![\"Aaron](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0704-city-cornerbooth-podcast-9487_304062756.jpg\")
Dave Sidaway \/Montreal Gazette<\/p>\nAs Consul General at the U.S. Consulate in Montreal, Robert P.\u00a0Sanders experienced first-hand the change in tone between Canadians and Americans going from the Joe Biden administration to Donald Trump\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The career \u200aapolitical diplomat, who previously held posts in a variety of locales from Islamabad to Port-au-Prince, is wrapping up his time in Montreal, but not before joining hosts Bill Brownstein and Aaron Rand on an audio-only episode of this week\u2019s The Corner Booth to talk about navigating the position with relations between the countries at a low-point.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aCanadians don\u2019t tend to yell at you,\u201d Sanders said in response to whether he received any vitriol from Canadians over Trump\u2019s tariffs or 51st State threats. \u200a\u201dI understood their position, and I also tried to say: \u2018Look, here\u2019s why the policy is the way it is, and here\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to get to.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aI understand the emotion. I\u2019m not trying to discount that, but I also realize I\u2019m not your therapist. So I can\u2019t really fix that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dave Sidaway \/Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n
Something else that\u2019s been different for diplomats like Sanders compared to previous administrations is having a U.S. ambassador to Canada like Pete Hoekstra, \u200awho has taken an aggressive approach in talking to Canadians about Trump\u2019s policies. Hoekstra has expressed agreement with Trump that Canada would be better off as the 51st state.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aHe\u2019s always been a very straight shooter. He was a member of Congress for 18 years and was always very clear and spoke his mind. I think that is just his personality. I think people sometimes miss the fact that the man is actually incredibly funny. He\u2019s got a real dry sense of humour,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aHe\u2019s a pretty warm, friendly guy. But he also is a fierce defender of the administration and the policies because that is his job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Trump administration isn\u2019t renewing CUSMA, the free-trade agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, meaning we\u2019re heading for another period of economic uncertainty.<\/p>\n
![\"Aaron](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0704-city-cornerbooth-podcast-9504_304062754.jpg\")
Dave Sidaway \/Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n
Canadian provinces have struck back in their own ways, such as removing U.S. alcohol from their shelves<\/a>. Sanders called it a \u201cgenuine irritant\u201d and said the U.S. \u201cdid not ban a single Canadian product.\u201d<\/p>\n He compared it to a \u201ckind of slap in the face,\u201d adding, \u201c\u200aI find it really irritating. I\u2019m a sort of free market person. I think that it is fine if someone on the streets of Montreal goes into the SAQ and doesn\u2019t want to buy bourbon, or they don\u2019t want to buy a California wine. That\u2019s your choice. I think you should have the choice. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think that Canada should have taken that choice away from people.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders also said Canada has \u201cthe best trade deal in the world\u201d with the United States, where 85 per cent of Canadian goods crosses the border duty-free. \u200a<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still tariff-free for the vast majority of Canadian trade. Canada is still a very good place.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders had similar thoughts on Canadian government officials discouraging their citizens from travelling south of the border.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aLet someone make their choice. The idea of governments advocating for, \u2018boycott the U.S., don\u2019t go there,\u2019 I think that it is sort of acts like government policy.\u201d<\/p>\n You can listen to this week\u2019s The Corner Booth on Spotify<\/a> or Apple Podcasts<\/a>. The show will return to video format next episode.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Consul General at the U.S. Consulate in Montreal, Robert P.\u00a0Sanders experienced first-hand the change in tone between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-779856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}