Fmr Biden ambassador blames Trump for Canada playing 'footsie' with China

By Fox News · Fox News

Former U.S. Ambassador to Canada David L. Cohen is blaming the Trump administration's hardline trade pressure for pushing Ottawa into engaging with China. "I think Canada has tentatively tried to play some footsie with China that the Trump administration may not be happy with," Cohen, who served as President Joe Biden’s ambassador to Canada from 2021 to 2025, said in an interview with Fox News Digital. "There is a discomfort with that," Cohen says, while arguing that it is ultimately Canada's reflex to sentiment against President Donald Trump – particularly his hardline trade policies and rhetoric about the neighbor to the north being a "51st state." VANCE SAYS CANADA FRIENDLIER TO CHINA ON TRADE THAN TO US: 'INSANITY' "One of downsides of the aggressive Trump administration treatment of Canada and many other allies and partners is that the irony is that those policies are pushing those countries to at least consider broader and larger deals with China, which of course is wholly inconsistent with a major thrust of President Trump's international trade policy," Cohen continued. "So, how that shakes out, it's all a matter of degree and balance. "But I think there's no doubt that the aggressiveness of the Trump administration positions has caused many countries to at least reevaluate whether there are additional deals that can be made with China." The comments come as U.S.-Canada trade tensions spiral after negotiations collapsed last month. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday accused Washington of seeking dependence rather than partnership. "The most fundamental issue is that the cumulative U.S. demands revealed that they wanted us to become even more reliant on them, not less," Carney said. "In too many areas, they wanted dependency, not a true economic partnership." TRUMP TAUNTS CANADA ON RENAMING LAKE ONTARIO THE 'LAKE AMERICA' AMID RISING BORDER TRADE RIFT Notably, the fallout comes just weeks before Chinese dictator Xi Jinping makes an historic trip t…