Conciliation and loyalty won't guarantee you anything

He'll still sucker punch you. Just ask Michael Cohen. Or Justin Trudeau

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland - the Batman and Robin of Canadian foreign policy - just got played.

An authoritarian masquerading as the leader of the so-called "free world" just told them, in effect, to buzz off by imposing hefty tariffs on Canadian aluminium and steel imports.

[...]

Trudeau and Freeland calculated that if they only mollified the authoritarian at every disgusting turn rather than scold, let alone confront him, then he would reward them with a diplomatic bauble or two.

[...]

The corollary to Trudeau et al's circumventing, while simultaneously playing nicey-nice with an authoritarian, has been, of course, saying and doing nothing that might upset or offend the authoritarian.

[...]

Instead, Trudeau told an interviewer: "Donald Trump has demonstrated that he's a bit of a disruptive force. He does unpredictable things and sometimes they have positive impacts, sometimes they have negative impacts. It's not my job to opine on, you know, what it is he chooses to do."

[...]

One Canadian columnist heaped praise on Trudeau's "calm response" and "balancing act". "There are sound reasons why Trudeau has taken a deliberate, non-confrontational approach ... and so far [he has] managed to stay off his [Trump's] protectionist radar," the scribe wrote.

[...]

"By organizing a grass-roots network of American officials, lawmakers and businesses, Canada is hoping to contain Mr Trump's protectionist and nationalist impulses," the NYT correspondent wrote, apparently not realising that Trudeau's unique bypass-the-president gambit isn't that unique at all.

In any event, so much for "staving off" and "containing" the authoritarian's nativist and protectionist impulses.

  alJazeera

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.