The relationship between the neighboring leaders has been visibly tumultuous since a sharp public clash at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, and high-stakes tariff disputes, aggressive trade negotiations, and clashing geopolitical visions have continued.
Last week, U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer, told Fox News that Canada recently walked away from the "best deal in the world" that offered to reduce tariffs on key Canadian exports — including steel, aluminum, autos, and lumber — under a framework that U.S. officials viewed as a major preferential concession.
Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the terms because he viewed the proposal as a one-sided pact that demanded further Canadian concessions while using punitive tariffs as leverage. Canadian leadership chose to push back against what they considered coercive trade tactics, opting instead to protect domestic control over vital resources like energy and critical minerals and respond with retaliatory measures.
Brian Rushfeldt does not see relations improving as long as Trump and Carney remain in charge.
"I think at the government level, it is going to take new people," he tells AFN. "I think that the president and the prime minister are both so egotistical and misguided on some issues. Unfortunately, we've got two leaders who can't seem to get down to our level to deal with it like decent human beings."
He does not, however, see so much of a rift between ordinary Americans and Canadians.
"I know our tourism is way down into the U.S., and we've got people saying, 'We're not buying any U.S. goods, and we're never going to travel to the U.S.' There's a few of those, just as there's people now in the U.S. saying they don't want anything to do with us," he relays.
"But the great majority of Canadians and Americans have so many similarities that I think if it was left to the people, this would be settled within a day," Rushfeldt says.
