Canada-U.S. relations

Canada calling on the U.S. to get China to halt its crossfire, looks less like an independent state, and more like a U.S. dependent territory.

No amount of public assurances from Chrystia Freeland about returning to the table with "good faith" negotiators are going to dispel the doubts that now surround Canada-U.S trade relations.

Other than attempting to curry favour with the U.S. president it is not apparent the Liberal government has any clear idea of what purpose NATO-related defence spending is supposed to serve.

What Chrystia Freeland left unstated about the standard for conduct of international relations is that the dominant feature of world politics has been the exercise of American hegemonic power.

Canada is better off working with other countries to build a reasonable multilateral trading world rather than depending on the goodwill of a Donald Trump to re-negotiate NAFTA.

While the outrage in Ottawa is being directed at Trump, the action taken by the U.S. is very much in line with the way U.S. authorities have acted historically when they want to exert their dominance.