The consul general of Canada in New York is responsible for promoting Canadian interests in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Bermuda. Tom Clark was on the SUNY Plattsburgh campus Wednesday for the annual Distinguished Canadian Address. After delivering a speech called “What’s Next for Canada and the United States: Reimagining the Bilateral Relationship for a New World Order," Clark explained to WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley what Canada’s vision is for a new world order:
It's being built as we talk. The whole world is going through a rupture. The whole world is seeing a realignment of security and trading arrangements and so on. And so what that's going to look like in the end is anybody's guess. But what we know is that it's moving. So Canada's position is, as Mark Carney has said, if you're not at the table you are on the menu. And we don't want to be on the menu. And so for middle powers like Canada, and that includes a lot of Europe, and it includes a lot of Asia Pacific, we've all got to figure out where we fit in this new emerging world order, whatever it happens to be. And the way we see it is that there are the hegemons, which is the United States, China, India, the big economies of the world, and then there's everybody else. If you're everybody else, you got to figure out how you're going to navigate this. And so one of the ways that you navigate this is that you get together and you say, not to challenge the hegemons, but to make sure you're not run over.
Can you talk about how worried these border communities should be about trade, the diversions of trade from Canada to other countries, and how it might impact those of us near the border?
I wouldn't worry. I'd be realistic about what's happening right now, but I'd also be realistic about what's going to happen down the road. What we've got to do, though, right now is prepare for what's next. And there's, and if you're looking at the border communities in upstate New York, in the North Country and so on, what we collectively, and that includes Canada, what we've got to do collectively is figure out, okay, when things work themselves out and when they get to this new order that we're talking about, what's that going to look like? Because it's going to look better than what we've got right now. And so let's prepare for it.
How do you prepare for what's next when you don't know what's next?
I think that what you do is that you build on the human relationship that exists between Canadians and Americans and particularly between upstate New York and Quebec and Ontario. We've been friends for 250 years, good friends and neighbors, and it's been the most wonderful relationship of any two countries in the world. What's happened over the past year-and-a-half has strained that tremendously. There's been a psychic blow to Canada that will be remembered for a very long time. This does not mean, however, that Canadians are forever not going to come to the United States. Quite the contrary. I think that when they decide to come back, they'll come back in droves. But in the back of their minds there will always be this thing: why did that happen?
Do you think the healing will accelerate once President Trump is out of office?
I think so. I mean, it's hard to project into the future and it's hard to project into what American politics is going to look like in the years ahead. What I've discovered in this process, though, is that there is so much goodwill in the United States towards this relationship that it would seem to me almost impossible that things could go any worse than they are right now.
Do you expect any large changes, significant changes, to the USMCA (U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement)?
We're cautiously optimistic about USMCA, mainly because we haven't heard any voice of any consequence saying we should get rid of it. It would be very, very difficult to get rid of it even if you wanted to. But our optimism stems from the fact that that deal, that USMCA deal, has increased trade between Canada and the United States more than 25% since it was signed five years ago. We're in negotiations with the White House, with the trade team at the USTR (U.S. Trade Representative). And yes, there are things to be discussed, mutual things. We both want to discuss AI and there are a few other things. But I think that the basic foundations of USMCA are strong. Nobody is questioning the foundations. It's all just, you know, should the wallpaper be yellow or red?
Consul General Tom Clark says the relationship between Canada and New York’s North Country is vital because the region understands the cross-border relationship better than any other region.
