Canada and the United States are heading toward a Sept. 7 deadline that could trigger crippling sanctions on both sides if the two countries fail to reach a new trade deal. Gary Mar, who leads the Canada West Foundation, says Canada enters the fight at a disadvantage.
Mar, a former trade minister for the Province of Alberta, said this week that the dispute is being watched far more closely in Canada than in the United States. He described the 49th parallel as “like a two-way mirror,” saying Canadians look through it and see Americans, while Americans look back and mostly see themselves. His point was blunt: Canadians get far more information about the United States than Americans ever get about Canada.
That gap shows up in daily life. Since Donald Trump took office, Canadian grocery stores and pharmacies have put up aggressive signs pointing out products made in America and urging people to boycott them. Mar said the trade flare-ups are by far the biggest story in Canada, while in America the issue is lucky to reach the C-slot of a cable news show.
The contrast is not just commercial. It is political, too. Mar said Canadians see the trade fight as an existential one, while most Americans barely know it is happening. In the United States, some Democrats have criticized Trump over the trade war with Canada. In Canada, Mar said conservative politicians would have a hard time openly backing him, even if they object to the way the liberal government is handling relations with Washington.
Abdul El-Sayed captured the mood on the American side this week with a blunt line of his own: “If you start a trade war with Canada, you are the a------.” It was the kind of remark that underscored how much harder the dispute lands in Canada than it does south of the border. Pierre Poilievre was also mentioned as an example of the kind of conservative figure who would face pressure in that debate.
For now, everything turns on Sept. 7. If no deal is reached, the sanctions Mar warned about would hit both countries, turning a dispute that feels urgent in Canada and distant in America into something with immediate costs on both sides of the border.
