Right now, the U.S.-Canada trade war is heating up, as it escalates against the background of Pres. Donald Trump’s threat to make Canada the 51st state.
Such a conflict would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Case in point, the 1995 film Canadian Bacon, in which a U.S. president with tanking approval ratings secretly orchestrates a media demonization campaign against Canada. This leads to a vigilante citizens’ invasion of Canada. The film made its point about how demonization can sway opinion because the idea of conflict with Canada was literally laughable.
What has changed? The Trump administration’s billionaire agenda is reshaping imperialist foreign policy as seen in the recent blow up with Ukrainian President Zelensky. This realignment also includes relations with the United States’ neighbor to the north. Since Trump first announced 25% tariffs on Canadian imports and Canada responded by announcing retaliatory tariffs, there has been a back and forth of tariffs, suspensions of tariffs and so on. But even as some tariffs are called off or postponed on both sides, Trump has doubled down on rhetoric in favor of annexing Canada to the United States. It’s no surprise that Canadian leaders are alarmed.
Among the population in Canada, sentiment is growing for consumer boycotts of U.S. goods. Canadian sports fans have taken to booing the U.S. national anthem at hockey and baseball games. Personal travel to the U.S. from Canada has dropped sharply.
Up till now, U.S. and Canada relations have been close. The two countries have many similarities and share a large border.
Comparable colonial histories
U.S. and Canada are both products of European colonization in the Americas. Colonization meant stealing the land of the Indigenous nations that lived in North America as well as enactment of genocidal policies like the notorious residential schools designed to forcibly assimilate Native people. While the specifics of the colonial histories vary between the two countries, the similarities are striking.
Longtime imperialist allies
In the post-WWII, Cold War era, the U.S. and Canada have been close allies. Canada is a founding member of NATO and has participated in numerous U.S.-led imperialist “coalitions” including sending troops for the 1990 genocidal Gulf War against Iraq as well as to attack Yugoslavia, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Libya.
Why this matters
Some analysts think that the trade war and other threats spearheaded by the Trump administration are being used as leverage to readjust the economic relations between the U.S and Canada in favor of the U.S. But there is more to it. Trump’s orientation to foreign policy points to a more aggressive assertion of U.S. domination in the Western hemisphere, an emphasis on the Monroe Doctrine that regards all the Americas as the United States’ “backyard.” This idea must be resisted by all progressive and revolutionary people in the U.S.
A trade war and tariffs will drive up the cost of essential goods for working people in the U.S. and in Canada. The announcement of the tariffs against Canada, as well as those against China and Mexico, have been accompanied by demonization and falsehoods designed to blame these countries for loss of jobs in the U.S., the decline of industry and even the fentanyl crisis. The billionaire’s agenda is to pit workers in the U.S. against workers in other countries to keep them from focusing on our real enemy, the bosses here in the U.S.
