OTTAWA: Canada’s leaders on Wednesday sought to reassure their nation that it would not be negatively affected by Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
“We’ve been preparing for this,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. “We’re going to make sure that this extraordinary friendship and alliance between Canada and the United States continues to be a real benefit to Canadians, but also to people around the world.”
Canadian officials congratulated Trump on his “decisive” and “historic victory” in Tuesday’s election, but concerns have been voiced on how the Republican’s policies on climate, trade, security and immigration might impact Canada.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland also expressed confidence.
“I know that a lot of Canadians are anxious,” Freeland told journalists.
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“And I want to say with utter sincerity and conviction to Canadians that Canada will be absolutely fine,” she said. “We have a strong relationship with the United States. We have a strong relationship with President Trump and his team.”
Among the possible top issues likely to be raised by a new Trump administration is Canada’s spending on its military – below a target for NATO member countries – and a renegotiation of a continental free trade deal between Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Trump signed the USMCA deal in 2019 and it went into force the following year, but it will soon be up for review. And Trump has pledged to impose new tariffs on all goods imported into the United States.
With Canada being one of the biggest export markets for the United States, Freeland said that bilateral trade was “good for American workers.”
Speaking separately to reporters, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly noted that Canada plans to triple its defense budget to get to the NATO target of two percent of a nation’s gross domestic product.
Canada currently spends about 1.37 percent of GDP on defense.
Joly, after speaking with her Ukrainian counterpart, added that Canada aims to “strengthen the NATO alliance,” and hopes for “peace and stability” in Ukraine, which Ottawa has backed in its war with Russia, and in the Middle East.
During the election campaign Trump broadly promised to bring an end to raging international crises.
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