Canada finds itself caught in a trap of its own making as the Americans under President-to-be Trump threaten Canada and Mexico with 25% across the board tariffs on Canadian products.
Canada finds itself caught in a trap of its own making.
Canada threatens to cut energy supplies to the USA
But Canada? It’s most loyal vassal? More ready to lick the American boot than even the British or the Germans and Japanese? Ever eager to please Uncle Sam, Canada is now alarmed that it is suddenly being attacked and threatened with economic warfare by the USA and so alarmed are the federal and provincial governments that they are threatening to cut energy supplies to the USA, oil, gas, electricity, which are significant for the US economy.
A joint meeting of the Prime Minister Trudeau and the provincial leaders on Wednesday, December 11, was called to discuss what to do to prevent or react to the threat.
Trump’s pretext
The stated reason for Trump’s threat is the alleged flow of fentanyl and illegal aliens into the USA. But as everyone recognises, the illegal migrants are mainly a problem on the American southern border as people use Central American and Mexico to get into the US. The numbers crossing into the US are a relative handful. As for fentanyl, the Americans have failed to stop production and distribution in the USA, much of which goes north into Canada. The USA is also responsible for but doing little to stop the flow of arms into Canada, which are used increasingly in crimes Shootings in cities like Toronto and Vancouver have jumped to numbers never before experienced partly due to the flow of illegal weapons across the border.
But Trump is using these two reasons as pretexts. They are things that he can never be satisfied with. To order someone to stop doing something they are not doing, or else, is just an open-ended threat. Trump’s real purpose is to raise revenues for the US Treasury, since the US is bankrupt, yet Trump wants to lower taxes for the wealthy, and so has to make it up somewhere, so he is going to impose taxes, on imported goods. This will make everyone else miserable as prices go up, but Trump could not care less.
Trump insults Canada and Mexico
Trump has gone even further and openly insulted both Canada and Mexico by making remarks that they should perhaps be states in the American union. He stated that Canada could be the 51st state and Trudeau its governor. This threat to Canada’s sovereignty went unanswered by the government so far, perhaps because the establishment in Canada has been following orders for so long they have forgotten what it is to be a sovereign state and in regard to foreign policy act as if Canada is just a province of the USA.
Canada follows US orders
Just a few days ago, Canada slapped more sanctions on China, which drew a strong rebuke from China. Once again, using the false claims of racism against the Uyghur’s in Xinjiang. Canada also sanctioned the ruling party in Georgia for trying to protect democracy there, clearly on US orders. It is given another 500 million dollars of equipment to the Kiev regime in Ukraine, and openly calls for the defeat of Russia.
The absurdity of the Canadian governments attitude is exemplified by the fact that last week, the Canadian government issued an apology for the killing of the Inuit peoples sled dogs in the Arctic during the late 50’s early 60’s to force them to abandon their culture and way of life, to force then into shoddy settlements, into the trap of the cash economy, where they are forced to live, demoralised and depressed. This was an act of cultural genocide. The objective, to force them off their hunting areas so western-mining companies can exploit the resources without hindrance. But, an apology is all they offer, No one has been or will be held accountable for this crime or the others committed by the Canadian state against the First Nation peoples and others, for example the law banning the entry into Canada of Chinese that lasted for decades, or the Canadian Parliament cheering for a soldier of the Waffen-SS last year.
Who has Canada to turn to?
What is the reward from the Americans? Nothing, but trouble. And does Canada have any big friends to help it with this threat from the USA? None. It has spat in the face of just about every large nation, Russia, China, India, Iran, and a number of smaller nations with its sanctimonious lecturing about human rights and democracy. No one is inclined to help Canada. Canada put all its eggs in the American basket, and now those eggs are hatching and smell bad. Trudeau senior, the father of the current prime minister, warned of this reliance on the US economy, warned that it reduced Canada’s sovereignty, and made it subject to American whims and dominance. He advocated diversifying trade with Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. For a short time, his plan was successful, but after him, successive government have reversed that policy, making Canada very dependent on US trade and subject to its domination.
That trade is huge for Canada. In 2022, the U.S. imported $614.3 billion worth of goods from Canada, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. More recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show that the U.S. imported about $435 billion in Canadian goods between January and September of this year.
But is the Canadian threat to cut energy supplies realistic? Canada supplies electricity to a number of large northerns US cities. The province of Ontario alone exported 17,500 gigawatt hours of electricity in 2022–9,068 of it went to Michigan and 4,823 to New York, according to IESO. Another 275 gigawatts went to Minnesota. Canada exports 4.3 million barrels of oil a day and about 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to the USA.
Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario also threatened to curb exports of critical minerals to the US, keep U.S.-based companies out of the provincial government’s procurement process and stop the LCBO, the largest purchaser of alcohol in the world, from buying American-made alcohol which would have a big impact on California.
He expressed the confused position of the Canadian leadership when he stated,
“We’re sending a message to the U.S. You come and attack Ontario, you attack the livelihoods of Ontario and Canadians, we’re going to use every tool in our toolbox to defend Ontarians and Canadians across the border.”
And,
Cutting off electricity would be a “last resort,” he said, but one he wouldn’t hesitate to deploy if Canada can’t broker a deal with Trump. “They’re not our enemy, they’re our allies,” Ford said of the Americans. But we can’t just roll over while we’re under attack.
Would they dare do it? That’s a question since a CIA officer once told me that if Canada cut the flow of electricity to New York City from James Bay in Quebec, the US would take over the country.
It would seem logical that the first thing to do in the face of these threats, when going cap in hand to Mar El Lago to beg for mercy failed, is to have an emergency meeting with President Sheinbaum of Mexico to discuss a combined reaction to the US threats. But no such thing has been attempted, even though Trump’s threats are in violation of the Canada-Mexico-USA Free Trade Treaty and the mechanisms of that Treaty should be invoked. But the Canadian leadership seems so locked into this abusive relationship with the USA that they cannot escape it.
But maybe, just maybe, Trudeau and Doug Ford and the rest now realise how the Russians and Chinese feel in the face of the Canadian and US tariffs and sanctions imposed on them, and are waking up to the stark fact that you can never be real friends with the Americans, you can never trust them, no matter what you do to please them. And maybe the Russians, Chinese, Iranians, Indians, Venezuelans, Syrians, Cubans and others could all shout out together, “Welcome to the club, Canada.” But I doubt the Canadian leadership would get the joke.
Christopher Black is an international criminal lawyer based in Toronto. He is known for a number of high-profile war crimes cases and recently published his novel Beneath the Clouds. He writes essays on international law, politics and world events.
