Canadian Political Class Overreacts to Trump's Social Media Posts, Creating Unnecessary Chaos
Chaos appears to be the name of the game with Donald Trump – and too many Canadians are happy to participate. Despite Trump being on the political stage for a decade now, it seems many of our political class and the punditry haven’t learned not to hang on every word the U.S. President says.
The Literal Versus Serious Approach to Trump's Rhetoric
Back in 2016, journalist Salena Zito wrote a piece for The Atlantic titled, “Taking Trump Seriously, Not Literally.” In the piece she described how while competing in the Republican primaries, Trump would make bold, provocative or even false claims that would drive journalists bonkers. “When he makes claims like this, the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally,” Zito wrote.
Canada’s political class appears to take Trump literally and seriously when he posts musings on his Truth Social account. They jump at every comment, every provocation real or imagined and then call for showing real resistance to the evil empire that is Trump’s America.
The Greenland Episode as a Case Study
We saw it over the past several weeks as Trump talked about Greenland. There were demands in the media that Prime Minister Carney show solidarity with Denmark and send troops to Greenland to protect it from an American invasion. We did send troops to Greenland, but we sent them with the Americans as part of a NORAD exercise. If you want proof that all this talk of Trump invading Greenland or Canada wasn’t taken seriously by our government, then the fact that these exercises continued and that we participated is it.
Sure, Carney was fine using the rhetoric in his speech to talk about Greenland, standing with Denmark, upholding Article 5, but like the story of the greengrocer that he told in his speech, the man putting the sign in the window that read, “Workers of the world unite,” Carney knew it was false.
Carney's Provocative Speech and Trump's Response
As for Carney’s speech, he should have known that showing up in Davos a day before President Trump and delivering a speech that was highly critical of the United States would not sit well. There has been a war of words all week with Trump responding to Carney’s speech by saying that “Canada lives because of the United States,” and warning Carney to remember that when speaking.
Carney responded on Thursday, Trump has put out a pile of social media posts and of course members of his cabinet have been making mocking comments about Canada in media appearances. When Trump announced that Carney’s invitation to join his Board of Peace for Gaza was rescinded, Canada’s political class laughed and said Canada shouldn’t be a member anyway.
The Tariff Threat and China Trade Concerns
On Saturday, when Trump threatened 100% tariffs on Canada if we strike a trade deal with China and start dumping Chinese products in the United States, our political class took him seriously and literally. Do we take him seriously or literally? Let the Greenland episode be your guide here.
Sit back and ask what does Trump really want here? Should we take the threats of tariffs seriously or literally? I’d say we should take them seriously but guided by answering the first question of what he really wants, not literally. He wants to ensure that Chinese products like steel and autos don’t use Canada as a back door to enter the United States.
We should be concerned about that for our own economy and our own industrial players. While trading with China is fine, the Americans do it and Trump will visit in April, it would be a mistake to link our economy too closely with China’s. Despite Carney’s claim that China is a more reliable and predictable trading partner than the United States, that’s simply not true. China does not believe in win-win, they only believe in China wins.
Separating Signal from Noise
Instead of pulling our hair out over Trump’s over the top comments, we need to separate the signal from the noise and react to the signal. There is no real threat to Canada from his comments, reacting angrily and emotionally won’t accomplish anything but it will use up a lot of energy.
The response by Dominic LeBlanc, Carney’s point man in cabinet on Canada-US relations, was the right one. He commented on the “remarkable partnership” Canada has with the United States and then said Canada is not seeking free trade with China. “There is no pursuit of a free trade agreement with China. What has been achieved is a resolution on several important tariff issues,” LeBlanc said.
The agreement is more than that, and Carney needs to be careful on China, but this measured response hit the mark. It’s time to end the chaos that taking Trump literally results in.
