Mar 14 2021 — Colin Robertson — Policy Magazine — Are we ready to take our most important relationship to the next level of partnership? The “Roadmap for a Renewed Canada-US Partnership”, announced during the virtual meeting in February of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden, is the latest iteration in managing neighbourly relations. Beginning with the last century’s trade and security agreements […]
Feb 8 2021 — Colin Robertson — Policy Magazine — This was not the way I had wanted to meet the venerable George P. Shultz. Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honour, Shultz had served four presidents: secretary of state to Ronald Reagan, Treasury secretary to Gerald Ford, labor secretary to Richard Nixon and on the Council of Economic Advisors under […]
Sep 15 2020 — Colin Robertson — CBC — On the International Day of Democracy, the United Nations is flagging a dismaying array of concerns about the erosion of rights and freedoms, issues that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. With democracy in retreat in many regions, its champions at the UN, in Canada and elsewhere need to demonstrate anew that protecting health and […]
Jun 26 2020 — Colin Robertson — CBC — Say a prayer for Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Their chances of freedom are remote without collective action by the democracies. What a mess. Had we known the implications of proceeding with the U.S. extradition request for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in December 2018, we might well have shown the “creative incompetence” suggested by former […]
Nov 27 2019 — Colin Robertson — Globe and Mail — If we thought passage of the new North American free-trade agreement would get Donald Trump off our back, think again. We’ve been served notice that Canada has got to pony up more on defence and security. We should do so, not because the U.S. wants us to, but because it serves Canadian interests, especially in […]
Aug 19 2019 — Colin Robertson — Globe and Mail — The Hong Kong demonstrations are a reminder that the desire for freedom is the elementary force driving all liberties. Those who should be liberty’s champions – the G7 democracies – are meeting next week in Biarritz. They need to speak out on Hong Kong and keep watch on what is happening. The joint statement on […]
Jun 11 2019 — Colin Robertson — Globe and Mail — Is Canada back? Next week’s G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, will measure Justin Trudeau’s weight and influence on the international stage. The tests for the Prime Minister won’t be in the plenary session, in which leaders must come to grips with “intensifying” trade protectionism, but in what happens in the corridors and pull-aside meetings. The […]
May 25 2019 — Colin Robertson — Globe and Mail — Tweets and soundbites are the fast food of communicating policy. Like news releases, they are frequent but mostly shallow, narrow-cast, and platitudinous. There is not a lot of “there” there, so a well-prepared speech, especially on foreign policy, deserves digesting. Speaking recently in Montreal, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer gave what diplomats call a “meat and […]
Oct 3 2018 — Colin Robertson — Globe and Mail — A proposed deal – not NAFTA 2.0 but, in deference to U.S. President Donald Trump who initiated this 13-month odyssey, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Judging by the market reaction, the USMCA should be good enough to thaw the chill shared by investors, both Canadian and foreign, since the negotiations began. We are not out of […]
Jul 10 2018 — Colin Robertson — Globe and Mail — Obnoxious he is, but when it comes to NATO burden-sharing, U.S. President Donald Trump has a point. With the United States shouldering almost two-thirds of defence expenditures by the alliance members, the other 28 members, including Canada, can do more. At this week’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should commit to […]
Jun 11 2018 — Colin Robertson — Globe and Mail — So U.S. President Donald Trump wants a trade war. After the diplomatic disaster of the Group of Seven summit in Charlevoix, Que., it is now clear that for Mr. Trump it is not about leading – the traditional role of the U.S. President – but about winning at any cost. Relationships are not for cultivating, […]
Jun 7 2018 — Colin Robertson — Canadian Global Affairs Institute — On Friday and Saturday, June 8-9, the leaders of the major democratic nations will meet in their 44th summit to discuss global geopolitical and socioeconomic issues at Charlevoix’s magnificent Manoir Richelieu. Each leader will have their own agenda. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s challenge as chair is to bring his fellow leaders into as much consensus […]
Jan 19 2018 — Colin Robertson — Canadian Global Affairs Institute — The outcome of the upcoming Montreal round (Jan. 23-28, 2018) of the NAFTA negotiations will give us a sense of whether a new agreement is possible – one that includes dispute settlement on trade disputes, as well as accommodations on government procurement and content rules for autos – or whether we need to look to […]
Oct 10 2017 — Colin Robertson — Canadian Global Affairs Institute — It’s fish-or-cut-bait time for the NAFTA renegotiations. Negotiators reassemble in Washington this week (Oct. 11-15) with their sights on the elephants in the room – the U.S. demands around dispute settlement, rules of origin, “Buy American” on procurement and a sunset clause. The Americans, who initiated these renegotiations to reduce the U.S. trade deficit, are […]
Jul 19 2017 — Colin Robertson — In action and words, President Donald Trump, like Candidate Donald Trump, continues to demonstrate a “spectacle of excess.” Blunt and abrasive, bombastic and brash, Donald Trump is an insurgent. He campaigned as the champion of America’s “forgotten men and women” and his “America First” policy draws unabashedly on nativism, populism and protectionism.