The world must stand with Canada, says a leading candidate to become prime minister

Feb 4th : Last saturday, February 1st, could well be the day future historians judge as marking the end of the rules-based international order that was built atop the bloody ruins of the second world war and that has brought peace and prosperity to so many for so long.

I do not exaggerate the importance and the peril of the moment. President Donald Trump is threatening to impose tariffs of 25% on Canada on the flimsiest of pretexts. Moreover (and you have to pinch yourself that this really is happening), he says he will lift the threats if America can annex Canada. These threats represent such a gross violation of international norms that it puts the entire basis of global trade rules and international relations at risk.

While Team Canada’s strong response has bought a stay of execution, the threat of these tariffs still hangs over us: uncertainty is a feature not a bug of the new Trump administration. The stakes could scarcely be higher. How America’s unforced fight with Canada ends will determine how the world will work in the 21st century. Right now, we risk heading down a dark path indeed.

Let’s be clear about why this fight matters, and not just to Canada. By threatening to impose illegal and unjustified tariffs on its partners in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (usmca)—a gold-standard free-trade deal agreed to by Mr Trump himself during his first term as president—America is saying that trade agreements count for nothing. That is a truly dangerous precedent for the rest of the world. Worse is America’s threat to annex us, a peaceful and settled democracy. Canada is an American ally in nato, and, through norad, works side by side with America to ensure that North America’s aerospace and maritime realms are safe and secure. Yet by saying it will lift its tariff threats in exchange for annexation, America is saying that military alliances do not matter and that it can ride rough-shod over its friends—or anyone.

A world without mutually binding trade agreements and security alliances among democratic partners is a world with few rules at all. We would be back to the 19th century, where might was right, and where the strong did what they could and the weak suffered what they must. It took us two world wars and the Depression to understand that humanity could do better than that. Today, we are at a greater risk than at any time since 1945 of falling back into a brutal and impoverished world that we thought we had left behind.

As the world faces this awful prospect, the country where the future direction could be decided is my own, Canada. Our capitulation would set a disastrous precedent and make it immeasurably harder for everyone else.

Luckily, as the world has seen, Canada does not give in. In the first 48 hours in which Mr Trump tried to stare us down, we showed that we are strong, smart and united. But, as we navigate the new period of economic uncertainty we now face, we really could use some help.

That’s where Americans come in: ceos and blue-collar workers; mayors, governors, and senators; businesses who sell us their wares, and consumers who rely on what we sell you; our friends, our family and our neighbours. We know you and we like you.

We know you want cheap petrol and groceries, not a tariff war that will make life more expensive. We know you want good jobs, and businesses that thrive. And many of you (Mr Trump included) want a flourishing stockmarket.

So we are counting on you to speak up and tell your president that a win-win deal with Canada is possible. In fact, it already exists: usmca, which he himself signed.

Lastly, there is the rest of the world. You may be tempted to dismiss our clash as a far away contretemps, best settled among neighbours. That would be a grave mistake and one Mr Trump is hoping you will make. After all, if he can successfully coerce us into submission, it will be that much easier for him to move on to other targets. But the contrary is also true. If Canada can insist that America not tear up current arrangements but instead keeps a win-win relationship going, then the rest of the world will be far safer in future.

So stand with us. Not only is it the right thing to do, it will save you a lot of pain and economic harm later.

We are all at a turning-point in the way this century will work. The rest of the world is incredibly fortunate that Canada is at the centre of it all. We are the True North, strong and free, and we will never give in. Stand with us today and stand on the right side of history. ■

Chrystia Freeland is a Canadian MP, former deputy prime minister and candidate for leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Excerpts; The Economist