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I realized at the end of Justin Trudeau’s speech on Saturday night that I’d forgotten what diplomacy looks like. I think a lot of us have. Sitting in my living room in St. Peter, Minn., and watching the speech via a Canadian Broadcasting Corp. livestream, I wondered how many other Americans were seeing it live. Was it on the networks? Would it make headlines on Sunday?
Based on what I’ve read, heard, and seen here in the land of the free over the last week, it’s pretty clear that the U.S. thinks “trade war” is just a catchy phrase. Trudeau’s speech made it clear that Canada knows the stakes are much higher than that, for all of us living on the beautiful chunk of land called North America.
Trudeau knew this was a historic speech, and he gave it the attention it deserved. He spoke directly to the American people, laying out the economic impact of these unprecedented tariffs in clear, understandable terms. He highlighted the 150+ year partnership between the U.S. and Canada — World Wars, the Iranian hostage crisis, 9/11, the war in Afghanistan, and maple-leaf-flagged water bombers winging south to defend the West Coast from forest fires — a partnership viewed by many as the strongest in the world. He was calm, reasonable and confident but not threatening.
Trudeau announced a slate of Canadian economic sanctions in response to the American tariffs. Then he spoke to the Canadian people, warning them that the coming days ahead will be difficult. He knows that a trade war doesn’t help anyone — Americans, Canadians or Mexicans.
When he took questions from the press, Trudeau provided hard data in response to Donald Trump’s stated rationale that the American tariffs are because Canada lets too much fentanyl across the border. He highlighted the $1.3 billion investment that the Canadians recently made in border security in response to Trump’s demands. And again, he remained calm, reasonable and confident throughout.
On Saturday night, Trudeau showed us — or rather, reminded us — what thoughtful national leadership and high-level political diplomacy look like. We’ll see what happens next.