Canadians' Thoughts On The Ugly American

I have been reading of late polls that address our feelings about our southern 'neighbour'. To be concise, we don't like or trust them anymore with, of course, very good reason. In today's Star, columnist Andrew Phillips distills the polls and offers his thoughts:

The headline that caught my eye late last week was this one: “Look how much Canadians hate the United States now.”

It was on Politico and it was propped up by the results of a major new poll that suggests a “lasting chill” has settled over relations between our two countries.

While the poll didn't use the word hate in its inquiry,  the results bespeak a deep distrust that has hardened over the past year or so.

If there was any doubt, there’s another poll out this week along the same lines. This one’s from Nanos Research in the Globe and Mail. It’s just as bleak.

Canadians have given up on the U.S. as a reliable ally (three-quarters of them in the Nanos survey, 58 per cent in Politico).

Far more Canadians see the U.S. as the biggest threat to peace (58 per cent) than Russia (29 per cent) or China (just 10 per cent), according to Politico.

Two-thirds of Canadians are concerned that the U.S. and Donald Trump are a security threat to Canada (Nanos). One in five (21 per cent) believe an invasion ordered by Trump is likely; only half dismiss that possibility.

Unsurprisingly, Canadians think we need to take our distance from the U.S. Fifty-seven per cent say it’s better to rely on China than on “the U.S. under Donald Trump” (Politico). Forty-four per cent favour more trade with China (Nanos).

Phillips suggests something I think most of us agree with: that lost trust will be difficult to regain, even after the mad king has passed into history.

It’ll take the Americans years, probably a generation, to rebuild trust — and only if whoever comes after wants to do any such thing, which is not a given.

And despite all of the criticism that the Conservatives, under PP, have lobbed against the Liberals for their failure to secure a new trade deal with the U.S., Canadians seem to understand that such a deal is unlikely under the mad king. 

It’s apparent to anyone who’s paid attention that a decent deal hasn’t been available and the blame for its absence lies at the feet of Trump.

Likewise, the anxious chorus coming out of segments of the business community to the effect that Canada must do everything to make sure the CUSMA trade deal is renewed this summer now sounds distinctly out of sync with the national mood. 

Canadians are no longer the naive, complacent and trusting souls we once might have been regarding the U.S. We have seen the enemy, and we will not easily forget him.

The Ugly American

Probably first coined in a 1958 novel, The Ugly American is a term that, unfortunately, has clear and immediate relevance:

The US has bought up virtually all the stocks for the next three months of one of the two drugs proven to work against Covid-19, leaving none for the UK, Europe or most of the rest of the world.

Experts and campaigners are alarmed both by the US unilateral action on remdesivir and the wider implications, for instance in the event of a vaccine becoming available. The Trump administration has already shown that it is prepared to outbid and outmanoeuvre all other countries to secure the medical supplies it needs for the US.

“They’ve got access to most of the drug supply [of remdesivir], so there’s nothing for Europe,” said Dr Andrew Hill, senior visiting research fellow at Liverpool University.

That this rapacious and selfish ethos should come to the fore now is really not surprising. While doubtlessly quite happy to exploit an ethnocentric orientation that seems to define so many Americans, the Infant-in-Chief is reacting in a typically craven manner to some unpleasant truths that may cost him his re-election:

The deal was announced as it became clear that the pandemic in the US is spiralling out of control. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading public health expert and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the Senate the US was sliding backwards.

“We are going in the wrong direction,” said Fauci. Last week the US saw a new daily record of 40,000 new coronavirus cases in one day. “I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around,” he said. He could not provide an estimated death toll, but said: “It is going to be very disturbing, I guarantee you that.”

Even though he has proven by his abysmally inept handling of the pandemic to be quite willing to sacrifice his fellow Americans, I doubt that Donald Trump, even in his most delusional state, believes that kind of statistic will serve him well during his campaign.

Hence, a reappearance of The Ugly American in full selfish splendour who, if Trump's disciples remain true to form, will be lustily cheered.

Not a sentiment, I suspect, that will be shared by those with a conscience and a recognition of their obligation to the larger world, i.e., real human beings.