Members of a bipartisan group of U.S. senators who visited Ottawa this past weekend say they want to bolster the Canada-U.S. relationship despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent attacks, with the lone Republican urging Canadians to “give us another chance.”
The five senators met Friday with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has vowed to pursue a new economic and security partnership with the U.S. while acknowledging that the trend of “deep integration” between the two countries is over.
The American lawmakers say that long-standing relationship must continue, with trade, tourism and defence partnerships among the key areas where collaboration is critical.
“We have to do this stuff together,” Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block.
“We’ll be better at it if we’re friends than if we’re just tolerating one another…. I’m just here (in Ottawa) to say thank you, and then to encourage Canadians to take another look and give us another chance.”
Canadians, along with various levels of government, have turned their backs on the U.S. since Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods and voiced his desire to make Canada the “51st state.”
Statistics Canada has reported four straight months of steep year-over-year declines of return trips to Canada from the U.S., and some states such as California have launched ad campaigns to try to lure Canadian tourists back.
“Bookings of Canadians to come to Virginia Beach are down significantly, and colleagues of mine in other states are saying the same thing about tourism,” Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia told Stephenson. “So we’re definitely seeing it.
“We were aware, because we all have great friends in Canada, that there was a lot of anxiety about, well, gosh, what do Americans think of us?” he said in explaining what spurred the senators’ visit. “The five of us wanted to come to say, ‘Look, we love Canada.’”
Canada is the top trading partner for a majority of U.S. states, including the ones represented by the senators who travelled to Ottawa.
Democrats Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Peter Welch of Vermont joined Kaine and Cramer on the trip.
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The senators also met with the ministers of foreign affairs, national defence and industry, as well as the Business Council of Canada.
Both Cramer and Kaine said the election of Carney represents a “new chapter” for the Canada-U.S. relationship, particularly after Trump’s tensions with former prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Cramer specifically cited defence spending and Carney’s commitment to reach NATO’s target of two per cent of GDP by 2030 — two years earlier than what Trudeau vowed — as an example of a new approach from Ottawa.
“I couldn’t get your previous prime minister to even talk about a contribution to NATO that was more significant,” he said.
“I sent him a nasty-gram or two and met with him once, and he just doesn’t want to talk about it. This prime minister is leaning in in a big way, and so it’s all encouragement to me.”
Cramer was also in the Oval Office when Trump announced his plan for an advanced space-based missile defence system, dubbed the “Golden Dome,” that Carney has confirmed Canada could be a part of.
North Dakota is home to a U.S. Space Force base that monitors for potential missile launches against the U.S.
Carney has not said how much money Canada would be willing to contribute to the expected US$175-billion concept, but has previously committed to boosting Arctic security. He announced a $6-billion purchase of over-the-horizon radar systems from Australia in March as part of the government’s ongoing NORAD modernization project.
Cramer said any continental missile system should “naturally” include Arctic defence with Canadian participation, which would bolster the existing NORAD military partnership.
“Canada would be a logical partner,” he said.
Kaine agreed that several partnership opportunities exist between the U.S. and Canada, including missile defence and Arctic icebreakers, and applauded Carney’s NATO commitment.
Yet he said Trump’s trade war is continuing to create economic uncertainty that could undermine efforts to work together.
“Uncertainty creates chaos and chaos hurts the economies of both nations,” he said. “More certainty sooner means everybody can settle down and focus.”
Trump initially justified his tariffs on Canada over concerns about fentanyl trafficking and border security. Data from both countries shows that Canada is responsible for less than one per cent of fentanyl seized by U.S. border authorities.
However, a new U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency report said fentanyl production in Canada represents a “growing concern.” Fentanyl seizures at the northern U.S. border also spiked last month, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, though remain a fraction of what’s seized at the southern border.
A resolution by Kaine to end Trump’s fentanyl emergency declaration and the related tariffs on Canada was approved by the U.S. Senate last month, but has not been taken up by the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives.
Although Kaine acknowledged that fentanyl is an emergency in the U.S., with more than 80,000 Americans dying from overdoses last year, he said Canada is not the problem compared with Mexico and China.
“I just view it as an effort by the president to try to impose tariffs unilaterally,” he said. “To do so, he had to declare an emergency, and that was the emergency he came up with.”
The senator said Trump should resolve any trade dispute he has with Canada through the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on free trade, which Trump negotiated during his first term, rather than with unilateral tariffs.
Cramer agreed with Kaine that Canada is making efforts to combat fentanyl and other border security issues, which presents another opportunity for Canada and the U.S. to work together.
He added that the U.S. has been able to return resources to the northern border that were previously moved to shore up the U.S.-Mexico border now that crossings there have dropped dramatically “thanks to Donald Trump.”
Ultimately, Cramer said no deal would be secured on a new relationship between Canada and the U.S. without both Trump and Carney agreeing to one.
“The ultimate deal-makers are Carney and Trump, and both of them know how to make a deal,” he said.
