Let's talk about Trump vs Canada: world power edition.... - Belle of the Ranch

Well, howdy there Internet people. It's Belle again. So, today we're going to talk about Trump versus Canada World Power Edition.

An announcement by the Canadian Foreign Minister has led to a lot of confusion in the United States because people are starting to see the very obvious effects that they once claimed were impossible. Trump has been attempting to squeeze Cuba and has attempted to cut off oil to the island nation. This, of course, has pushed up costs on pretty much everything from transportation to food. It created blackouts. It's disrupted medical infrastructure. The Trump administration has made it pretty clear that the goal is regime change. Experts tend to believe that an embargo alone wouldn't produce the necessary catalyst.

In the last couple of days, the outlet Foreign Policy ran an article simply titled Cuba isn't headed for collapse. The government there has had a lot of experience handling hardship, and the widely accepted view is that Trump's move was doomed from the start. But now there's a new wrinkle. The Canadian foreign minister said, "We are preparing a plan to assist. We are not prepared at this point to provide any further details of an announcement." Cryptic.

Americans are of course confused. Why isn't Canada backing the US play? The West often worked in unison when it came to foreign policy because of shared economic interests. When Trump broke those shared interests, he created a situation where Canadian and European interests started to diverge from US interests.

Canada has a lot of mining and tourism interests in Cuba, interests that are currently being disrupted. Canada's in the top three when it comes to direct investment in Cuba. This is a clear sign that Europe and Canada aren't really interested in another round of banana wars because of the damaged economic ties. They will be far less likely to cosign US moves.

Now, will Canadian assistance be significant or just a token? No clue. From the foreign policy standpoint, it isn't the amount of assistance being provided that matters. It's that the US is engaged in a major foreign policy move. And regardless of how poorly thought out or executed that move is, Canada isn't going along with it and they aren't simply ignoring it. They're publicly saying in a non-announcement that they're going to undermine it to some degree.

It isn't the solar panels or medical supplies or whatever aid is actually delivered that matters when it comes to international affairs, although that certainly matters to the people in Cuba. It's the fact that anything is being delivered at all.

As a potential EU-Canadian block starts to emerge as another world power, it's important to understand that eventually it will come into direct competition with the US and China. Trade creates national interests. Shared national interests creates cooperation. Opposing national interests creates competition.

Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a good day.