As was underscored by Ottawa’s diplomatic strategy of decentralizing our dialogue during the Trump years, the Canada-US bilateral relationship is much bigger than two people. And, in a world navigating globalized policy challenges and new approaches to competition, cross-border coordination has never been more crucial. Former Clerk of the Privy Council and BMO Vice Chair Kevin Lynch and former White House economic aide Paul Deegan offer a prescription for rebooting the relationship to meet the new moment.

Kevin Lynch and Paul Deegan 

Through the inevitable trials and tribulations of living next door to an economic colossus and military superpower, a consistent comfort blanket for Canadians has been the speech of President John F. Kennedy before Parliament in 1961 during which he famously declared: “Geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder.” 

Almost 30 years later, Prime Minister Mulroney and President Reagan turned that lasting expression of goodwill into a legally binding agreement on free trade. That agreement, which today underpins roughly $1.9 billion worth of daily trade in goods and services between our countries, was transformational for the North American economy, not just Canada. Indeed, who could have imagined in 1989 that trade across the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit alone would be larger today than the entire US-Japan trading relationship? 

While Mulroney’s very personal leader-to-leader style worked uniquely well with Reagan and the first George Bush, what has made the Canada-US relationship special throughout our history is the incredible depth of cross-border ties of people. It has been forged by Canadians and Americans vacationing, studying, researching, competing in sports, and working across the border. It has been reinforced by business leaders whose companies have set up facilities on both sides of the border. It has been deepened by the bonds of soldiers serving together to protect our shared values. It has been expanded by institutional relationships between public servants managing daily our shared air, water, land, transport and security connections. And it has been cemented by ongoing meetings, both formal and informal, of MPs and members of Congress, of governors and premiers, of border town mayors and of business associations. 

But no relationship is impervious to change, and the arrival of President Donald Trump, with his disregard for our shared ties and values, was a shock to Canadians. While President Biden is a welcome return to more normalcy in our bilateral relations, Trumpism is still a malevolent feature of the American political landscape. With dysfunctional politics south of the border, and American polarization leading to a shrinking centre, we will need as many points of cross-border connection and mutual understanding as possible going forward.

And, with significant uncertainty about the makeup of Congress after the 2022 mid-term elections, and the distinct possibility that President Biden will not seek a second term in 2024, today’s generation of Canadian political leaders needs to ask not only where should we go from here policy-wise in the North American relationship, but how do we get there politically?

These political uncertainties are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and its lingering toll on economies and societies, as well as geopolitical fissures as China and the United States lead a new competition between democracy and totalitarianism. These trends and developments all highlight the need for a Canadian strategic focus on where and how to reboot the Canada-US relationship.

Clearly, we should take advantage of a more predictable and experienced US administration, and build on the Biden-Trudeau statement of earlier this year that: “It is in the shared interest of the United States and Canada to revitalize and expand our historic alliance and steadfast friendship to overcome the daunting challenges of today and realize the full potential of the relationship into the future.” But the “what” and the “how” of rebooting the relationship are key.

So, where should this take us? After the federal election widely expected at this writing, the Canadian government needs to identify prospective areas for such a reboot carefully, build cross-border coalitions for success, and risk-manage the ability of the US administration to obtain legislative approval. Consider five specific areas where there is opportunity to enhance North American cooperation and make a difference for both countries.

Climate Change

While Canada welcomed the US rejoining the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the devil of cross-border cooperation is often in the details, and the specifics of the American approach will not emerge until after the Glasgow COP26 Summit in November. However, it is highly unlikely that the US will adopt a carbon tax, and more likely that it will rely instead on a mixture of regulations and targeted green energy investments, with the possibility of a carbon border adjustment mechanism to level the trade playing field with other countries, particularly China. For Canada, this suggests considerable complexity in achieving climate change policy equivalence and alignment, the possibility of unintended regulatory side-swipe, and the risk of further measures by the progressive wing of the Democrats to impede the export of Canadian energy from the oil sands.

At the same time, given the integrated nature of the North American economy, as well as the signal to other countries, the United States has a strong self-interest in demonstrating that effective trans-border climate plans are do-able, and that North America can be a global leader.

Moreover, we have a common interest in investing in next-generation North American energy grids and clean energy technologies. We have an opportunity to expand environmental co-operation beyond the path-breaking Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, which will mark its 50th anniversary next year. We have a shared interest in the Arctic, which is the canary in the coal mine for climate change impacts. And we have a common interest in designing efficient energy transition strategies for the future. 

In short, we have an opportunity to table innovative new areas for Canada-US environmental cooperation, and such pro-activity may also be our best risk management strategy as well. 

Global Health Security

COVID-19 has been the dominant global health, political and economic issue since early 2020. Both its costs and its lessons will reverberate for a generation.

Canada and the US can play a leadership role in reforming the World Health Organization—strengthening its governance and ensuring scientific independence. Canada could also propose setting up a North American task force on how we can better prepare for the next pandemic, including a global virus intelligence network, given that viruses are not respectful of borders.

Trade Policy

Joe Biden is a Bill Clinton-era free trader, but he is not immune to the strong protectionist sentiments in his own party and the current version of the Republican party. And the early signs are not encouraging: softwood lumber demands to increase tariffs despite US shortages, Buy America proposals—including on infrastructure projects, border frictions, and unfortunately the list goes on. Free trade is not a pick and choose arrangement.

As a country, we need the scale of the North American market and a rules-based system to provide certainty for exporters and investors. As a continent, we need to improve our competitiveness and increase our economic, energy, supply chain, and cyber security in a world of escalating geopolitical tensions. The Canada, the US and Mexico, but particularly the US, need to embrace the intent of the USMCA and make it work seamlessly and well. In mindset, it is a pivot from Trump’s America First mantra to a ‘Build and Buy North American’ perspective.

Canada has strength in many areas—financial services, energy, agriproducts, telecom equipment, minerals and metals, pharmaceuticals, automotive manufacturing, transportation, logistics, and software—and these add to North America’s capabilities, not threaten them. Going forward, we can credibly advocate for North American sectoral strategies to enhance competitiveness in a challenging global economy. The focus should be on building global technology and talent advantages and creating the winning conditions for sustained entrepreneurial success.

Defence

Amid rising geopolitical tensions, and increasingly nationalistic and aggressive foreign policy actions by China and Russia, a go-it-alone America undermines global peace and security. President Biden is restoring America’s commitment to NATO and collective security, a multilateral posture strongly aligned with Canada’s thinking and interests.

Here, Canada can help the Biden Administration sell this Trump policy reversal within the United States by demonstrating our commitment to both NATO and continental defence through actions and budgets. Canada and the US should consider re-investing in our 1980s-era NORAD North Warning System to ensure we can detect and deter next- generation missile and drone attacks. We certainly should consider increasing our military presence and capacity to express our sovereignty in the Arctic, which is a focal point not only for Russia but also now China. Canada’s commitments to protecting the right of free passage in the sea lanes of Southeast Asia would be important to our NATO allies as they are vital to protecting global supply chains.

In all, Canada has to invest more in our collective security, not overly rely on others, and this benefits everyone. 

Digital Globalization, Internet Protocols and Competition

Digitization has driven the most recent wave of globalization, enabling integrated global financial markets, internet-based global communications and global supply chains. The backbone of digital globalization is not just technological wizardry, it is also common internet and data protocols that allow systems to “talk” to each other seamlessly and that ensure network data integrity. But there is now growing friction among the US, China and the EU as to what the next generation of such protocols should look like, with China establishing a national digital firewall for strategic and security purposes. 

Threats to common protocols that go unchecked can have disastrous consequences. Canada and the US need a common approach to internet protocols, including cybersecurity and privacy. We need to work with Western allies and potential allies around the world to avoid digital “splinternets”. 

At the same time as we tackle digital protocols, we need to look at the impact of the structure of Big Tech on data privacy and data ownership, on competition, on content rights and licensing, and on social media’s impact on trust in our most cherished democratic institutions and on truth itself. Here, Canada and the United States have much in common, and besides working together Canada can encourage the US to find common ground with our European allies to make sure playing fields are open, level, safe, and competitive, without stifling innovation. 

Looking ahead, American leadership in the world is back, and that is a good thing. But it shouldn’t be allowed to lead to American dominance. Globalization may be in retreat but multilateral cooperation is needed now more than ever. Canada’s middle power status in this uncertain world can help the US, whose prestige and credibility were compromised for four years—with allies and developing countries alike. 

As in the 1980s, we are at one of those moments where we need big, bold ideas to reboot the Canada-US relationship. Unlike then, we cannot rely on leader-to-leader relations alone; the world has changed. We need to double down on the deep network of connections between our two countries, particularly in political fora such as the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group, The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers, the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers. These are not social events or junkets; they are important investments in our most important relationship. And political relationships are key to moving our policy agenda forward.  

Kevin Lynch is a former Clerk of the Privy Council and former vice chair of BMO Financial Group.

Paul Deegan is a public affairs executive and was Deputy Executive Director of the National Economic Council in the Clinton White House.