By Ben Meiselas
Watching the footage of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney shaking hands with China’s Xi Jinping in South Korea this week, I couldn’t help but think how Canada is playing chess, but Trump is not even playing checkers — he’s slamming the table and eating the pieces. The world sees right through Trump’s charade. When you hear Carney speak, I can’t help but envy the substance, diplomacy, and calm strength on display. It’s the exact opposite of the chaos and incoherence that have defined Donald Trump’s interactions on the world stage.
Of course, I had to catch up with former Canadian MP and current leader of Meidas Canada, Charlie Angus. By the way, if you haven’t subscribed to Meidas Canada yet, now is the time. Charlie has complete and total editorial control of the channel, ensuring that we are bringing you an unapologetically authentic Canadian perspective. Follow Meidas Canada on YouTube here.
Carney’s meeting with Xi marked the first formal engagement between Canada and China in eight years. It was a deliberate and symbolic reset after years of strain caused largely by Trump’s reckless trade wars and erratic diplomacy. Standing beside Xi, Carney called it “a turning point in the relationship,” one that “creates opportunities for Canadian families, businesses, and workers.” He’s accepted an invitation to visit Beijing soon, signaling a renewed era of constructive engagement.
For context, Canada has long been one of America’s closest allies and trading partners. Yet under Trump’s regime, Washington’s hostility has left Ottawa searching for stability elsewhere. Trump’s tariffs on Canadian steel, his baseless designation of Canadian copper as a “national security threat,” and his belligerent ambassador Pete Hoekstra, who has reportedly sworn at Canadian trade officials, have done lasting damage.
Carney’s pivot is not a betrayal of the United States; it’s a pragmatic response to Trump’s destruction of alliances. As Meidas Canada leader Charlie Angus, leader of and a key voice in the country’s pro-democracy movement, told me: “Our relations with China were toxic. You couldn’t have imagined this before. But now, with Trump’s belligerence, we’re realizing China might be a more reliable trade partner than the U.S.”
That statement would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Heck, even a few months ago. Yet Trump’s America has left allies with little choice. The Trump administration’s fixation on tariffs and isolationism has forced countries to look elsewhere for supply chains, markets, and rare earth elements, materials vital for clean energy and tech manufacturing. “Trump is going to have to go to China and beg,” I said on-air, because he’s cut off access to friendly suppliers like Canada.
Canada, by contrast, holds vast reserves of copper and critical minerals essential for the 21st-century economy. Rather than partner with its democratic neighbor, Trump declared Canadian copper a threat. As Angus noted, “That’s not going to make America great again. It takes 15 to 20 years to get an American copper mine into production.”
Meanwhile, Carney is building bridges where Trump has burned them. His conversation with Xi was conducted with the professionalism and fluency expected of a world leader, traits Trump has never possessed. Carney even spoke of “people-centric growth” and “inclusive international systems,” echoing themes of sustainability and cooperation that the U.S. has all but abandoned.
And while Trump obsesses over marble renovations in the Lincoln Bedroom and posts rage-fueled tirades online, the rest of the world is moving on. Canada is expanding trade talks with Singapore, Germany, the U.K., Korea, and Australia, diversifying partnerships once anchored to the United States. “We are stepping up when you guys are hitting the gutter,” Angus told me.
It’s a sobering reflection of how far America’s global standing has fallen under Trump’s regime. His approach, rooted in vanity and vengeance rather than vision, has alienated allies, empowered adversaries, and fractured the democratic coalition that once defined Western leadership.
But there’s also a lesson here: democracy thrives when leaders rise above grievance and engage the world with purpose. Mark Carney is doing that. Donald Trump never could.
For America’s sake, and democracy’s, we should take note.
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