Canada-us relationship ‘is gone’ after bitter trade talks

TORONTO — He called his relationship with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada “testy.” But President Donald Trump put that down to heated trade negotiations only.

Now that a newly named deal was settled, things between the two men — and by extension, two countries — were supposedly rosy again.

“We’ve always had, actually, a very good relationship,” Trump told reporters gathered in the Rose

Garden last Monday.

Millions of eyeballs throughout Canada must have been rolling at that remark.

Canadians are mostly relieved that NAFTA 2.0, now called the

USMCA, was signed and that

Trump’s threats of economic ruination for their country are over.

But if he thinks the argument with his neighbor is all patched up, then he is terribly wrong.

“The president insulted our country, our prime minister and even our chief negotiator,” said

Frank Mckenna, a former premier of New Brunswick and a former

Canadian ambassador to the United States.

“He not only used rude language, he threatened our economic welfare,” Mckenna said. “And he seemed to do it with great glee. People won’t forget that. I think that’s now deep in our psyche — the way we were treated by this president.”

The months of negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement delivered increasing shocks to Canadians, who have long thought of themselves as the beloved — if somewhat ignored — little sibling of their superpower neighbor.

Sure, many Americans could not place Canada’s capital, Ottawa, on the map or name the country’s prime minister — a hit

“(Trump) not only used rude language, he threatened our economic welfare. And he seemed to do it with great glee. People won’t forget that.”

Frank Mckenna, a former premier of New Brunswick and a former Canadian ambassador to the United States