How to Lose a Trade War
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/08/why-us-canada-trade-talks-fell-apart/688386/?gift=mfBRKZ3bc2LV90xhEDDxEStP9ytyXUHseXY9TTNKEuM&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
How to Lose a Trade War
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/08/why-us-canada-trade-talks-fell-apart/688386/?gift=mfBRKZ3bc2LV90xhEDDxEStP9ytyXUHseXY9TTNKEuM&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
4 Comments
David Frum is a Canadian that became George W. Bush’s speech writer and was an active part of the republican establishment that led to Trump
He is part of the problem
Frum is generally good at this but I don’t think he’s seeing the forest for the trees here when he qualifies the U.S. as “Trump’s America”.
> To read current Canadian polling is to see a country united under its political leadership—and energized by its dislike and distrust of **Trump’s United States**. A [majority](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-20/us-poses-greater-security-threat-than-china-canadians-say-in-poll) of Canadians view **Trump’s America** as a more immediate threat to their security than Russia or China. Two-thirds [favor](https://angusreid.org/liberals-ascend-to-13-point-lead-in-vote-intention-as-canadians-continue-to-demand-hard-line-on-u-s-trade/) the government taking a hard line in trade talks; fewer than one-quarter regard the United States as trustworthy.
It’s America. All of it today, for the last decade, and likely the next decade too.
There’s no iteration of that nation worth dealing with.
>To read current Canadian polling is to see a country united under its political leadership
Not at all. The general public mood is *far* less conciliatory and polite than Carney has been, but until this week the opposition has been even further out to lunch, giving Carney leeway to hold back. I wonder to what extent he was pushed into walking away by Poilievre’s sudden “elbows up” flipflop.
Trade team pulled out because US side went back on their verbal agreements and modified the final text as well as demanded veto over Canadian trade deals with other countries…