Former U.S. Ambassador to Canada David L. Cohen asserts that former President Donald Trump's hardline trade policies and rhetoric inadvertently pushed Canada to engage with China on trade deals. Cohen, who served under the Biden administration from 2021 to 2025, suggested that the aggressive posture of the Trump administration created discomfort among allies and prompted them to re-evaluate potential partnerships with China.
"One of the downsides of the aggressive Trump administration treatment of Canada and many other allies and partners is that the irony is that those policies are pushing those countries to at least consider broader and larger deals with China," Cohen stated in an interview with Fox News Digital. He added that this push toward China is inconsistent with a core tenet of Trump's international trade policy.
These comments come amid escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently accused Washington of seeking dependency rather than a genuine economic partnership. This friction occurs as China's leader, Xi Jinping, is preparing for trade discussions at the White House.
Vice President JD Vance has also criticized Canada, alleging that the country offers better treatment to Chinese goods than to products from American border states. "They treat Chinese goods more fairly than they do the goods that come from the people of Maine: It’s insanity," Vance said, urging Canada to cease such practices.
Cohen, however, did not absolve Canada of all responsibility. He acknowledged that U.S. dairy farmers have legitimate grievances regarding Canada's tariff-rate quota system, a long-standing issue that has frustrated multiple U.S. administrations. "This is one of the totally legitimate trade issues that exists between the United States and Canada," Cohen said. "There is contention there that is hurting American dairy farmers. Yes, I will be honest and clear about that."
Despite criticisms of Trump's style, Cohen credited the former president for negotiating the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaced NAFTA. Cohen described USMCA as a "terrific deal" that improved continental trade and stated Trump deserved credit for it.
Cohen expressed respect for U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, whom he called a "professional trade negotiator," but questioned the role of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in the breakdown of recent trade talks. Cohen suggested that Lutnick, who was involved in the call when negotiations collapsed, is not a professional negotiator and that such matters fall under the purview of the USTR.
Lutnick had previously suggested that Canadian politics played a role in the collapse of the talks, claiming that Canada introduced "crazy ideas" at the last minute for political reasons. Cohen responded to this account by stating that he takes senior government officials at their word until proven otherwise, but lacks direct knowledge of the events.
Cohen also noted that Canadian Prime Minister Carney faced political considerations when evaluating the trade deal, particularly given his popularity as an opponent of Trump. The structure of Canadian federal policy, where provincial premiers hold significant influence, added another layer of complexity.
"It appears that Canada made the decision that the deal that was being offered was not a deal that they could accept," Cohen said. "He may have made a judgment that although he and his team had pushed this deal as far as they could, and that it was, in his eyes, as good a deal as he was going to get at that point, that he could not sell that politically in Canada."
The former ambassador anticipates that the collapse of these negotiations will be a subject of extensive analysis. He concluded by emphasizing the importance of communication, stating, "You can’t make a deal if you’re not talking to each other. Of that, I am 100% certain."