Spite Fencing

Yankee stay home!

   "Canada will not be pushed around," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in response to taunts from U.S. President Donald Trump.
   Who would have guessed that a spat between neighbors could have such international consequences, that one bully could so swiftly destroy a calm relationship of more than 200 years?
   Yet that seems to be happening as the president arrived late for a meeting of his peers -- all American allies -- in Quebec City and left early. All so he could be two days early for a meeting in Singapore with the leader of North Korea.

   The friendly ties between the U.S. and Canada go back two centuries, and the business, economic and social relationships are so interconnected as to be highly dangerous if tampered with.
   Yet the president has threatened punishing tariffs as a way of dominating talks with other national leaders at the G7 conference last week. Moreover, one can doubt that he even listens to what his governmental peers are saying. Look, for example, at the body language shown in group photos of the G7 leaders. The pictures show Trump leaning back, arms crossed, and eyes staring off into space rather than looking at German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for example, as she speaks to him.
   In addition, he has called Trudeau "weak."

   Is that any way to deal with friends? Especially those who can close an international border and not allow U.S. citizens to visit or firms to trade?

   Meanwhile, here's a partial list of Canadians who have achieved prominence after crossing the border to a new home:
   Ted Cruz, now a senator from Texas, and Sean Patrick Maloney, a congressman from New York.
   Michael J. Fox, Paul Anka, Pamela Anderson, Dan Akroyd, Guy Lombardo, Leslie Nielsen, Hank Snow, Alex Trebek and Lorne Greene, all in the entertainment field.
   Morley Safer, Ali Velshi and Peter Jennings, television news hosts.
   And John Kenneth Galbraith, a prominent economist.

   One wonders, then, why the president of the United States insults, demeans and criticizes traditional American allies even as he courts cozy relationships with demagogues and dictators of the nation's adversaries.