Republicans and ex-military leaders recoil at Trump officials’ Canada attacks

Republicans fighting for re-election in battleground states that could suffer from Donald Trump's imposition of new border taxes on consumer goods have also balked at the president's latest trade war. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

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The Trump administration’s attacks on Canada have sparked a backlash among former United States national security officials and Republicans, including claims Washington is “embarrassing” the U.S. and demeaning a long-term ally.

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Donald Trump and lieutenants have repeatedly aimed barbs at Canada’s military and sovereignty in recent months — but the broadsides escalated after trade talks between the countries collapsed on Friday, exposing cracks in the president’s own movement just months ahead of the midterm elections.

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Trump on Tuesday said that he wanted to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America”, because “we don’t expect to [be] doing much business with Ontario any longer”. The comment came a day after Ontario’s premier Doug Ford called Trump “a loser”.

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U.S. vice-president JD Vance piled on the insults during a speech on Monday in Maine, which borders Canada — described as a “state” by Vance in an attempted joke — and has a blockbuster toss-up race for a U.S. Senate seat.

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“Canada is a country that has underinvested in its military that quite literally would get invaded by a foreign country were it not for the umbrella of protection provided by” the U.S., Vance told the crowd.

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Vance’s claims about Canada’s defence echoed comments by U.S. transportation secretary Sean Duffy, who told Fox News that Canada was “a country that doesn’t have a military”.

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Former U.S. military leaders reacted badly. Canadian troops have fought alongside the U.S. in several American military conflicts.

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“Mr secretary, please stop embarrassing us,” said Ben Hodges, the former commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe, referring to Duffy. “I served in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2009-2010 alongside Canadian soldiers. They were skilled, courageous and effective. We were lucky to be on the same side with them.”

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NATO-member Canada is among the U.S.’s closest military partners, with the two sharing the North American Aerospace Defence Command, a mutual defence organization. Canada deployed about 40,000 troops to Afghanistan over 12 years, suffering 158 deaths.

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Karen Gibson, the former intelligence director at U.S. Central Command, praised Canadian forces for their work alongside Americans in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait. “We were stronger for their presence,” she told the FT, adding that the NORAD partnership was “vital”.

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One retired admiral, who served alongside Canadian special forces, told the FT that Canada’s “professional, competent forces” had added “much-needed capacity” to U.S. war efforts including in Afghanistan.

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“Fact: Canada has a brave and professional military. It has deployed into combat with us many times, including D-Day. Canadian troops, under my NATO command, faced intense fire in Afghanistan where many were killed in action. I honour their memory and salute them,” wrote James Stavridis, a retired U.S. admiral.

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Washington slapped new tariffs on US$20 billion worth of Canadian goods on Saturday hours after negotiations collapsed in acrimony. On Monday, Trump said he would increase levies on Canadian cars and automotive parts to 50 per cent. Canada was set to announce its retaliatory measures later on Tuesday.