U.S. Ambassador tells anxious Canadians to ‘take a breath’ over presidential election results

OTTAWA —The U.S Ambassador to Canada says Canadians anxiously watching Americans go to the polls Tuesday should “take a breath.” 

“I don’t know that anyone knows what Kamala Harris’ overall philosophy and position with respect to the entire scope of the U.S.-Canada relationship would be,” David Cohen told the National Post in an interview Tuesday afternoon.

“And with all due respect, even though he’s had one term as president before, I don’t think in 2024-2025 anyone knows what the full scope of Donald Trump’s approach would be to the U.S.-Canada relationship, but it is a relationship that has been durable.”

Cohen says while the focus is on who Americans will choose to become their next president, they are also voting on who will fill seats in the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and across different state legislatures.

Together, these hundreds of people will be involved only not in U.S. domestic policy, but its international one, the ambassador said.

“It’s why, even in challenging elections — and we’ve had many challenging political times and election cycles over the history of our country — having jarring shifts in policy or changes in position as a result of elections is a true rarity in the United States system,” said Cohen.

With memories of the last time Trump was in office, members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet have been expressing confidence that Canada is prepared for whatever change the U.S. presidential election may bring.

One possibility officials have been keeping an eye on are new tariffs Trump has proposed applying to imported goods.

Back in 2018, Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian steel and 10 per cent on aluminum, which resulted in Canada announcing its own retaliatory tariffs on American products. The tariffs ended by 2019.

Cohen chalked up the former president’s talk of tariffs to “campaign rhetoric,” which he says still lies within the realm of hypothetical.

He nonetheless believes it has been smart of Canada to prepare to face a new administration.

“I think it is wise for Canada to be prepared to engage in conversations and analysis of whatever those new policies might be, and I think Canada is doing that and doing it quite effectively through its team Canada approach.”

That approach refers to the outreach done not only by federal officials, but members of Trudeau’s cabinet, along with provincial premiers and business leaders to their counterparts in the U.S. to convey the importance of the country’s trade relationship.

Trudeau deployed a similar approach when Trump was first elected to the White House back in 2016 as they embarked on renegotiating the North American Free Trade agreement along with Mexico starting in 2017, resulting in renewed the Canada-United States-Mexico agreement.

Cohen said on Tuesday that Canadians should be reassured that regardless of who assumes the presidency, the Canada-U.S relationship remains critical, given how the two countries shared some $3.4-billion worth of daily trade between goods and services last year, which kept millions of jobs in place on both sides of the border.

One thing Americans are not thinking about, however, is who Trudeau’s main political opponent is, which the Liberal Party of Canada often attacks by drawing comparisons to former president Trump.

“I wouldn’t even want a hazard a guess as to the percentage of Americans who could name Pierre Poilievre,” said Cohen, adding he believes Canadians’ lives might be a tad more pleasant “if they paid a little less attention to American cable news.”

National Post [email protected]

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