“One of the easiest relationships you can have as an American president.”
This is how Joe Biden summed up in a very short sentence Thursday the White House’s perspective on the relationship with Canada, as he received Justin Trudeau for the first time face to face in the Oval Office. Just before the first Canada – United States – Mexico summit was held. The first meeting of the “Three Amigos” in five years.
” Easy “. This word was intended as a compliment, a reminder of the bond between the two neighbors and major trading partners, a courtesy. It is a safe bet, however, that the Canadian Prime Minister swallowed crookedly upon hearing this seemingly innocuous qualifier. For his government, the relationship with the United States is anything but easy.
Of course, the Trump era is over. Justin Trudeau and his ministers no longer have to graze the walls in the hope that the giant with the changeable character will not be very angry for a trifle. They allow themselves to speak firmly.
However, we have to admit that today’s giant, if it is less soupy, is still focused on its own appetite and its priorities.
The “easy” country must understand that it is not at the top of its list.
Justin Trudeau’s main goal in recent days has been to fight protectionist measures that the Biden administration is as fond of as the one that preceded it.
The Prime Minister notably spent two days “raising concerns” in Canada about the proposed tax credit to encourage Americans to buy electric vehicles built entirely in the United States. And the reinforced policy of Buy American.
Justin Trudeau and his ministers spoke to the US President, but also to members of Congress, noting that the practice would violate the Canada – United States – Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), the post-Trump version of the Free Agreement. -North American trade (NAFTA).
They received only vague answers in a cordial tone.
In this case, Canada seems to be the least of Joe Biden’s worries. With a popularity rating hovering around 40%, according to the most recent polls, the president is campaigning these days to flatter his electorate the wrong way. And to prepare for the mid-term elections which, in barely a year, could completely reshuffle the cards of power in Congress, if the Republicans regain ground.
The Democratic president therefore cannot afford to lose the support of the industrial states of the Northeast and the Midwest – the Rust Belt – largely responsible for the election of Donald Trump in 2016.
On Wednesday, while Justin Trudeau sang the praises of free trade in the American capital, Joe Biden was promoting his protectionist measures in a factory in Detroit, noted my colleague Mélanie Marquis, dispatched to Washington.
The “easy” country should be understanding.
In the diplomatic triangle formed by the Three Amigos, Canada must also understand that it is not the side of the triangle that concerns the Biden administration the most these days.
If there is one issue that weighs down Americans’ approval ratings for their president, it is the management of the border with Mexico.
During fiscal year 2021, US law enforcement intercepted 1.7 million migrants, four times more than in 2020. The majority of them were expelled from the country.
The Biden administration uses in particular a health rule put in place by Donald Trump to block access to asylum seekers, leaving them to wait on the Mexican side of the border.
This practice makes the United States particularly vulnerable to Mexico. If President Andrés Manuel López Obrador decided to stop collaborating, Joe Biden, already in troubled waters, would find himself in the middle of a storm.
On Thursday, in his words of welcome to the Mexican president, Joe Biden praised the relationship of equals with the neighbor to the South, the mutual respect. Quite a change of tone from Donald Trump, who took every opportunity to talk about the wall he wanted to build at the border. In today’s Mexican-American tango, it’s the United States that has to make sure it doesn’t crush the dance partner’s toe.
The “easy” country should understand that too.
However, there are days when the easy country is tired of playing the model guests. The one to whom we give the leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner because he is an old friend, a faithful, who will not take offense that we do not put the small dishes in the big ones for him.
There are days when the easy country wants to remind the American president that he is the largest importer of his country’s products in the world. That it imports more from the United States than China, Japan and the United Kingdom combined.
Remind him that easy doesn’t mean eternally patient.