【By Liu Bai, Observer Net】After Trump's government took office, the relationship between the United States and Canada has been full of twists and turns. The Canadian government's past blind following of the U.S. policy to suppress China is now facing increasing scrutiny.
On July 14, the national newspaper "Globe and Mail" in Canada published an article co-authored by Canadian scholars, calling on Canada to get rid of its dependence on the United States and instead build a closer relationship with China. The article pointed out that the U.S.-Canada relationship has gradually become imbalanced, and the U.S. attitude towards Canada has become more like that of a vassal rather than an ally. In the face of the U.S.'s hostility toward China's technology industry and tough trade policies, blindly following the U.S. will only hurt Canada more and more.
The authors called on Canada to establish a more independent and pragmatic economic and technological relationship with China based on its own interests, thereby achieving true economic independence and finding its own strategic position in a multipolar world.
The two authors of the article are experts in economics and policy. Julian Karaguesian, who previously served as a special advisor to the Canadian Ministry of Finance, and Robin Shaban, a partner at the consulting firm 2R Strategy and a researcher at the think tank Public Policy Forum.
The article mentioned that the agreement between Canada and the United States decided to give up imposing a digital services tax, benefiting American tech giants such as Meta and Netflix, but at the cost of sacrificing Canada's fiscal sovereignty; plus the latest threats from the Trump administration to impose a 35% tariff on Canadian goods, which perfectly illustrates the dilemma Canada currently faces: Washington no longer sees Canada as an ally, but as a vassal to be exploited and squeezed.
This warns people: trade diversification is no longer an option, but an urgent national task.
On June 16, the G7 summit in Canada, the heads of state of the United States and Canada exchanged views. Visual China
The key issue is that Canada's long-term subordinate status to the United States has hindered its ability to establish cooperation with China, one of the world's most important economies.
To achieve economic sovereignty, Canada must move away from the "Washington-made" narrative - that China is an unreliable trading partner intent on world domination. Instead, Canada must establish its own relationship with China, one centered on Canadian rather than American interests.
Calculated by purchasing power parity, China is already the largest economy in the world, and the core driver of global economic growth in the future will come from China. Today, China's manufacturing output accounts for one-third of the global total, exceeding the combined total of all G7 countries plus South Korea and Mexico.
This is not just low-cost manufacturing, but also advanced productivity and world-leading technologies. In 37 out of 44 key technologies, including artificial intelligence and green energy, China is leading the world.
The article stated that if the Canadian government truly wants to build a strong and independent economic system, it must establish a more reliable political relationship with China to support access to China's growing market and technology centers. In the midst of a productivity crisis, Canadian companies must import and apply advanced technologies from around the world, including Chinese technologies.
However, the federal government of Canada remains in strategic paralysis, clinging to Atlanticism and the G7 worldview, while Canada's biggest trading partner and "closest ally," the United States, shows disdain.
The authors directly pointed out: Canada's blind compliance with the U.S. on China's technology issues has caused self-inflicted economic damage, and the injury is getting worse.
From the Huawei 5G ban to the Meng Wanzhou extradition case, Canada has fully followed the U.S. demands, resulting in being alienated by China and suffering diplomatic and trade retaliation.
On October 1, 2024, Canada imposed a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles. Shortly before this, the U.S. also announced the same measures. This ultimately led to retaliatory tariffs from China on Canadian canola and pork, causing Canadian farmers in the west to lose nearly 1 billion CAD annually.
Ironically, while Canada was executing Washington's agenda of "decoupling from China," the U.S. was quietly rebuilding its commercial ties with China. Even though the U.S. pressured allies to distance themselves from China, it itself was finalizing a bilateral agreement with China.
Thus, Canada and other "allies" have become tools for enforcing rules, while those who set the rules choose to ignore them.
Even worse, Canadian government officials repeatedly use "values" and "lack of common ideas" as excuses to lecture China (and India), limiting the ability and willingness of both sides to expand economic relations politically.
Certainly, Canada's system is fundamentally different from China's, but Canada still trades with many countries with vastly different political systems. At the same time, although the U.S. and Canada have similar political systems, the U.S.'s "democracy" has severely deteriorated, yet Canada rarely questions the bilateral relationship.
On March 5, trains queued to cross the U.S.-Canada border. Visual China
To achieve economic independence, Canada must change direction. For example, in recent years, Mexico's trade with China has increased by 66%, while maintaining its relationship with the U.S. Why can't Canada do the same? Canada should also enhance its ability to obtain technology from China, strengthen its economic strength, accelerate innovation and development, and protect national sovereignty.
The authors once again urgently called at the end of the article: The greatest threat to Canadian sovereignty is not so-called "Chinese interference," but the increasing subjugation to the United States.
When 95% of the world's consumers are not in the U.S., yet we rely on a partner that is increasingly unreliable for 75% of our exports, this is not strategy, but a strategic miscalculation.
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau now faces a decisive choice: either continue to indulge in the Atlanticist worldview, or embrace the reality of a "new multipolar world" as Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs said.
"The continuous blows to Canada's prosperity and sovereignty over the past six months should make this choice clear enough," the article wrote.
In a report in May this year, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) also mentioned that given the deterioration of U.S.-Canada relations, urgent climate goals, and China's retaliatory tariffs against Canada, the tariff policy toward China has become increasingly outdated.
"It's a stupid policy. We just followed the U.S. to show loyalty," said Jessica Green, a political science professor at the University of Toronto studying climate change. "The situation has changed... this policy seems even more foolish."
"Canada lost its ability to think independently last year," criticized Josip Petrunic, CEO of the Canadian Urban Transportation Research and Innovation Alliance, "we have a mental inertia in trade policy, always assuming that there is a reliable partner next door."
On June 11, former Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau attended the Bloomberg Investment Conference in Hong Kong, China, where he called on Canada to improve its relations with China to deal with the uncertainty brought about by U.S. policies.
He said that although Canada should continue to seek trade agreements with the U.S. and maintain a strong relationship, Canadian officials also need to protect their country's economy and own interests to deal with the current extremely unstable relationship with the U.S.
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