The Real Economy: The Canada Goose

Mark Carney is quite the leader. Frustrated by U.S. demands for participation in a North American trading block, which would purportedly sacrifice too much of Canada’s sovereign right to make its own decisions about trading relationships, Carney is pivoting instead to… joining the EU? Perhaps he is not familiar with the premise of the EU, and is just hoping to skip passport control on his frequent jaunts across the pond?

In his speech to the European Parliament yesterday, the Canadian prime minister acknowledged that “sovereignty and openness are now difficult to reconcile,” but also argued that “deepening and widening our relationship will strengthen our sovereignty.” This seems… undertheorized. The Wall Street Journal’s overview of the bizarre gambit captures its incoherence well:

“Wouldn’t it be lovely if Canada was the 28th state of the European Union rather than the 51st state of the United States?” asked Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who speaks regularly with Carney.

I have been sympathetic to Canadian complaints that President Trump’s constant efforts to insult their country are inappropriate and unhelpful. At the same time, Carney’s determination to elevate himself to some anti-Trump hero of the globalist pearl-clutchers is at this point obviously causing far more harm to our northern friends.