‘Are We Still Friends?’ You Speak Out on Trump and Trudeau: The Canada Letter

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/world/canada/trump-trudeau-canada-letter.html

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Most Canadians remember the violence and the trampling of civil rights by the police when Canada hosted the Group of 8 and Group of 20 summit meetings eight years ago.

But even though I covered those meetings for The Times, I had to search online this week to remember what the world’s leaders actually produced. (It was a statement calling for reforms in bank regulation, and denouncing trade protectionism.)

I doubt that Canadians will soon forget the performance of President Trump before, during and — above all — after last weekend’s Group of 7 meeting in Quebec’s Charlevoix region. The smoldering mess and escalating trade battle that the American president left behind from his first visit to Canada was a particularly low moment in the history of the two countries’ relationship (though it may have helped Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s domestic standing).

The Times has been all over this story. I’ve collected some of our best reads lower down.

Many Canadians were among the thousands of readers who commented on those articles. Here are some highlights, condensed for clarity:

President Trump, the farmers of Quebec thank you this morning.

You have accomplished, in a flurry of tweets, what no other politician in Canada has been able to do over the past 30 years: garner near unanimous political support for our supply-side management system, and galvanize Canadians against U.S. pressure to change that system.

— Norman, Kingston, Quebec

The U.S. has not had a better ally or friend in its history. Have we benefited? Yes. But I doubt many people remain for long in relationships where there is not some measure of reciprocity.

— Rob Mills, Canada

My only question this morning is: Are we still friends?

— Robert, Quebec

The U.S. is NOT the only market we can sell our products to. Canadians are warm and friendly people. But we will not be bullied by any of your representatives.

— Lagarde, Montreal

As far as Canadian domestic politics is concerned, Donald Trump is the great unifier. All of Trudeau’s past and present political opponents are united in support of Trudeau’s stand against Trump.

— Roger D. Moore, Toronto

Every longstanding ally has come to the grim realization that this administration cannot be reasoned with, cannot be convinced by rational argument and isn’t our friend. Thanks for the last 151 years, it’s been nice. I hope you all enjoy your new friend Kim Jong-un.

— Henry’s Boy, Ottawa

In the news conference that had Trump and his advisers throwing a collective hissy fit, Trudeau repeated statements that he had been making for weeks, after Trump decided to arbitrarily levy tariffs on Canadian-made aluminum and steel. Unlike Trump, Trudeau is being honest and consistent.

— C. Evans, Toronto

I really enjoy California wine, Florida orange juice, California avocados and camping in upstate New York. But they also make pretty good wine in France; maybe I’ll buy that instead. I’m pretty sure they grow avocados in Mexico; I think I’ll pick those instead. My doctor says orange juice has too much sugar so maybe I’ll just cut that out entirely. There’s good camping here in Quebec as well, so I think I’ll just stick close to home this summer.

— Zac, Montreal

This won’t play well with America’s other allies who know Mr. Trudeau to be an honorable and decent person. Already European support is being expressed for Canada. Who wants to be friends with Trump? Nobody who ever got to know him.

— Charles, St. John, New Brunswick

Trade is the sum of many two-way individual transactions. It’s a complex interlocking system that has massively benefited the U.S. as much as any other party and breaking it is beyond foolish.

Even the spectacularly uninformed President Trump must understand this.

— Susan Watson, Vancouver, British Columbia

As a nation we are generally polite, hardworking, and we say sorry at the drop of a hat. But never underestimate our ability to feel indignant or slighted. I will be curbing my spending on made-in-America goods and services. Sorry if I offend anyone in the process. Oh, and sorry for burning down the White House. It wasn’t really us, though — it was some Brits. And by the way, I know the words to “God Bless America.”

— Baz, Calgary

And, as promised, here’s a selection of our Trudeau-Trump trade articles and columns. (You can always find everything we have about Canada here.) If you haven’t read it already, I’d start with this insightful in-depth piece on Canada’s approach to relations with the United States by Guy Larson: The Magazine: First Canada Tried to Charm Trump. Now It’s Fighting Back.

I looked into the dilmenna now facing Mr. Trudeau. Resisting Mr. Trump is popular among Canadian at the moment, but the unequal trading relationship between our countries might make the strategy economically ruinous in the long term: Trudeau’s Challenge: Managing Trump and Domestic Politics

Jess Bidgood took the pulse of Derby Line, Vt., the town where the local library and opera house is as much in Canada as it is in the United States: Where U.S.-Canadian Border Is Marked by Petunias, Not a Wall.

In an awkward bit of timing, FIFA announced this week that Canada, the United States and Mexico will jointly host the 2026 World Cup. Dan Bilefsky looked into the possibility of soccer undoing the rift between the three countries that President Trump has opened: Can the World Cup Restore Harmony Between Canada and the U. S.?

And over in Opinion, Thomas L. Friedman asked: “What happens if there is another 9/11 and we need Canada’s help for something more than buying our milk? What country wouldn’t want Canada as its neighbor? Our president is compromised on Russia and is rapidly alienating every ally with whom we confronted Nazism, Communism and radical Islamism in the last 70 years”: Opinion: Trump, Trying to Remake America in His Own Image

Finally we’re holding a special event for Times subscribers on June 18 that will look at what President Trump’s actions at the summit and in Singapore will mean for trade, national security, the economy and the midterm elections in the United States. Participants be able to join a conference call and question our crack team of Washington experts: White House correspondent Michael D. Shear, who’s just back from Quebec; trade reporter Ana Swanson; economic policy reporter Alan Rappeport; and political correspondent Jonathan Martin. Find all the details and sign up here.

It’s pride month and my colleagues at The Times’s Reader Center have are asking L.G.B.T.Q. people to share their memories about the first time they held hands with a significant other in public. You can learn all about their project and submit your stories here.

—Jada Yuan, who is visiting 52 Places To Go in 2018, was captivated by the beauty of the prairies and the richness of Indigenous culture during her time in and around Saskatoon. She met another woman leading a similarly nomadic writing life while there.

—Also in Travel, Francine Prose, author of “Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife” as well as 20 works of fiction, spent a long weekend in Montreal on a family trip that included three small grandchildren. Her finding: “We experienced nothing but kindness. Everyone we met — at our hotel, in restaurants, in museums and on the street — seemed so eager to make our lives easier that at moments I was shocked.”

—Stephen Reid, who became famous first as a member of the Stop Watch Gang of bank robbers and then as a literary figure, has died at the age of 68.