U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office of the White House in October, 2025. The Liberal government’s support is currently 30 per cent ahead of the U.S. President’s.Evan Vucci/The Associated Press
In the latest NY Times/Siena poll, Donald Trump’s approval rating dropped to 37 per cent, among the lowest it has been in either of his presidential terms. He’s almost always managed to stay north of 40. Not now.
In his own party, the mad King continues to command bristling support, as evidenced by his success in ousting Republican lawmakers who crossed him, the latest being haymaker-hurler Thomas Massie, who was defeated convincingly by a Trump recruit in a primary on Tuesday. But the national soundings are what count, and Mr. Trump is sinking.
In Canada, meanwhile, in a Spark Insights poll this week, the Carney government’s approval rating stood at a skyward 67 per cent. In a rare occurrence, the Liberals have majority approval in every part of the country.
The Liberal government’s support is 30 per cent ahead of the President’s. Has there ever been a gap that broad between contentment with a government here and discontent there?
Not even in 1974 – with the exceptional circumstances of president Richard Nixon resigning – was there such a margin. Tricky Dick was in the low twenties while Pierre Trudeau, whose Liberals were re-elected with a majority that year, was in the forties.
Carney plays down Trump administration’s suspension of joint Canada-U.S. defence board
As is well documented, much of the Carney support is due to Mr. Trump’s hostile actions toward Canada. Being such an ideological partisan, how peeved must he be at being the font for such Liberal success?
Has it not registered with him yet that his anti-Canadian offensive is a dismal failure and that change might be in order? It doesn’t appear so. His administration turned antagonistic again this week, announcing that it was suspending its participation in the bilateral Permanent Joint Board of Defence, which dates back to the 1940s.
Featuring significantly in the dismal failure is Mr. Trump’s trade war, in which Canada figures prominently. It has had the effect of hitting Americans with new taxes and upward pressure on inflation. Many of his levies have embarrassingly been invalidated by the courts, leaving him scrambling.
His anti-Canada agenda has little support in Congress or from the American people. It has cut deeply into tourism from Canada. It has cut deeply into purchases of American goods by Canadians. It has undercut the chances of his fellow conservatives winning government in Ottawa. It has cut deeply into the goodwill that existed for so long from Canadians toward the U.S. Now, about two-thirds of Canadians view the U.S. unfavourably. Before Mr. Trump the number was only about one-quarter.
The purpose of his campaign has been to bring Canada more and more into the American fold. It has backfired. He’s rallied Canadians against a common enemy. He’s prompted Ottawa to pursue decoupling initiatives from the U.S. heretofore unseen.
Mr. Trump was successful, however, in getting Ottawa to increase its military spending. Many presidents had tried but were unsuccessful. Despite Canadians’ very laudable record in wars and despite America spending gazillions and not winning in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and now Iran, Canada’s spending has been the butt of jokes. “Mr. President, the good news is that Canada has now surged ahead of Luxembourg in defence spending,” U.S. defence secretary Caspar Weinberger once told Ronald Reagan.
But rather than Mr. Trump boasting of getting Ottawa to pony up, the statement pausing the Permanent Joint Board of Defence, which said Canada is failing to make credible progress on its defence commitments, constitutes just more bullying.
In fact, Ottawa has made some of its greatest progress ever, increasing spending to 2 per cent of GDP this year and pledging to reach 3.5 per cent by 2035.
Just last week, U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra was lauding defence ties with Canada, saying they’ve been “awesome” and “we are very, very appreciative of the partnership.”
Rather than frustration over Canada’s actual spending amounts, what may have prompted the Pentagon statement is the Canadian plan to make far more defence purchases domestically or from suppliers other than the U.S., an example being a change under consideration to cut back on its plan to purchase 88 F-35 fighter jets.
Though Prime Minister Mark Carney said the statement shouldn’t be taken too seriously, there are fears it could be a harbinger of a U.S. withdrawal from the far more essential continental defence pact, NORAD.
Given Mr. Trump’s quixotic nature, there’s no telling if or when he might change course on Canada. His options aren’t good. If he reverses course he’s admitting his folly. But if he remains on the low road, Canadians are likely to continue to rally around the flag and keep the Liberals flying high.