Picking out the weirdest proposal by former and would-be U.S. president Donald Trump is difficult. But his repeated assertions that he wants to send the U.S. military into Mexico to fight drug cartels is probably the one Canadians should be the most worried about.
Trump floated the idea a few times during his presidency, mostly behind closed doors with top military leaders. Now that he鈥檚 running to be elected for a second term, not only has he mentioned it in public, he鈥檚 found supporters among various other Republican politicians.
Some of their proposals suggest that the U.S. military action would be in cooperation with the Mexican government, some of them don鈥檛 mention that at all.
Notably, none of them say what would happen if the Mexican government were to say 鈥淣o, sorry, we don鈥檛 want Americans flying planes and shooting missiles and sending armed troops into our country!鈥�
A lot of countries have trouble with the concept of borders and sovereignty, but few have quite as steep a learning curve on that score as the United States.
Going all the way back to the mid-19th Century, some American politicians pushed for the concept of 鈥渕anifest destiny,鈥� the idea that the United States was destined to take up some large fraction of North America. This led, in practical terms, to the purchase of Alaska from Russia, the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War, as well as to arguments that the U.S. should eventually conquer all of Mexico.
Mexico, for American politicians, has long been contested territory. To some, it exists on sufferance.
This should be of special concern to Canadians, because we鈥檝e been in the same boat.
Manifest destiny also famously led to President James Polk鈥檚 1844 election slogan 鈥�54掳40鈥� or fight!鈥� He was referring to America taking over a good chunk of what is now British Columbia, up to the 54th parallel. That would have put the U.S./Canada border west of the Rockies somewhere north of Haida Gwaii.
If Trump takes office again, will cooler heads prevail? Or will American Marines be storming cartel labs, with or without the permission of the Mexican government?
It should be a major concern for Canada.
Every country advocates for its own national interests, and that means that even between allies and trading partners, there are countless causes of friction.
Consider the decades-long fights we鈥檝e had with the U.S. over softwood lumber tariffs, or our supply-management system for dairy and poultry, or Canada鈥檚 refusal to take part in the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Trump made tearing up NAFTA one of his signature policies, and he鈥檚 not a big fan of NATO either.
I鈥檓 not saying that the U.S. government would, even under Trump, invade Canada because they鈥檙e mad about us selling too many cheap two-by-fours.
But having an immediate neighbour that doesn鈥檛 care about the sovereignty of its allies should worry our leaders, and they should be planning for the worst.
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