In the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey emphasizes the importance of truly listening to others to understand their perspectives before responding. It is a key principle in effective communication and building strong relationships.
This article is motivated by what I view as the Canadian government’s failure to apply such fundamental principles in its relationship with President Donald Trump and MAGA (make America great again) Americans.
Instead of seeking to understand or even consider the merit of Trump’s accusations that Canada has become a national security threat to the United States, most Canadians have focused on how the message was delivered and took as insult overtures of annexation.
I will highlight in this article what I believe could be a major factor at play in the Trump 2.0 administration’s disproportionate application of tariffs against Canada and Mexico versus that levied against China.
Questions on many Canadian minds include:
-
- Why did Trump initially declare that Canada and Mexico were to be tariffed 250% higher than China, when China is arguably the United States’ greatest geopolitical threat and is the primary source of the fentanyl precursors that Trump has used as part of his justification for tariffs on Canadian products?
- Why is Canada being treated equivalently to Mexico, when its cartels and rampant immigration across its physical border with the United States dwarf such activities from Canada?
- Why is Trump 2.0 stating that it does not need Canada’s heavy oil, when its refineries are uniquely tooled for Canada’s quality of crude and no international source can match the export rates?
- Why is Trump suggesting that economic warfare can be avoided if Canada becomes the 51st state, when the majority of Canadians have no interest in joining the U.S.?
Canadians are aware that Trump prides himself on forcing opponents to the negotiating table, and that his techniques are often intended to throw rivals off balance and have them play their cards early.
At this early stage of the second Trump term, Canada is left guessing, and it is that much more bewildering given Trump has recently stated that he is not seeking trade concessions from Canada or Mexico.
So if Trump is not seeking trade concessions, what is the true underlying motive(s)?
At this point, I introduce the distinct possibility that the objective behind the disproportionate tariffs on Canada and Mexico versus China is to punish both jurisdictions for increased ties with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) between Trump’s first and second terms.
I suggest this in large part because geopolitical security is at the forefront of Trump 2.0’s mandate from MAGA supporters.
This helps explain why Trump continues talking about annexing or acquiring Greenland, taking back control of the Panama Canal from the Chinese, and creating the equivalent of the Israeli Iron Dome air defence system for the entire continental United States.
By designating the Mexican cartels as an international terrorist organization, the United States has sent clear signals to Mexico that unless drastic measures are taken to stem the flow of fentanyl and migrants through their borders, direct military action is all but inevitable.
On February 3, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to immediately send 10,000 troops to their northern border to assist the U.S. in stemming the flow of drugs and immigrants, thus buying a 30-day grace period.
Similarly, following a call between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump, a 30-day tariff pause was extended to Canada under the premise that Trudeau would appoint border and fentanyl czars.
If I am right, all references to trade imbalances are peripheral to core motives at play.
I will not delve into recent examples that demonstrate the infiltration of the PRC into Mexico, both within its manufacturing industry and its drug cartels, and will focus on select evidence of how the PRC has compromised Canadian sovereignty on the United States’ northern border.
Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) has raised concerns about the growing threat of the PRC in domestic politics.
In their 2024 Special Report on Foreign Interference in Canada’s Democratic Processes and Institutions, NSICOP identified the PRC as the most significant foreign interference threat to Canada. (Special Report on Foreign Interference in Canada’s Democratic Processes and Institutions)
The reports prompted questions about what the government had done more broadly to respond to interference by the PRC and other countries in the federal elections of 2019 and 2021, including whether larger systemic negligence or collusion was at play.
Here are a few of the media reports on the state of international relations between the PRC and high-level democratic institutions in Canada:
While the late-2024 NSICOP report failed to specify details on illegal associations between the PRC and Canadian political bodies, Canadian investigative journalist Sam Cooper testified to Ottawa Parliamentarians (Foreign interference in Canada – Sam Cooper defends reporting while at Global News ) on The Vancouver Model for how the PRC operates in Canada.
The Vancouver Model for the PRC’s links to organized crime operations in Canada is outlined in Cooper’s best-selling book titled Wilful Blindness.
In an interview with Daniela Cambone (The Real Reason Trump Wants Canada: Lies and Dark Ties to China – Exclusive Report), Cooper proposes plausible reasons why Trump is targeting Canada in tariff rhetoric and action.
Cooper explains that it is not a tactic to get Canada to renegotiate the trade deal with the U.S., but rather to curb massive illegal fentanyl trade coming from Canada.
“China ships the precursors to the West Coast of Mexico and the West Coast of Canada… so Vancouver is used as a hub for these precursors,” he says. Cooper details how elite Chinese officials engage in illegal money laundering in Canada, while Canadian politicians turn a blind eye.
Where there is smoke, there is usually fire.
Evidence of fentanyl superlabs in British Columbia has emerged through several significant RCMP busts. In October 2024, the RCMP dismantled what they described as the largest, most sophisticated drug super lab in Canadian history in Falkland, British Columbia.
This lab was believed to be run by a transnational organized crime group involved in the mass-production and distribution of fentanyl and methamphetamine. The RCMP seized 54 kilograms of fentanyl, along with 390 kilograms of methamphetamine, and a variety of precursor chemicals. (Largest drug “super lab” in Canada’s history busted with record amount of fentanyl, chemicals and guns seized)
In December 2024, the RCMP dismantled a fentanyl superlab in Langley, B.C. This lab was also involved in the production of methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs. The RCMP seized over 30,000 kilograms of chemicals destined for drug production, along with various firearms, and equipment used in the manufacturing process. (Drug ‘superlabs’ leave a toxic mess. Some say B.C.’s cleanup rules are a mess, too)
Other recent developments point to PRC involvement in numerous Canadian institutions:
-
- True North reported that a law firm hired to investigate donations received by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation from two Chinese businessmen concluded that the donations could be part of a wider influence scheme targeting the Canadian government. (Chinese “influence scheme” possibly linked to Trudeau Foundation donors: report)
- Global News reported that three weeks before the 2019 federal election, national security officials allegedly gave an urgent, classified briefing to senior aides from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office, warning that one of their candidates was part of a Chinese foreign interference network. (Liberals ignored CSIS warning on 2019 candidate accused in Chinese interference probe: sources)
- Global News also revealed that two high-level national security reports before and after the 2019 election suggested that Chinese government officials were funneling money to Canadian political candidates. (Two high-level memos allege Beijing covertly funded Canadian election candidates)
- Wikipedia mentions that in 2016, Justin Trudeau attended cash-for-access events at the homes of wealthy Chinese Canadians in Toronto and Vancouver, generating a political scandal. Attendees at these events, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), reportedly paid up to $1,525 per ticket to meet Trudeau. (Chinese government interference in Canada)
- The first term of Trump saw 10% and 25% tariffs applied against Canadian aluminum and steel production, respectively, because the U.S. had discovered that Canadian producers were in fact working with the Chinese to manoeuvre around American tariffs against China by relabelling Chinese steel and aluminum as Canadian and selling into U.S. markets. (Trump was concerned that Chinese steel was entering United States through Canada: source)
Where there is smoke, there could be tariffs.
Canadians should consider recent history and understand the possibility that the bully to the south might just have some logic behind his economic blows.
In closing, I am reminded of Sun Tzu’s famous quote from The Art of War:
“An evil enemy will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes.”
