How often have we seen in comic books, cartoons and movies the familiar archetypal bully named Moose or Biff or something like that? They\u2019re often portrayed as stocky, with light coloured hair, a low IQ and surrounded by anxious minions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not for the first time, the word bully is being used a lot these days to describe Donald Trump as he escalates the trade conflict between our two countries. As negotiations continue behind the scenes to renew the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, the U.S. president noisily threatened new tariffs of 50 per cent starting next month on certain Canadian products \u2014 even CUSMA-compliant goods. To justify his actions, he has cited, among other things, the provincial bans on U.S. alcohol and what he calls unfair trade practices regarding dairy quotas.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The premiers, meeting in Prince Edward Island this week, were all abuzz in reaction to this latest threat from the White House. Some treaded cautiously, vowing to continue working toward a deal. Others were more confrontational \u2014 notably Doug Ford of Ontario, who said: \u201cYou have to stand up to the bullies in the schoolyard, or they end up taking your lunch money.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Prime Minister Mark Carney with Donald Trump at a working lunch during last month\u2019s G7 summit in France. Reacting to the U.S. president\u2019s every move, or trying to analyze his intentions, feels like an exhausting collective waste of energy, writes Robert Libman. EVELYN HOCKSTEIN \/ POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
As therapeutic as it may be to hear them fightin\u2019 words, it\u2019s hard to see how poking Trump again or imposing more retaliatory measures will help matters right now. We are dealing with a uniquely volatile individual who, unlike all U.S. presidents before him, seems not to have any game plan. It\u2019s unclear whether he fully grasps the impact of his tariff actions and statements on the U.S. economy itself. He appears to be motivated purely by self-aggrandizement and the need to win.<\/p>\n
Reacting to Trump\u2019s every move, or trying to analyze his intentions, feels like a collective and exhausting waste of energy \u2014 because the next day, perhaps after a flattering conversation with Prime Minister Mark Carney, he might reverse course or say something completely different.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like with any bully \u2014 especially if they\u2019re much bigger \u2014 hurling stones or taking an \u201celbows up\u201d approach, as tempting as that might be, is likely to backfire and motivate them to pile on the hurt. We can\u2019t win a trade war against the U.S. We have to be realistic. <\/p>\n
Bullies and their yes-men love to see their targets scrambling. So what to do? The prime minister, premiers and negotiating team must go about their business professionally and ignore the for-the-cameras bluster. And, like it or not, Carney will have to occasionally flatter his bullying counterpart.<\/p>\n
It may also require some give and take. One sacred cow is Canada\u2019s supply management system for the dairy industry \u2014 a long-standing trade irritant for the U.S. <\/p>\n
To allow Canadian dairy farmers \u2014 around half of whom are in Quebec \u2014 to make a living without relying on subsidies, the production, pricing and importing of eggs, poultry and dairy are highly regulated by Canadian policy. Supply management blocks underpriced U.S. imports from flooding our market. But it also translates into higher prices for Canadians for these food staples, and may merit some concessions.<\/p>\n
These are mature discussions that require continued negotiation between competent representatives. Despite Trump\u2019s taunts about Canada becoming the 51st state, his ludicrous comments linking tariffs to fentanyl, or about smoke drifting from Canada\u2019s forest fires, or his claim that we can\u2019t survive without the U.S., I believe we need to bite our bottom lip and get on with business.<\/p>\n
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That means working behind the scenes and letting him babble on, knowing he likely won\u2019t go ahead with these new tariffs anyway and will soon be a lame duck final term president with shrinking popularity.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In most comics and movies, the bully eventually gets his just deserts and is humiliated. This may come at the U.S. midterm elections in November, or with the courts striking down his tariffs. As annoying as it is to live with every day, we must remain firm but also calm and strategic and not let the stocky bully with light-coloured hair get to us.<\/p>\n
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