/a> on social media, accusing him of being \u201cvery dishonest and weak\u201d and of making up \u201cfalse statements\u201d while suggesting that he might impose tariffs on Canadian-made autos.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While Mr. Trudeau was generally circumspect in his public remarks about Mr. Trump during the president\u2019s first administration, the two men have dramatically different personal and political styles. Mr. Trump bombastically denigrates people he perceives as opponents, whereas Mr. Trudeau often speaks about the value of bringing people together, what he once called a \u201csunny ways\u201d approach to political life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In candid remarks to a group of business leaders last month that was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/07\/world\/canada\/trump-canada-trudeau.html\" title=\"\">captured by a microphone<\/a>, Mr. Trudeau offered a theory for Mr. Trump\u2019s Canada obsession that is widely shared in the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNot only does the Trump administration know how many critical minerals we have, but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state,\u201d Mr. Trudeau told the gathering in Toronto.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey\u2019re very aware of our resources,\u201d Mr. Trudeau said, \u201cof what we have, and they very much want to be able to benefit from those.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He added: \u201cBut Mr. Trump has it in mind that one of the easiest ways of doing that is absorbing our country. And it is a real thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump does have a particular affinity for minerals. He has been pushing to broker a deal to secure access to Ukraine\u2019s supply of rare earths as he seeks to broker an agreement to end its war with Russia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As a businessman, Mr. Trump had two dealings with Canada that, while relatively limited, were both failures. The Toronto hotel and condominium project, owned by a Toronto investor who licensed the Trump name and hired a Trump company to manage it, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/11\/05\/world\/americas\/canada-trump-tower-toronto.html\" title=\"\">went into receivership in 2016<\/a>. The following year, a hotel owned by Malaysian investors bearing the Trump name, again under license and with a similar management contract, opened in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Promotional material <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/trump-tower-vancouver-height-1.4002961\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">exaggerated the building\u2019s height<\/a>.) It failed, as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Both hotels, which now operate under different names and management, were magnets for protesters in a country where Mr. Trump has long been unpopular for his \u201cAmerica First\u201d views and disparagement of Canada. Before the Vancouver opening, the city\u2019s mayor at the time, Gregor Robertson, wrote to the building\u2019s owners asking that they <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/trump-tower-vancouvermayor-gregor-robertson-1.3367049\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">not use the Trump name on it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTrump\u2019s name and brand have no more place on Vancouver\u2019s skyline than his ignorant ideas have in the modern world,\u201d Mr. Robertson wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Before delving into politics, Mr. Trump expressed little ill will toward Canada.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2012, when the Obama administration was delaying a decision on approving the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would have transported oil from Canada to the United States, Mr. Trump declared on social media that the project must move forward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe need to use our resources and support allies like Canada,\u201d Mr. Trump said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But by 2015, his perceived failings of the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico became a central issue of Mr. Trump\u2019s first presidential campaign. Mr. Trump routinely called the deal a \u201cdisaster\u201d for American workers, and prioritized scrapping the pact as a first order of business if he won the election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">An agreement to overhaul the trade deal was signed in 2020 after fraught negotiations between the three countries that often grew contentious. At one point, Mr. Trump <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/09\/27\/us\/politics\/nafta-congress.html\" title=\"\">suggested leaving Canada on the sidelines<\/a> and proceeding with a deal between the United States and Mexico.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now back in office, Mr. Trump has made clear that the agreement he signed did not do enough for the United States and must be rewritten. In recent days he has lashed out at Chrystia Freeland, the Canadian official who negotiated it on behalf of Canada.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cShe\u2019s a whack,\u201d Mr. Trump said of Ms. Freeland, who was Canada\u2019s deputy prime minister and finance minister during the president\u2019s first term, in an interview with The Spectator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As Mr. Trump has wielded the threat of new tariffs on Canada over the last month, his tone toward the departing prime minister has been even more derisive. He has nicknamed Mr. Trudeau \u201cgovernor\u201d amid persistent suggestions that the United States might annex Canada.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump even called for the former Canadian hockey player Wayne Gretzky to run for prime minister, suggesting late last year that he would \u201cwin easily.\u201d Mr. Gretzky, who does not support Canada\u2019s joining the United States, has faced backlash at home from citizens who view him as a traitor because of his association with Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The insults have led to a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/28\/world\/canada\/canada-us-trump-tariffs-reactions.html\" title=\"\">boom in nationalism<\/a> in Canada, including \u201cMade in Canada\u201d Facebook groups. In one group, which has more than a million members, Canadians compared notes on pancake mixes that are made in Canada and offered recommendations on flavors of Cove Soda, a potential alternative to Coca-Cola.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere\u2019s a generalized <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/26\/world\/canada\/canadian-flag-trump.html\" title=\"\">sense of patriotism<\/a> that has not been evident in Canada in many years in response to Trump and Trump\u2019s hostility,\u201d said Ira Wells, a professor at the University of Toronto\u2019s Victoria College.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Mr. Trump appears unfazed by Canada\u2019s declarations of independence. He indicated last week that the United States was also prepared to sever ties with Canada without changes to the trade relationship between the two countries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The United States, Mr. Trump said, has no need for Canadian products such as lumber, and he asserted that Canada could not survive without American military protection and favorable trade terms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI love Canada, I love the people of Canada,\u201d Mr. Trump said at a cabinet meeting at the White House. \u201cIt\u2019s not fair for us to be supporting Canada \u2014 If we don\u2019t support them, they don\u2019t subsist as a nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/03\/us\/politics\/trump-canada-trade-tariffs.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is the theory that President Trump is still bitter about his Canadian hotel ventures that went bust. Some, on social media, have speculated that a 2019 photograph in which Justin Trudeau appeared poised to kiss Melania Trump, the first lady, at a Group of 7 gathering in France, left Mr. Trump with a grudge [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/28\/multimedia\/00dc-canada-lcjf\/00dc-canada-lcjf-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[740,194288,165435,163575,67,8510,172014,137131,88818,164052,2007,17035,52,1734,166932,128437,163486,173765,300],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250847"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250847"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250849,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250847\/revisions\/250849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}