Canadian and U.S. flags are seen atop the Peace Arch monument at the border crossing in Surrey, B.C., on Sept. 9. We need to start planning now for the second century of U.S.-Canada relations, writes Shaheen.Jennifer Gauthier/JOBFlocks
Jeanne Shaheen is the senior United States senator from New Hampshire and the state’s former governor from 1997 to 2003.
Next year marks 100 years of formal diplomatic relations between the United States and Canada. It should be an occasion to celebrate a century of shared prosperity and security. Instead, we risk marking the lowest point in our relationship in generations.
I see the consequences firsthand in New Hampshire. Canada is our largest trading partner, and our communities, businesses and families have deep ties across the border. When the U.S.-Canada relationship suffers, New Hampshire feels it.
Over the last century, our countries built the world’s only binational military command and one of the world’s largest trading relationships. More importantly, when Americans have needed help, Canadians have been there.
In the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, it was Canadian diplomats who risked their lives to shelter six Americans and help them escape Iran. After Sept. 11, 2001, Canada welcomed thousands of stranded American travellers and later sent troops to fight alongside U.S. forces in the Middle East and beyond. After Hurricane Katrina, Canada sent more than 1,000 military personnel to New Orleans to assist in relief efforts.
That history makes what is happening today all the more troubling.
The Trump administration has belittled Canada’s sovereignty, insulted its leaders, and launched a trade war, violating an agreement Donald Trump himself negotiated during his first term.
The consequences are not abstract.
In New Hampshire, businesses are paying more for goods that cross the border, while communities that rely on Canadian visitors have seen tourism decline. Small businesses cannot absorb those costs indefinitely.
The trade war is also exposing how much the United States depends on Canada. Canada can find alternate European customers for its aluminum exports, but the U.S. relies heavily on Canadian primary aluminum and has limited domestic capacity to replace it quickly.
The damage is also beginning to affect our shared security.
Canada is reconsidering whether to complete its planned purchase of 88 American-made F-35 fighter jets, a program designed in part to strengthen our shared defence through NORAD and NATO. At the same time, Canada is actively looking for alternatives to the United States as a partner.
Europe is one alternative. This year, Canada became the first non-European country to participate in the European Union’s SAFE defence procurement program, opening the door to much deeper integration between Canadian and European defence industries.
China is another alternative. Canada recently agreed to import 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles into its market at favourable tariff rates, while China sharply reduced tariffs on Canadian canola seeds, canola meal, lobsters, crabs and peas. The Canadian government has explicitly said it intends to double non-U.S. exports over the next decade.
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None of this means Canada is abandoning the United States. It means Canada is preparing for a future in which it cannot depend on us as it once did.
We should not assume a relationship built over generations can withstand this kind of damage indefinitely. Congress must work together to create a structure to sustain our partnership beyond any one administration.
We need to start planning now for the second century of U.S.-Canada relations. That starts with ending the tariffs that are hurting businesses and consumers on both sides of the border and looking for new opportunities to expand trade and strengthen our shared security.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly suggested that Canada needs the United States more than the United States needs Canada. My experience as a border state governor and senator, however, has taught me something different: neither country benefits when we turn our closest neighbour into an adversary.
For nearly a century, Americans and Canadians have made each other safer and more prosperous. Our second century should build on that partnership, not dismantle it.