Canada should gird for Trump victory

Top officials call for co-ordinated plan to protect interests

- TONDA MACCHARLES

If Canadians thought Trump 1.0 was crazily chaotic, they should expect Trump 2.0 will be crazily methodic. About all of the things.

That includes his vow to impose broad 10 per cent tariffs on all imports — something Canada is unlikely to escape — his insistence that allies like Canada pony up billions more on defence; and his vow to secure U.S. borders and deport illegal immigrants, for starters.

That was a clear message delivered from the stage and behind the scenes at a conference in Toronto that drew more than 200 influential Canadian and American players from across a range of political, business and policy sectors to discuss the state of the Canada-U.S. relationship.

The other clear message? Canadian political, business and labour leaders across all levels of government need to engage in an accelerated, more co-ordinated approach to the very real prospect of a Donald Trump win in the U.S. presidential election.

Sure, there was lots of talk about how strong cross-border ties are, how the relationship is vital to economic prosperity in both countries, and how stable U.S. democracy is even as President Joe Biden’s reelection bid struggles to counter Trump’s return.

Top diplomats for each country downplayed the looming impact of another Trump administration on bilateral trade, defence, security and migration.

Yet Premier Doug Ford admitted what keeps him up at night is “American protectionism.”

The gathering, organized by the Eurasia Group and BMO Financial Group, had the feel of an international summit where the hallway chatter and bilateral meetings were where the players exchanged more candid views.