Former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has a warning for Americans: Trump’s attempts to push Canada around are hurting the United States, and driving a longtime ally to look elsewhere.
Speaking with The New York Times’ Ezra Klein in a podcast published Tuesday, Freeland described a relationship transformed by tariffs and threats to Canadian sovereignty. A country Canadians once regarded as a trusted ally is increasingly seen as a threat.
Trump wanted Canada to become the 51st state. Instead, his pressure campaign is encouraging Canadians to strengthen ties with Europe and China and reduce their dependence on the United States.
Drawing on her experience negotiating with Trump during his first term, Freeland offered a straightforward rule for dealing with him: “We do not escalate, and we do not back down.”
What doesn’t work, she argued, is excessive flattery from leaders who believe they can manipulate Trump by appealing to his ego.
“Well, I’ll just sort of butter him up. I will outrageously flatter him, and maybe I’ll agree to some things he wants, but it will just be on paper. It won’t be real, and it will all be fine,” she said, describing the thinking behind an approach she rejects.
Freeland favors something less theatrical: stay calm, refuse to be intimidated and make clear that threats will not produce submission.
“I’m not going to suck up to you, I’m not going to be bullied by you, but also I’m not going to raise the emotional register with you,” she explained.
That matters because Canadians see the confrontation as more than a dispute over trade. Trump’s threats have made it a question of national independence — and Freeland said Canadians understand that defending it could come at a steep economic cost.
“This is an asymmetric confrontation. And it means it will be more painful for Canada. Canadians recognize that,” she said. But she remains confident they will “hold the line.”
Trump’s tariffs, meanwhile, are also hurting the Americans he claims to be protecting.
Canada supplies U.S. companies with materials they need to make other products: aluminum for manufacturing, lumber for construction and potash for fertilizer. Taxing those imports increases costs for American businesses, which can pass those costs along to consumers.
“So tariffs on Canadian goods make stuff in the United States more expensive, and then Canada’s retaliation actually has an impact,” Freeland said.paste.txt
She called the idea that America benefits from tariffs on Canadian aluminum “perverse.” Her argument is simple: making essential materials more expensive undermines the American companies that rely on them.
Freeland recalled that Canada responded to Trump’s first-term tariffs by targeting politically sensitive American products while trying to limit the damage to its own economy.
“The last time the United States imposed tariffs on Canada, we retaliated dollar for dollar. I was the minister responsible for that, and, ultimately, America dropped its tariffs,” she said.
The goal was to create pressure inside the United States. When American businesses and workers felt the consequences, they would have a reason to demand that Washington change course.
Freeland wants more of that pressure now: international allies coordinating their responses, businesses speaking out and Republican lawmakers challenging policies that hurt their constituents.
She also suggested the midterms could change the calculations of business leaders who have accommodated Trump. If Democrats take back the House and Senate in November, for example, it's possible they could try to change course with Canada and return to the way things were by reasserting their authority.
“If they see that President Trump and MAGA no longer deliver at the ballot box, you may start seeing some very different behavior,” she said.
Her larger warning is that America’s strength depends partly on other countries wanting to work with it. Treating allies as adversaries gives them a reason to find other partners — and, she argued, China is benefiting.
“The part about all of this that I find not just depressing but horrifying is that the biggest winner is China," she said.
