Chrystia Freeland has a different set of problems in post-Trump America

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This article was published 16/10/2021 (1457 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASHINGTON—The presumed next chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, and the presumed prime minister-in-waiting of Canada, Chrystia Freeland, stood together in Washington this week with the White House in the background. What a picture: the sun shining, the weather comfortably warm.

For now, each is the top finance official and deputy leader of their respective countries, and both are widely expected to climb even higher (Scholz sooner, Freeland sooner or later). Together they celebrated their global leadership on an international tax accord, right in front of the most recognized seat of power in the world.

Well, not right in front. Between them and the U.S. president’s residence was an anti-pipeline protest — which wasn’t the perfect image for Freeland, whose government is suing to keep a pipeline open.

Freeland made some brief and bland remarks about the tax agreement , and quickly took questions in English and French about the U.S. border. Scholz took one question in German.

Then a voice shouted from the back of the pack of reporters. One of the protesters, with a question of his own: “Any comments on Enbridge putting a pipeline through Indigenous land in the United States?”

Freeland’s assistant stepped forward and said that while the German vice-chancellor would take more questions, the deputy prime minister had to go. Freeland started walking across the park to leave as Scholz took another question.

But some protesters started shouting after Freeland, about the Indigenous children’s bodies found in graves in Canada, and about how oil spills don’t respect borders.

Freeland started walking faster, her arms pumping.

“F – – – Canada!” they called after her.

It was one moment from a week in Washington for Freeland.

Many others were more pleasant. Representing Canada at meetings of the G20, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, she was pleased to join an agreement on a global minimum corporate tax that will, among other things, make tax evasion harder for global giants including digital corporations — something Freeland has considered a top priority. She also took one-on-one meetings with top finance officials from the U.S., U.K., Korea, Italy and Mexico.

But here in the U.S. — where Freeland is no stranger, having studied at Harvard, worked in New York as a journalist, and been a frequent visitor to Washington during the renegotiations of NAFTA when Donald Trump was president — there were also signs of a relationship facing strains.

Like those protesters cursing her, and the battle they represent. The Biden administration, after cancelling the proposed Keystone pipeline that Canada’s government so ardently supported, has not rushed to Canada’s side in the Michigan government’s attempt to close Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline.

Like the prolonged border restrictions, during which the U.S. did not immediately reciprocate when Canada reopened, and the sense emerged that President Joe Biden was more concerned about U.S. perceptions of the Mexican border than about the historically familial relationship at the Canadian one.

Like the rising fervour for economic protectionism that could see Canadian companies frozen out of U.S. government contracts and the emerging electric vehicle industry — Biden’s rhetoric has been stridently “buy American” and members of Congress have been looking to enshrine that in law.

After four years of truculence under Trump, many expected things to be warmer by now under a new president. But despite his professed love of Canada, Biden has still not visited since his election as president. And Canada has not had a permanent ambassador from the U.S. since August 2019 — Biden’s nominee for the post is among the appointments held up in Congress. Some experts who’ve long worked on cross-border issues express fear of long-term damage to the relationship.

As the Canadian government’s minister-who-handles-everything-important and presumed heir to the Liberal leadership, these are things Freeland has to confront on a visit to the U.S. — in high-level meetings and in appearances in public parks.

Someone asked me this week if Freeland’s background as a journalist shows in her communication skills as a politician. It does, but almost as if she learned from this side of the notepad how to avoid saying anything that would become a story. Former journalist Ralph Klein brought a city muckraker’s straight-talking, sometimes off-colour sensibility with him when he became Alberta’s premier. When he was the federal Liberal leader, you could see Michael Ignatieff battling the competing imperatives of his talking points and his desire to think out loud. By contrast, talking to reporters Thursday at the Canadian Embassy, Freeland spoke slowly — as if reading out a phone number she expected you to copy down — and pronounced sentences that sounded like they’d been workshopped by a public relations specialist.

“Work needs to be done every single day, every single hour on the Canada-U.S. relationship. It is necessarily an absolute priority for every government, and it’s a priority for us,” Freeland said. She made reference to the NAFTA renegotiation, which she handled personally, as evidence the government she serves recognizes the importance of managing that relationship. “We know, frankly, it takes a whole country approach … And that’s something that we continue to work on every day.”

It got interesting when she got more specific about that work. Asked about the Buy American provisions moving through Congress, Freeland said she was “very aware” of the proposals, and diplomatically hinted at potential retaliation. Part of her job in Washington this week, she said, was to “deliver messages.”

“It’s important for the United States to understand that procurement is a reciprocal relationship,” she said “While it is certainly the case that Canadian companies can play an important, valuable role in government procurement in the United States, it is also the case that U.S. companies benefit from government procurement opportunities in Canada.”

She noted that U.S. companies do about a billion dollars a year in business with Canada’s government. One might interpret the subtext: Nice deal here, it would be a shame if anything happened to it, eh?

“What Canada is saying to our partners is our procurement opportunities will be open to your companies just as much as your procurement opportunities are open to ours. And that is something that I discussed with the secretary of the Treasury,” she said.

“Canada has a very effective, very close partnership with the United States. As we should: our two countries share the world’s longest nonmilitarized border. Canada is the largest market for the United States, larger than China, Japan, and the UK combined. Our relationship with the U.S. and the U.S. relationship with Canada is important to both sides,” she said. Even if that doesn’t always seem outwardly apparent from the behaviour of one side in particular.

Like Freeland said, part of the job is delivering messages: “That bilateral conversation,” she said, “is really critical.”

Edward Keenan is the Star’s Washington Bureau chief. He covers U.S. politics and current affairs. Reach him via email: ekeenan@thestar.ca