Senators Visit Canada, Seeking a Reset Amid Trump's Provocations

New York Times

24-05-2025

A bipartisan group of senators on Friday arrived in Ottawa seeking to stabilize the United States' relationship with Canada, determined to mend a once-tight alliance that President Trump has tested in recent months with tariffs and tough talk.
Sporting lapel pins of the American and Canadian flags and red and white friendship bracelets, the group — four Democrats and a lone Republican — met with Prime Minister Mark Carney and senior Canadian officials in a bid to defuse the tension that has built up in recent months after economic pressure and political rhetoric from Mr. Trump that many Canadians have viewed as both destabilizing and deeply insulting.
'We know how important Canada is to our states and how important the United States and the Canadian relationship is to both countries,' said Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, after a day of meetings with government officials and business leaders.
She was part of a delegation that included fellow Democratic Senators Tim Kaine of Virginia, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Peter Welch of Vermont, as well as Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, the sole Republican.
'We hope that this meeting will continue very positive discussions toward ensuring that some of the cracks that have appeared in the relationship in recent months are healed, and we move forward together,' Ms. Shaheen said.
Those cracks include Mr. Trump's tariffs, which disrupted regional economies dependent on trade with Canada, as well as rhetoric that many Canadians found demeaning. The president's repeated remarks suggesting that Canada should become America's '51st state' and that the United States was being exploited by the relationship were initially dismissed as misunderstood humor or unorthodox negotiation tactics. Now, they are widely viewed in the country as disrespectful and damaging to Canadian sovereignty.
'There's been disruption. We all know that,' Mr. Welch said. 'Our goal is that we have an outcome where we do more together than separately, just as we had before.'
Members of the group said they hoped to focus on how the United States and Canada could work together to face shared challenges.
'For the moment, the United States has become an adversary to the Canadian people because of the effect that so many have felt,' Mr. Cramer said.
Instead, he said, both countries should be thinking about the real threat: China.
'Therein lies what I believe to be one of the greatest opportunities to heal this relationship, because we can unite around that common adversary with our integrated supply chains and some of the unique qualities of each country,' he said.
Ms. Klobuchar highlighted how the United States and Canada had supported each other in tough times, including when Canadian firefighters and emergency medical workers rushed to New York City to assist in the rescue and recovery efforts on Sept. 11, 2001.
'They are friends and our allies and our partners. And at a time when we're dealing with some really major challenges with China and Russia, we should be getting closer, not farther apart,' she said.
Mr. Carney, who recently had an awkward but unexpectedly smooth Oval Office visit with Mr. Trump, called the senators' visit 'important both substantively and symbolically,' noting that discussions with the group focused on economic cooperation and security, with an implicit desire to move beyond divisive rhetoric.
'Whatever tactics he used or strategy he deployed, I think that's behind us now,' Mr. Cramer said of Mr. Trump. 'We're moving forward to fix those things.'
That messaged appeared to have landed. Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, one of the nation's largest trade groups and a participant in the meetings, said the shift in tone felt sincere and strategic.
'It's become increasingly clear to me that the language being used on both sides is conciliatory while independent,' he said after the meeting. 'There is a growing joint interest in solving our bilateral issues in the short term as we are both committed to fighting the same adversaries.'
Mr. Volpe was heartened to hear from both American and Canadian leaders that there was a desire to quickly get the relationship back on track, and to preserve it for the long term.
Among the senators, there was also consensus that the relationship had been overdue for strengthening.
Mr. Kaine said a number of business owners in his state, who rely heavily on trade with Canada, had recently expressed interest in traveling there for meetings with industry leaders and officials.
'I've never had a group of businesses reach out to me and say, 'Hey, we want to go to Canada,'' he said in an interview. 'So maybe it's a relationship that, yes, has been very close but maybe has been taken for granted a little bit.'
As for Mr. Trump's threats of annexation?
'We don't even want them to be the 51st state,' Mr. Cramer said with a laugh. But unable to resist, he added: 'We want Alberta to be the 51st state. And then we have two Republican senators.'