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'You may not have the best hand': Former U.S. ambassador on Canada negotiating with Trump

Much of his work involved navigating a landscape where bilateral co-operation could no longer be taken for granted and where he had to rebuild an alliance strained by trade disputes and fiery rhetoric

By Tracy Moran
Published Aug 01, 2025
8 minute read
202 Comments
David Cohen
David Cohen, the former U.S. Ambassador to Canada, being interviewed in the U.S. Embassy building in Ottawa on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022. Photo by David Kawai /The Canadian Press
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    1. Comment by Mark Thomas.

      “Canada sometimes seems to overvalue its leverage...." - Cohen

      “There’s almost an inferiority complex in Canada... [Cohen] said, noting how Canada undervalues its importance as a friend, partner, and ally."

      These are contradictory assertions. I believe that most Canadians hold the historical friendship, partnership and alliance between the two countries that's referenced in the second line above to amount to leverage. This assumption has been blown apart by Trump, who's almost entirely transactional. The question is whether Carney, a technocrat - so not the type of personality Trump has much time for - has the capabilities required to deal with somebody like Trump? The jury is still out.

    2. Comment by Ken Morter.

      Re "Canada, though, gets to be in conversations in the global south where it can express views about promoting democracy and democratic value"

      Really? Canada is a pretty poor example of democracy and shouldn't be voicing opinions on democracy to anyone. Our electoral system is quite faulty and not democratic at all. Why do the Maritime provinces have more mp's than the west considering their much smaller populations? Why is there no mechanism like The Electoral College in the U.S. that stops high population centers from continuously overriding and bullying the views and needs from lesser populated or rural areas ? The definition of democracy includes the phrase 'With Respect For Minority Rights'. Why does our federal justice system get away with using a partisan club on citizens it doesn't share views with as in the prosecution of the Freedom Convoy participants? That's not democracy or even freedom. Canada needs to learn about democracy not teach it.

    3. Comment by Bobby Billy.

      This article strikes me as a bit of a puff piece to distract the elbow folks from Con-carney's failure to achieve a trade deal as he bragged that he would. Instead he accomplished getting even higher tariffs on Canadian goods. In fact he's taken measures that seem to deliberately antagonize President Trump. Things like recognizing a terrorist regime in the Middle East and protecting the quebec dairy monopoly with legislation.

      I'm betting that chronic lieberal supporters still think that Con-carney is the financial genius that he believes himself to be - even though his failure is costing us dearly. I'm not sure just what level of economic decline it will take to get them to open their eyes. Maybe another doubling of the federal debt that we're well on the way to reaching? Perhaps more excessive immigration and further housing problems and health care shortages?