By Philip Yeung
These are terrible times. We wake up every morning not knowing what new bombshell Trump will throw at us. A week ago, he said he was fine with Canada's new trade agreement with China.
But in the wake of the global impact of Carney's defiant speech, especially on Australia and Britain, Trump is stung and suddenly feels the world closing in on him, having suffered a humiliating climbdown on Greenland, with his Peace Board attracting only a dozen and half lonely non-major players.
To stem the domino effect from Carney's stand-up-to-the-bully message, Trump now threatens Canada with 100% tariffs on all US-bound imports, a knock-out punch calculated to bring Canada to its knees.
For several days, Carney was basking in the afterglow of his thunderclap of a speech. Now, reality has caught up with his rhetoric. If he knuckles under, he is finished as a leader. If he refuses to bend, he risks shrinking the Canadian economy—a Hobson's choice.
If he caves in to Trump, he risks an unaffordable second rupture with China. The costs will be incalculable.
But Carney is unfazed. He first spoke to Canadians, telling them to buckle up and weather the storm, urging his people to "buy Canadian and build Canadian", using Canadian materials and technology. In other words, boycott US products. Trump will soon feel the economic pain and political rumblings.
China's example should calm Carney's nerves. Faced with crippling US technology sanctions and embargo, China was forced into expediting self-inventions and is now technologically self-sufficient and even leading in some subsectors. This Trump madness may wean Canada off US dependence. It might be a blessing in disguise.
Leverage is the only language bullies understand.
Without leverage, kowtowing to Trump invites further indignities. Massaging Trump's fragile ego won't work. Like a street thug, Trump is again dishing out personal insults, calling the Canadian prime minister "Governor Carney" of his fantasized 51st state.
This man not only has no morals. He has no manners.
With groveling out as an option, why not go the whole hog? Carney can call Trump's bluff, and double down by scaling up his trade connections with China. The Chinese have moved fast since the deal was struck. The first big shipments of Canadian beef and canola oil are already on their way across the Pacific.
Trump derailed the China-Canada relationship for years when he pressured Trudeau into arresting Huawei's CFO. But Mark Carney is no Justin Trudeau. This time, Trump doesn't get to play puppet master. There won't be any Canadian kowtowing.
Instead, Carney could fly to Australia and Britain to build a united A-B-C front of brotherly middle powers. Alone, Canada is vulnerable. So are the other two, though less dependent on the US. Trump teaches us that there is strength in togetherness. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
Trump's tariff huff-and-puff is his anger speaking. It is also his desperation speaking. Don't fall for Trump's "divide and conquer" strategy. Instead, Carney should also try to corral Macron as an ally, since he shares a similar fate of being threatened with a 200% tariff on French wines and champagne.
Against a mad emperor with no clothes, first seek refuge in numbers. These diplomatic moves may buy Carney time for Trump to cool his temper. You can never predict his unpredictability.
If Carney drags things out and bides his time, he may be rescued by the US November mid-term elections, when the chaos and the ungovernable collapse of social order may tip the scale against Trump and get him impeached. The ICE violence in Minneapolis may be more than Trump has bargained for.
It is an unsolved mystery of life why this thief, thug and fraud who is biologically incapable of telling the truth somehow got himself elected US president twice. Even more disturbing, despite his past criminal convictions and current crimes against the law, domestic and international, he still enjoys a solid 40% popular support. I don't understand American democracy anymore.
Give me China any day. I appreciate its safety, peace, social order and concern for people's welfare. Here, people are busy living. There, they are creating chaos, fighting each other and the world.
Recently, somehow Trump found time to blabber about the need to build more asylums to take lunatics off the streets. He should first build one for himself, as he meets all clinical definitions for insanity.With this non-stop chaos swirling around him, senility would have been a kinder disorder. Sleepy Joe, we miss you.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
Opinion | Canada, a middle power, stands tall and tilts at the windmill of American super-power
Opinion | How Trump, the non-winner, has become a Nobel Peace Prize blackmailer
Opinion | Canada's U-turn on China takes both countries to new V-era
Comment