“I’ve made a lot of deals.  I know deals, I think, better than anybody knows deals,” The Don likes to boast

World leaders have too often provided cringe moments in their dealings with Donald Trump. They often appear to be trying to outdo the Trumpian circle of sycophants in their self-serving adoration of the White House mafia boss in a low-quality rip-off of “The Sopranos” titled “Concrete and Gold Bitcoin.” The characters remind me of those in Jimmy Breslin’s novel The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight. When we look closely, and many of us in the States do look, we see through the smiles of international leaders who are merely trying to avoid the goons’ threats and shakedowns. They know the Don is erratic, pathetic, and delusional.

Canadians can take pride in Prime Minister Mark Carney for refusing to cater to the Mafioso Don’s coercive demands. Carney’s Davos, Switzerland, speech, https://globalnews.ca/news/11620877/carney-davos-wef-speech-transcript/, charted the course forward that others have since followed. French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Prime Minister Friedrich Merz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have refused to bow to kiss the Don’s hand in obedient allegiance to his whims. And Pope Leo XIV has spoken in a quiet but firm voice, adding moral authority to the protest against Trumpian policies.

Once again, the prime minister has stood his ground by breaking off trade negotiations with the Trump Administration. Americans should be bewildered by the Trumpian policies towards Canada and other allies. This should be particularly true of his political base, who are comparable to the children following the Pied Piper of Hamelin to their doom. Unfortunately, so is the nation as a whole—being led away from our national guiding principles.

In a recent article on Substack, Robert Reich said it best when he wrote:

“Our mistake in trying to understand Trump is to think of him as bound by laws, treaties, laws, and norms — and at least cognizant of alliances and power politics. But Trump doesn’t feel bound by anything and isn’t cognizant of anything beyond his transactional lizard brain. To him, every nation or person is either an opportunity to extract money and power, an affront justifying bad treatment, or a menace requiring pacifying.”

Like any mob boss, “laws and norms” mean nothing to Trump. Mr. Big is menacing the other families. In this episode, he has declared an economic war on Canada. He wants their territory for its resources.

Trade wars inflict collateral damage.  As David Frum writes in The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/,  “Trump’s tariffs are costing the typical American household $1,100 a year in both direct collections and indirectly in higher prices, according to the Yale Budget Lab. Although teasing out Canada-specific costs is tricky, one indicator is the price of aluminum. In 2024, about one-fourth of the aluminum consumed by Americans came from Canada, the U.S.’s single largest source of imported aluminum. Result: Whereas European and Japanese consumers now pay about $3,000 a ton for aluminum, Americans pay almost $5,000, driving up the cost of everything from a can of beer to the construction of a new hospital.”

The trade talks focused on softwood lumber; automobiles; Canada’s closed supply-management market for dairy; and provincial liquor stores discriminating against American products. They also discussed the media. The United States wanted compensation for Canadian cable systems’ use of American TV signals. Canadians wanted American tech giants to pay news organizations for using their stories. This is required by the 2023 Canadian Online News Act ( Bill C-18 ).

American negotiators sought a concession promoting other Canadian products. They additionally wanted Canada to limit subsidies for French-language content in publishing, film, and streaming services, and to end the mandatory bilingual label-packaging of products. The negotiators from the States deliberately failed to recognize that Canada is a bilingual nation, English and French. In Canada, French is an official language. This is an assault on national unity, Canadian identity, culture, and the heritage of French Canadians.

Les négociateurs américains ont cherché à obtenir une concession favorisant d’autres produits canadiens. Ils voulaient en outre que le Canada limite les subventions destinées aux contenus francophones dans les secteurs de l’édition, du cinéma et des services de diffusion en continu, et qu’il mette fin à l’obligation d’étiquetage et de conditionnement bilingues des produits. Les négociateurs américains ont délibérément omis de reconnaître que le Canada est une nation bilingue, anglophone et francophone. Au Canada, le français est une langue officielle. Il s’agit d’une atteinte à l’unité nationale, à la culture canadienne et au patrimoine des Canadiens français.

In her commentary, Nancy Unfiltered-A Canadian Lens, Nancy McClur gives those living in the States something to think about:

“Canada’s economic growth is accelerating and is projected to be the second-fastest in the G7 over the next two years. Our economy is creating jobs at four times the U.S. rate. Foreign direct investment is at its highest level in two decades. Nearly $500 billion in major infrastructure projects are advancing, and Canada already has preferential access to 1.5 billion consumers through existing free-trade agreements.”

In contrast to Carney’s rational policies, Trump’s hostile, irrational policies have the U.S. debt at $40 trillion, home mortgages at 6.7%, and diesel fuel costing $5.  Overall inflation in July was 3.4%, food inflation was 3%, and 6.92 million people were searching for employment. The Trumpian policies attempt to “shakedown” Canadians and destroy their manufacturing base, and tariffs will result in rising prices and an increase in unemployment in the States.

Carney is correct when he said, “I believe people on the ground on both sides of the border want this relationship to work. The bonds between Canada and America remain strong.”

It is well past the time for rational policies that respect Canadian sovereignty, international law, and human rights, and for the Crime lord and his goons to realize their viewership ratings have declined to 33%. I, along with many others in the States, join with Canadians in having had enough of the “Concrete and Gold Bitcoin” show.

Photo by Sander Sammy on Unsplash