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So apparently there is a deal, or at least a deal is expected this week.
Good. Not because I expect that Trump will honour this deal, or any deal, or because I think Canada would collapse without one - because we would not - but because it buys us time.
Contrary to what Mr. Poilievre and the bleating critics on social media would have you believe, turning around an economy as large as Canada’s, which has been overly dependent upon a single market for over 40 years, is not something that can be accomplished in a single year or even five.
It is realistically going to take 10-15 years to fully develop new markets, build infrastructure and then see the positive results from that.
Personally I think that Carney is on the right track with almost everything. “Building Big” is exactly what we need. Creating the conditions for home-grown businesses to be established and succeed is an important function of the government, and I believe that it will pay dividends - both literally and figuratively - for decades to come.
Where I see danger is that there will be a large constituency in Canada who will be eager to quickly “declare victory” and revert to the status quo ante. That would be foolish. Even when Donald Trump is no longer in office, and even if he is replaced by a Democrat who is less hostile to us in general, that will not remove the underlying xenophobic and protectionist “America first, everyone else last” mindset from their political landscape.
America may - and I hope will - return to being a free nation which respects international rules and norms. But it will never again be the leader of the free world. The American Century is over, and we must look forward to the next century rather than pining for the last one.