By Danny Westneat Seattle Times columnist
It won’t go down as one of the higher moments in foreign diplomacy.
It did hint, though, at how low relations with our northern neighbors might go.
At a news conference, Ontario provincial premier, Doug Ford, was asked whether he’d like to walk back his suggestion, made earlier that day, that President Donald Trump could “kiss my ass as far as I’m concerned.”
“No,” Ford said, then he heartily invited Trump for another round of bum-bussing.
What was most interesting about this moment was the reaction. None of the Canadians at this event, called to sternly denounce U.S. tariffs, looked startled or even the slightest bit uneasy.
The construction workers arrayed behind Ford all chuckled and nodded appreciatively, as if he’d given a wedding toast. Ford grinned and looked positively … cheeky. It was said that even the businesslike Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, didn’t disapprove of these crude invitations to the U.S. leader.
What is going on here?
“They’re not scared of Donald Trump anymore — that’s my sense of the situation. I think Canadians were always expecting another big Trump fight to erupt. So they’re used to it now.”
That’s Len Saunders, an attorney in Blaine, a town on Washington state’s border with Canada. He’s become a sort of “border whisperer,” as he’s a dual citizen, born in Canada, who crosses the line almost daily as part of his legal work.
Last year, Canadians were rattled. They said they had “elbows up” after Trump called their country “the 51st state.” But the truth is they were on their heels.
Now, not so much. Now they’re turning their backs to him — or their backsides, anyway.
Saunders said Canadians today are resigned to waiting out the indignities of the Trump term. They see how Trump’s bluster is wearing thin, including inside America.
Example: The Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal called the tariff fight with Canada the “dumbest trade war in history.” Then it went further.
“It got dumber,” the Journal said this weekend, “as Mr. Trump escalated with another round of border taxes on Canadian imports, a mere 10 weeks before midterm elections.”
If you’re keeping track at home, that makes it dumber than the dumbest.
“One reason for Mr. Trump’s frigid approval rating is that voters believe Mr. Trump is waging blunderbuss wars without a strategy, and on trade they’re right,” the Journal concluded. (continued on page 2 or here)