Other countries have been turning to Canada for advice on how to work with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says.
She made the comments on Nov. 15 while at the 2024 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting in Lima, Peru.
“If there’s a country in the world that understands the U.S., it’s Canada, and so that’s why there’s so many delegations, so many countries that are coming to see us, to ask us about the new administration, to ask us about how they can adapt,” she told reporters.
As a result, Canada will have an important role to play as the world prepares for a Trump government, Joly said.
“I think that Canada’s influence is actually increasing because of the impacts that the world is now facing with the new administration. So we will continue to engage, and we will continue, of course, to engage with the US, but we will also increase our engagements across the world based on that.”
Trump will also attend the G7 meeting hosted by Canada next year, she said.
The Liberal government has said that it’s ready to work effectively with the second Trump administration.
“During President Trump’s first term, we successfully renegotiated the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, which has created thousands of good-paying jobs and has brought investment and opportunity to our communities,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Nov. 6.
“We look forward to working with President-elect Trump and his administration, including on issues such as trade, investment, and continental peace and security.”
Trudeau was quick to call Trump after the former president was the subject of an attempted assassination at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.
However, there have been rocky episodes as well.
Traditionally, Canada has been the first country that a new U.S. president-elect would take a congratulatory phone call from after winning the election. However, that wasn’t the case this year.
Canada was fifth on the list of congratulatory phone calls that President-elect Trump took following the election, according to Forbes.
In 2018, the U.S. put tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. When Trudeau threatened to retaliate following a G7 meeting in Canada, Trump responded by calling Trudeau “meek and mild,” noting the prime minister’s remarks were made after Trump had left. Ottawa retaliated with tariffs on U.S. imported steel and aluminum. Both governments lifted the tariffs in 2019, and the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement took effect in 2020.
During a NATO summit in London, England, a year later, Trudeau was caught on a hot mic allegedly mocking Trump along with other world leaders. Following that incident, Trump called him “two-faced.”
In 2021, after the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol building, Trudeau issued a statement that said the incident was “incited” by Trump.
The Canadian Press and Noé Chartier contributed to this report.
