CANADA AND TRUMP'S ART OF DEAL: WHY SOVEREIGNTY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE

From passive-ageressive politics to unified resistance against annexation.

- DEAN BAXENDALE

It is with a twist of irony that I write this column. what Trump was initially after, but as usual, he went off script, creating a significant ripple and diplomatic backlash in Canada and the European Union. His remarks were of great interest in India and the Middle East, as TV news anchors interviewed me about them.

Just what does Trump want? No one knows for sure, including myself now.

In early December, the President-Elect, in yet another famous Tweet, suggested he would use an Executive Order and impose 25% tariffs across all products against Canada and Mexico if they did not address each of their respective roles in the deadly Fentanyl trafficking business and the lack of border security by each country.

He then suggested in a famous Tweet Oh Canada that wouldn't it be great if Canada just joined the Union? Perhaps the team that generated the image should have suggested Lake Louise as a backdrop instead of the Matterhorn in Switzerland.

No matter, the notion of annexing Canada as the 51st state, citing economic leverage to access Canada's abundant natural resources, including minerals, oil, gas, and freshwater reserves, was a Bridge Too Far. Canada responded, and PM Trudeau and then Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland went to Mar-A Lago to hear firsthand what he was looking for. They offered up more border security, drones and a promise to look into the fentanyl trafficking claims. But was it enough? I suggested it was not, so coincidentally, Dominic LeBlanc made another Trip down Palm Beach just before the New Year.