‘The good thing is that the team that has been put in place is prepared to address changes that we have seen,’ said Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne
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OTTAWA – The political upheaval south of the border in recent days is one of many reasons Liberal ministers said they have not put their eggs in any one party basket, preferring to manage U.S.-Canada relations with neither Republicans nor Democrats in mind.
“We tend to assume that things will be steady, and if there’s a learning from what we’ve seen in the last few weeks and months, is that things evolve very, very quickly,” said Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who spoke to reporters Monday in the United Kingdom, where he and Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez are attending the Farnborough International Airshow.
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On Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced he would not be running for re-election. Vice-President Kamala Harris has attracted support from other potential Democratic candidates and is now considered the front runner for the party’s nomination.
Biden’s decision to step down came shocked many in the U.S., given the president said as recently as last week that he fully intended to challenge former president Donald Trump in November. Biden endorsed Harris within minutes of dropping out of the race. The pivot from Biden’s campaign came a week after an assassination attempt against Trump.
The Trudeau government has expanded on the efforts of previous Liberal and Conservative governments to build broad networks in the U.S., having politicians reach out to governors, senators and congressmen from both U.S. parties.
Champagne said that network has served Canada well and will continue to do so.
“We’ve been engaging with Republican administrations and Democrat administrations, so we have experience and expertise,” he said. “The good thing is that the team that has been put in place is prepared to address changes that we have seen.”
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has had four meetings with Harris since she became vice-president, twice in 2021, then in November 2022 and again in May of this year.
Trade issues came up at all of those meetings, according to the official readouts from both sides. But current events were also central issues in those one on one chats, with the COVID pandemic being discussed in 2021, along with the imprisonment by China of Michael Kovrig and Michal Spavor.
The pair discussed the war in Ukraine in 2022, as well as the situation in Haiti. Biden’s administration, according to multiple reports, pushed for Canada to commit military resources to restoring order in Haiti.
The Liberals subsequently declined to send a military presence to Haiti and that issue came up again when Harris talked to Trudeau this year, where Canada’s official readout said they were focused on “Haitian-led solutions.”
Trudeau also met with Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, in May of this year. Shapiro is considered a likely candidate to be Harris’ vice-presidential pick.
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Despite many differences between the Republicans and Democrats, both parties have pushed protectionist policies that threatened to leave Canada out in the cold.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump forced a rewrite of the North American Free Trade Agreement and brought in protectionist tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
Biden’s administration has also pursued protectionist policies and brought in massive incentives to lure electrical vehicle plants to the U.S., which the Liberals have raced to try and match in Canada.
Champagne said the U.S.-Canada trading relationship has only expanded in recent years and he is confident Canada will do well regardless of who wins in the American election.
“We always have, from time to time, some trade irritants, but I would say that the relationship is solid. And there’s no two nations in the world which have a larger trading relationship,” he said. “What gives me comfort is the fact that our supply chains are more integrated now than ever.”
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