What Kind Of Relationship Should The U.S. & Canada Have?

The Canada-U.S. trading relationship is widely considered to be unique in the world. The two countries have an unparalleled scale of integration that functions unlike any other traditional international trade relationship. It operates more like a continuous supply chain, transporting about $3 billion worth of goods and services daily. That supply chain also supports millions of jobs on both sides of the border.

All that said, Mexico opened formal discussions with U.S. negotiators this past week, aiming to meet the July 1st deadline for a USMCA Review process. Canada was not at the table.

Meanwhile, in Ottawa, an American Administration representative was questioning whether Canada still wants to have a trading relationship with the U.S. Ambassador bluntly stated that Canada’s perception that a unique relationship exists with the United States is simply not relevant anymore, but that Canada should expect to be treated just like any other foreign country. Hoekstra said that the Trump administration’s approach is to have a uniform trade policy with all foreign countries.

Does Canada Want To Do Business With The U.S.?

“We put tariffs on everybody in the world. It’s our policy. It is a policy that is uniformly administered," he noted. "Sure, there are different tariffs for different parts of the world, depending on economic circumstances. But the concept of tariffs is uniformly applied to everyone that we trade with.”

Ambassador Hoekstra said that Canadians should accept that reality. He went on to say that Canadians who choose not to visit or vacation in the U.S., or those Canadian provinces choosing not to put American alcohol on retail shelves, is an unjust retaliatory move. Hoekstra wonders if Canada still wants to do business with the United States.

“We think the alcohol ban is totally unfair," Hoekstra said. "It was a clearly retaliatory effort. We’re not telling people not to buy Canadian products. We’re not telling people not to travel to Canada. Here, you’ve got folks who are doing everything they can to rally against America. It creates some questions. Does Canada really want to do business with the United States?”

Pete Hoekstra’s home is in Michigan, the state most closely trade-aligned with Canada’s most highly populated province, Ontario, sharing several border crossings that host about 25% of the two countries’ total trade volume annually.

The Relationship Is Very Different

Eric Miller is president of the Rideau-Potomac Strategy Group at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Miller believes that Hoekstra has a broader knowledge of the unique importance of the Canada-U.S. relationship. Miller thinks that Ambassador Hoekstra is just playing the role required of him, which is to project the strategic views and policy of the government that he serves.

“Ambassador Hoekstra is correct that the US has put tariffs on pretty much everybody," Miller said. "But the reality of Canada-US trade is that it is not like that with any other country. It’s very, very different than the relationship that the U.S. has with Europe, or Korea, or China. The supposition that our trade is something that is the same as everybody else’s is just flat wrong. But when you’re an ambassador, your job is to project the views of your own government.”

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