White House Archives, Public DomainTrump Presents Opportunities for Canada — but Trudeau is Unlikely to Take Them
Let’s stipulate for the record: U.S. president-elect Donald Trump is a jerk with a serious lack of self-control. So when he mocked Canada as a potential “51st state,” he did the one thing no Canadian politician has managed to do: unify a deeply divided country. Talk like this, and his threatened tariffs, has created a wide reaction against Trump, not only from the predictable progressive types, but even conservative figures like Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
Yet Canadians, like Europeans and east Asians, need to recognize the potential opportunities from the Trump administration. The new political situation provides a welcome change from what was a consistent pattern of western weakness in the face of authoritarian aggression led by China and its Russian, Iranian and North Korean allies. Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, rather than looking to strengthen its image, Canada’s response has been to embrace robotically progressive politics, whether on climate, Israel or military spending.
Maybe it’s time to realize that good intentions do not fit well with the street brawl that is modern geopolitics. As we can see in Ukraine, the Middle East and Taiwan, we live in a world that is more like 1938 than 1969, where a host of dictatorships threatens the economic and political future of western countries.
This reality is ignored by many progressives. Some, like British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, seek to “Trump-proof” their regimes, partially by cozying up to China. Appeasement does not have a good track record. For Canada, allying with China would mean becoming a vassal state for sourcing raw materials and sending its excess youths to university, while also serving as an ideal vacation spot for its growing affluent population.
Instead, maybe it’s time Canada start embracing adult responsibilities, beginning with defence. Trump may not put things diplomatically, but he is utterly correct about NATO members needing to step up with military spending. While many countries have increased their defence spending in recent years, Canada and seven other allies still fall well short of the two per cent target.
Canada is among the worst freebooters, spending 1.38 per cent GDP on defence in 2023. In comparison, the United States spends roughly 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence. The Canada of Justin Trudeau is a far cry from the nation that fought so bravely in the world wars, as well as Korea. Trump feels that he can treat Canada, and particularly Trudeau, as a feckless ally. Until Canada rearms, it’s hard to see how it recovers its place in the broader alliance.
Read the rest of this piece at National Post.
Joel Kotkin is the author of The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class. He is the Roger Hobbs Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University and and directs the Center for Demographics and Policy there. He is Senior Research Fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas in Austin. Learn more at joelkotkin.com and follow him on Twitter @joelkotkin.
Homepage photo: White House Archives, Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead, via Flickr, Government work, Public Domain.
