{"id":288045,"date":"2026-09-17T10:04:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T10:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/288045\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T10:04:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T10:04:28","slug":"former-biden-ambassador-discusses-u-s-canada-relations-in-fireside-chat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/288045\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Biden ambassador discusses U.S.-Canada relations in fireside chat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Penn Political Union hosted former ambassador David Cohen for a fireside chat about United States-Canada relations on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Sept. 15 discussion, titled \u201cThe Future of Alliances,\u201d was held in the Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics auditorium and moderated by Perry World House Executive Director Marie Harf. The conversation covered Cohen\u2019s tenure as U.S. ambassador to Canada under former President and Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor Joe Biden and his perspective on the Trump administration\u2019s relationship with Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really viewed my role as representing the United States, the story of the United States, representing it to Canadians, the Canadian government, and to the other countries who had ambassadors in Canada,\u201d Cohen said during the discussion.<\/p>\n

He also spoke about the differences between politically appointed and career ambassadors \u2014 describing their responsibilities as falling into three buckets: entertainment, administration, and substantive policy work.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the most important things that he talked about was how vital it is if an ambassador has a relationship with the president,\u201d Harf said in an interview after the event. \u201cWhen you are an ambassador representing the United States in a foreign country, if you can call the president and talk to him or her about any issue, that gives you so much more clout in the country where you\u2019re working.\u201d<\/p>\n

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During the event, Cohen highlighted his relationship with Biden as an example, saying that the former president often asked for his opinion on foreign policy issues unrelated to Canada \u2014\u00a0including in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

While he does not \u201cbelieve in criticizing President Trump\u201d because of his \u201crespect for the office of the president,\u201d Cohen emphasized the importance of maintaining the bilateral U.S.-Canada relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States has had no better friend, partner, or ally than Canada,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Cohen added that he is \u201copposed\u201d to tariffs in general, calling them \u201cgovernmental interference in the way in which the free-market economy works.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He characterized Trump\u2019s tariff policy toward Canada as \u201cherky-jerky,\u201d but clarified that he does not view the relationship with Canada as permanently damaged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the eternal optimist,\u201d Cohen said in an interview. \u201cI think this relationship can be put back together again, in part because it must be put back together again. And I\u2019m optimistic that that will happen under different leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the relationship is supported by what he described as \u201cinstitutional inertia,\u201d saying that Canada is the largest export market for 37 states, including Pennsylvania. He also expressed hope that attendees realize \u201cjust how important a close relationship is between Canada and the United States from a trade, defense, intelligence, and security perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attendees were invited to ask Cohen questions at the end of the event and speak with him afterward.<\/p>\n

College sophomore Shayna Strauss, PPU\u2019s executive of internal affairs, said she hopes to become a politically appointed ambassador.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very inspiring to meet someone in my own career field and take his expertise and advice,\u201d Strauss said in an interview. \u201cI think my favorite part of the Penn Political Union is the ability to grow my network in the political atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

College senior Neil Pereira, PPU\u2019s external vice president and the event\u2019s primary organizer, said the organization invited Cohen because the \u201cU.S.-Canada alliance has been one of the most active headlines in virtually every single news source over the last three to six months, and particularly over issues of trade and tariffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope students had a chance to better understand the current issues that are being debated between the United States and Canada, and where we are as of today in the U.S.-Canada relationship,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love coming back to Penn,\u201d Cohen, the former chair of Penn\u2019s Board of Trustees, said in an interview. \u201cI love any opportunity I have to be able to interact with Penn students and Penn faculty. I find it intellectually stimulating.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penn Political Union hosted former ambassador David Cohen for a fireside chat about United States-Canada relations on Tuesday.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-288045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}