Canada faces a major dilemma with Joe Biden\u2019s ascension to the U.S. presidency. It will be dealing with two Joe Bidens: Biden the internationalist, committed to multilateral\u00a0institutions, alliances\u00a0and global security, and Biden the old-fashioned Democrat intent on protecting the American worker and America\u2019s economic interests.<\/p>\n
Biden the internationalist will be a welcome pick-me-up for Ottawa after the tumultuous years of Donald Trump\u2019s presidency, when bashing allies and dissing Western leaders, including our own prime minister, on Twitter was a blood sport. Biden\u2019s promise to re-engage with the global machinery of multilateral governance including salvaging \u2014 not scuttling \u2014 the World Trade Organization, rejoining the Paris climate accord<\/a> and reversing Trump\u2019s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization will also be welcomed. Fears that a withering NATO alliance might die \u2014 Trump threatened to pull the U.S. out of NATO and clearly preferred Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s company to that of his NATO counterparts \u2014 will also diminish. Biden has said he wants a stronger Western alliance that can stand up to the world\u2019s dictators and despots.<\/p>\n Canada can be an important player in the equation when it comes to U.S. multilateral and allied priority setting by asserting its own views and contributing to alliance renewal, and other issues such as NATO\u2019s stance in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, Russian sanctions, Iran, Turkey, cybersecurity, climate and health.<\/p>\n At the same time, there is also no going \u201cback to the future\u201d<\/a> in transatlantic relations. Europeans clearly have different views from Americans about how to manage relations with China (they want to be able to do business with China<\/a> and avoid another Cold War) and other issues such as big tech. Europe also wants a more equal partnership with the United States that tempers the U.S. proclivity to call the shots and see itself as primus<\/em> inter pares (first among equals)<\/em>. Europe has already set out an ambitious agenda for recalibrating transatlantic relations with the Biden administration in its recent vision statement<\/a>, \u201cA new EU-US agenda for global change.\u201d Canada thus also has a special role to play as \u201cbalancer\u201d by helping both sides deal with its differences.<\/p>\n Of course, Biden will have to match his multilateralist rhetoric with action. A good place to start would be to throw his support\u00a0either\u00a0behind Nigeria\u2019s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala<\/a>,\u00a0who\u00a0appears to have the most backing to be\u00a0the next director-general of the WTO, though Trump vetoed\u00a0her candidacy, or the other finalist, South Korean trade minister Yoo Myung Hee<\/a>. The WTO wisely postponed a formal vote on the appointment until this year so there is still time to reverse course and undo\u00a0Trump\u2019s\u00a0damage to an organization that normally operates by consensus.<\/p>\n The White House will now be a friendlier and more welcoming place. No more need for fake bonhomie and grimaced smiles in Oval Office photo-ops. Even better for Canada is our prime minister\u2019s close friendship with Biden (he was the first Western leader to congratulate him on his electoral success).\u00a0As former prime minister Brian Mulroney often remarked, you want to be first in line among the 190 or so world leaders who are vying to gain entry to the Oval Office and have their calls answered.<\/p>\n We have a better chance now, but we\u2019re going to need to deal\u00a0with the other Joe Biden, the old-fashioned Democrat.<\/p>\n Canadian companies could find themselves shut out of the action if American companies are shielded from their foreign competitors as Biden seems to want to do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In his first speech on U.S. economic recovery as president-elect, Biden sounded the alarm when he said that his plan \u201cwill create millions of good-paying union jobs in manufacturing, building the vehicles, products, technologies that we\u2019re going to need for the future to compete with the rest of the world.\u00a0From autos to our stockpiles, we\u2019re going to buy American\u00a0<\/em>(my emphasis). No government contract will be given to companies that don\u2019t make their products here in America.\u201d<\/p>\n The two pillars of Biden\u2019s recovery plan are his recently announced US$1.9 trillion aid package<\/a>, which will put cheques in the hands of Americans, accelerate vaccine production and distribution, and provide aid to cities and states. Biden has also a proposed US$2 trillion \u201cgreen energy\u201d infrastructure plan to promote long-term economic recovery and growth, which will likely gain some form of Congressional approval because of Democratic electoral victories that have been given them control of both Houses in the new Congress. But what is good for America may not be so good for Canada. Canadian companies could find themselves shut out of the action if American companies are shielded from their foreign competitors as Biden seems to want to do.<\/p>\n \u201cBuy American\u201d has been a\u00a0longstanding\u00a0bugbear in Canada-U.S. relations. Former president Obama had \u201cBuy American\u201d provisions in his 2009 economic stimulus package and subsequent 2011 \u201cJobs Act.\u201d Expect more of the same as Biden and his fellow Democrats grab the protectionist shovel to dig America out of a COVID-induced recession. As the OECD has recently modelled<\/a>, more protectionism and restrictions on trade in goods and services will be disastrous for Canada and could take a cumulative 13 per cent bite out of our GDP over the next five years, by far the worst of OECD countries.<\/p>\n Biden\u2019s promise to rejoin the Paris climate accord<\/a> and his Clean Energy Revolution plan<\/a> will put Canada and the U.S. on the same path on energy and climate change. However, Biden\u2019s proposed \u201ccarbon adjustment tax,\u201d which is intended to force countries exporting goods to the United States to meet their climate and environmental obligations, could penalize our energy and resource-exporting sectors\u00a0unless we can persuade him to adopt a\u00a0common North American as opposed to U.S.-centred approach.<\/p>\n Ottawa\u00a0should\u00a0also\u00a0disabuse\u00a0itself\u00a0of the notion that\u00a0it can persuade\u00a0Biden\u00a0to\u00a0reverse his election pledge to kill<\/a> the Keystone XL pipeline, which he has indicated he will do his first day in office, according to a purported briefing note<\/a> circulated the weekend before his inauguration.<\/p>\n Canada is going to have to position itself carefully when it comes to dealing with Biden the protectionist Democrat, especially since he is going to be more than a little preoccupied with domestic challenges to heal and unify his own country. Rather than going to the new president with a long laundry list of concerns and complaints, Canada should position its demands in a way that addresses Biden\u2019s own primary concern, battling the pandemic and promoting U.S. post-COVID economic recovery. We need to make convincing arguments backed by hard facts that the best and fastest path to recovery for the United States is to work with its neighbours \u2014 not against them \u2014 and to develop a comprehensive, broad-based North American approach. That also means rallying to our cause American interests that understand that \u201cBuy American\u201d and protectionist measures only increase the costs of doing business and hurt incomes and job growth.<\/p>\n It may also be helpful to remind Biden that a strong and united North America is America\u2019s best defence against China, especially when it comes to energy security, cybersecurity, technological innovation, promoting productivity gains, and health (so when the next pandemic comes along, we are all better prepared).<\/p>\n Accordingly, Canada should take the lead and set the agenda by proposing to the new Biden administration a North American COVID recovery summit. Such a summit would likely be \u201cvirtual\u201d and take place online, and it should not limit itself to the usual heads-of-state variety (the so-called \u201cthree amigos\u201d) but also include business leaders, provincial leaders, state governors, and key non-state actors who have cross-border ties and interests. Mobilizing a supportive cross-border coalition would strengthen the case for co-operative solutions in health (combatting COVID and averting the next pandemic), economic recovery and other key issues such as climate change and energy, refugees and migration, transportation and cross-border management, for example. A big-tent summit would also underscore the highly integrated nature of the North American economy and the concrete benefits of working together.<\/p>\n Ottawa\u00a0may like Biden the internationalist, but there may be less to like in Biden the old-fashioned Democrat. It will require imagination and bold leadership to engage his new administration at a time of major crisis. Simply put, we need to be bold and think big with Biden on an ambitious post-pandemic economic recovery and prosperity plan, one that the United States works on together with its North American partners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Canada faces a major dilemma with Joe Biden\u2019s ascension to the U.S. presidency. It will be dealing with two Joe Bidens: Biden the internationalist, committed to multilateral\u00a0institutions, alliances\u00a0and global security, and Biden the old-fashioned Democrat intent on protecting the American worker and America\u2019s economic interests. Biden the internationalist will be a welcome pick-me-up for Ottawa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":278721,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-08T03:21:57Z","apple_news_api_id":"a4616522-96dc-432e-bd31-c678027b2627","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-08T03:21:58Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ApGFlIpbcQy69McZ4AnsmJw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9362,9358,9372],"tags":[8476],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4245,4295],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[7189],"class_list":["post-269071","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economie","category-politique","category-recent-stories-fr","tag-us-politics-fr","irpp-category-economie","irpp-category-politique","irpp-tag-etats-unis"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n