Canadians have been understandably skeptical of closer ties with China for many years. Now, Donald Trump’s assault on Canada’s economy and sovereignty is creating a new openness to Canada-China trade.
If the goal of recent U.S. trade actions, threats, and belittling of allies was to create a more unified anti-China bloc in the West, it has failed miserably. Instead, the opposite is happening. With the U.S. under the Trump Administration acting in an unhinged, unreliable, and untrustworthy manner, U.S. trading partners are doing everything they can to reduce reliance on trade with the U.S. and find new trading partners as fast as possible.
And the key beneficiary of this is China. Without any change in posture and without having to offer anything aside from less potential volatility, China has become, in the eyes of many, a comparably better trading partner relative to the United States simply by not threatening new tariffs every few minutes. This is ironic, as China has often used tariffs in a punitive and coercive manner, and significant human rights concerns regarding the Uyghurs and Hong Kong persist. Yet, such is the instability of the Trump Administration that leaders are seeking more trade with China nonetheless.
As they do so, they have the backing of their electorates, as a recent Mainstreet Research poll indicates. When asked, “Do you support or oppose the recent Canadian trade deal with China that reduces tariffs on canola oil and allows Chinese electric cars into the Canadian market?” 34% of respondents said they strongly supported the deal, while 33% said they somewhat supported it. 17% were strongly opposed, while 11% were somewhat opposed. 6% said they did not know their opinion. That adds up to 67% in favour, and 28% opposed.
Canadians largely seem to agree with Prime Minister Carney’s statement that Canada needs to deal with the world as it is. And in this world, U.S. unreliability leaves Canada and our allies with little choice but to seek more trade with large economies like China, despite the legitimate concerns many have about doing so.
Spencer Fernando
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two thirds of Canadians are complete idiots. You would likely all vote to turn communist
Two thirds of Canadians are complete idiots if they think doing ANY business with China is a good idea