Latest news with #transatlanticalliance
National Post
7 days ago
- Business
- National Post
Terry Glavin: Resist striking a 'devil's bargain' with Beijing
There is nothing quite so parochial in Canadian foreign-policy debates as the recurring imbecility that the weight of this country's heavy economic reliance on the United States should be lifted by securing advantages in deeper trade relationships with China. Lately, the proposition can even be made to appear sensible, now that the growing costs of doing business with Donald Trump's America can't be properly calculated from one day to the next. So there's a lot of it going around nowadays. Article content Article content With the capricious enactment of American import tariffs by decrees that rely on the flimsiest of pretexts, usually followed by their suspension or reduction, then reimposed or threatened again, with changed deadlines and new ultimatums, everything is said to be on the table. (Think copper, steel, aluminum, the automobile industry, agricultural supply management.) Article content Article content Article content This is what the 'transactional' American presidency has come to mean. 'Transactional' is the diplomatic euphemism for a willingness to sell out your principles and your closest allies. Article content The thing is, neither Canada nor Europe will find relief from the Trump administration's acts of vandalism within the 80-year-old transatlantic alliance by looking for some sugar daddy in Beijing. You'd have to be either a fool or a director of the Canada China Business Council to want to try. If you like, you can imagine Canada's predicament as a matter of being squashed between two global hegemons, neither of which have any particular regard for the 20th-century's postwar international-relations dictum that you can't just go around trespassing on the sovereignty and security of your fellow United Nations member states. Article content Article content Over the past six months, Trump has threatened to resort to military power to annex Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO member state. He has repeatedly expressed the same covetousness for Canada, which would be subdued by 'economic pressure.' Gaza's two million people should be expelled to make way for a massive real-estate development. Ukraine should surrender to Russia all the land that Vladimir Putin's soldiers have occupied in exchange for a ceasefire. That kind of thing. Article content Article content Xi Jinping's regime in Beijing, meanwhile, is busy bankrolling Russia's war on Ukraine. The Chinese Communist Party exerts a brutal control of the minority Uyghurs of Xinjiang that amounts to genocide, surpassing only China's invasion and suppression of Tibet. In violation of UN treaties, Beijing is engaged in a sadistic reign of terror in Hong Kong, which was effectively annexed following the mass pro-democracy protests of five years ago. President Xi is constantly threatening Taiwan with invasion and occupation, after having illegally annexed the South China Sea in 2016. Article content It is no secret, as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has candidly assessed, that Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party pose 'an enduring threat to Canada.' By espionage, hacking, strong-arm tactics, transnational repression of diaspora communities, influence-peddling, coercion, 'elite capture' strategies, election interference, intellectual-property theft and other clandestine means, Beijing poses far and away 'the greatest counter-intelligence threat to Canada,' CSIS has determined. Article content None of this appears to bother Julian Karaguesian, a visiting lecturer at McGill University, or Robin Shaban, a former adviser to the department of finance and a fellow of the Beijing-friendly Public Policy Forum. Article content This week, in a Globe and Mail opinion piece titled 'Let's free ourselves of the U.S. and forge closer ties with China,' Karaguesian and Shaban claim that the understanding of China as an unreliable trading partner bent on world domination is a 'made-in-Washington narrative' from which Canada must break free, and only Canada's 'long-standing subordination to the U.S.' prevents us from doing so. Article content Article content Because Canadians are 'clinging to an Atlanticist-G7 worldview,' we are trapped in paralysis, and instead — citing Columbia University's Jeffrey Sachs — we should willingly embrace the reality of 'the new multipolar world.' Not coincidentally, Sachs, a once-respected economist, is best known nowadays as an apologist for Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Article content Karaguesian and Shaban propose a standpoint that is indistinguishable from the pleadings of Beijing's propaganda platforms and Chinese diplomats in Canada. Michael Kovrig, on the other hand, takes a different view. Article content Kovrig is the former foreign service officer and China analyst who was imprisoned and held hostage in China along with fellow Canadian Michael Spavor for more than 1,000 days, in retaliation for the detention in Vancouver of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Meng was released from house arrest in 2021 in a plea deal with the U.S. Justice Department related to charges of violating sanctions on Iran. The 'two Michaels' were released simultaneously. Article content In a lengthy analysis published by the Canadian International Council last week, Kovrig sets out the case for an approach to China centred squarely on Canadian values. He dismisses Beijing's diplomatic entreaties this way: 'The implicit deal: kowtow to the Chinese Communist Party in return for economic benefits, sacrifice Canadian manufacturing for agricultural exports.' That's a reference to Canada's tariffs on Chinese electrical vehicles and China's tariffs on canola, pork, peas and some fisheries products. To cave to China would amount to striking a 'devil's bargain,' and its long-term costs would outweigh any benefit to Canada. Article content Canada's recent reluctance to kowtow has a lot less to do with what Washington wants and a lot more to do with what Canadians want, Kovrig argues. What the Chinese Communist Party and its Canadian friends don't appreciate is that Canada's national interests are expected to align with Canadian values. It's the way democracies work.
The Independent
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Mandelson claims UK-US relationship needs ‘boot up backside' as he issues warning on China dominance
The transatlantic alliance needs a 'boot up the backside', Peter Mandelson has warned, saying that Britain must work closely with the US to take on Chinese technological dominance. The UK's ambassador to the US argued Beijing represents a 'far more dynamic and formidable strategic rival than the Soviet Union ever was', urging Britain and the US to combine forces to 'drive the scientific breakthroughs that will define this century'. 'Rather than stifling these transformative technologies through excessive regulation, our two governments must unleash their immense potential for human benefit and Western advantage', he said. While Donald Trump almost blocked Lord Mandelson's ambassadorship because of concerns about his links to China, the Labour peer now appears to have turned against Beijing, saying there is 'there is nothing in this world I fear more than China winning the race for technological dominance'. David Cameron's Conservative government sought closer economic ties with Beijing and hosted a state visit for President Xi Jinping in 2015, known as the 'golden era' of relations. But speaking at the Atlantic Council on Tuesday, the ambassador warned that there is now a 'new dynamic between China and the west', saying Britain and the US 'must not be afraid... to take on aspects of China's behaviour and policies'. He also urged European countries to step up their defence spending and stop 'living in a fantasy created by the US security guarantee', accusing Europe of having spent decades relying on the US to defend it in the face of global threats. Lord Mandelson said: "If we are serious about rebuilding confidence in the international system… we need to devote an enormous amount of energy and goodwill to preserve, sustain and deepen the alliances which exist between like-minded countries for the UK and the rest of Europe. 'We must reboot the transatlantic alliance. Indeed, a boot up the proverbial backside is needed now to deliver peace through strength across three interconnected domains - military, economic and technological." Lord Mandelson added: "For my generation, the 20th century, gains in peace and prosperity were thought of as a European peace dividend. I now recognise it as an urgent bill, that peace dividend - an urgent bill for decades of defence under-investment, a payment that is long overdue. "We have lived in a fantasy created by the US security guarantee, complacent that a friendly heavyweight across the water would be always there when the going gets tough.' In February, the prime minister outlined plans for Britain to spend 2.5 per cent of its GDP on defence by 2027, up from 2.3 per cent currently, following repeated warnings from Mr Trump that Europe must spend more on its defence. It comes after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that trade tensions from Donald Trump's sweeping global tariffs will dampen the UK's economic growth next year, despite upgrading this year's growth forecast for Britain. The IMF said the UK is experiencing an "economic recovery," with GDP expected to rise by 1.2 per cent this year, a step up from the 1.1 per cent growth it predicted in April. Meanwhile, it maintained its projection that the UK economy will expand by 1.4 per cent in 2026. But IMF economists said this will come despite global trade tensions wiping 0.3 percentage points off growth for the year. The forecasts were published just weeks after Britain struck a historic trade agreement with the US last month that will slash the bulk of Mr Trump 's tariffs. The deal saw US tariffs on cars immediately cut from 27.5 to 10 per cent for up to 100,000 vehicles – almost the total number exported last year. Levies on steel and aluminium will be reduced to zero, however, a general 10 per cent tariff for other goods will remain.
