On every Québec license plate are 3 words: Je me souviens. I remember. The phrase speaks to a history, pride and determination not to forget who they are.
Prime Minister Mark Carney was right to walk away on Friday. Americans should stop demanding that Canada drop its French language requirement and learn to treat our biggest trading partner and closest ally with respect.
No nation has been a better friend to the United States than Canada. We share the world’s longest peaceful border, deeply integrated economies, military alliances, energy infrastructure, families, culture, and a fundamental belief in democratic values.
And yet the U.S. is treating Canada like an adversary to be bullied into submission. After months of increasingly hostile negotiations, we are imposing 50% tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian goods. And they are responding with dollar-for-dollar retaliation.
This isn't winning. It's self-inflicted damage. And just plain stupid.
Canada and the U.S. conduct $880 billion in trade each year. Our manufacturing, agriculture, energy and defense industries are intertwined. Tariffs imposed on Canadian products don't simply punish Canadians – they raise costs for American businesses and consumers.
More troubling is the damage being done to something harder to rebuild: trust.
Canadians have endured repeated threats and insults, including suggestions that their country should become America's 51st state. During a visit last year to the Haskell Library that straddles the international border in Vermont, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem hopped across the line while joking "51st state!”
Is there a bigger insult? In March we wrote a post entitled “O Canada, We Love You” where we shared our own deep connections and affection for Canadians and particularly our friends in Québec. Now we’re offering a cautionary warning.
Ils se souviendront. They will remember.
The stain of the Trump administration's false fentanyl claims, repeated slights and belligerent negotiation tactics will undermine relations for generations to come. Great nations do not prove their mettle by humiliating friends. They strengthen alliances, keep their word, and recognize that respect creates more lasting influence than intimidation.
Someday this political moment will pass. The tariffs can be removed and agreements rewritten. But memories endure.
To all Canadians and especially our Québécois neighbors, know that most Americans understand what your friendship means, even if ours in return has been unreliable. We will remember, too.
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Read Tom Nichols' excellent article in The Atlantic on Why Trump Has It Out for Canada - "fighting with family"
And for a viewpoint from Québec, read Leeça St. Aubin's We Are Waiting for Americans to Say No
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