In the last month, President Donald Trump has managed to rile the traditionally still waters of U.S.-Canada relations. From his offer to make Canada the “fifty-first state” to imposing a 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods and a 10 percent tariff on Canadian energy exports to the United States, Trump’s controversial moves have alienated some, inspired others, and stunned nearly everyone.
Still, once the dust settles from the current controversies, the Trump démarche signals it’s time for a fruitful debate on where Washington-Ottawa relations need to go in the future, as well as where they are in the present.
More than one commentator (including media personality and former Canadian citizen Kevin O’Leary) has raised the specter of a U.S.-Canadian economic union, even a North American monetary union, with Canadians retaining their national sovereignty while enjoying the benefits of integration into the much larger, and substantially more tax-free, U.S. economy.
The truth is, we are on the brink of what futurist Herman Kahn would term a U.S.-Canada “superstate,” that will dominate the fate of the Western Hemisphere as well as global markets.
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