Don’t judge quality of U.S. democracy off Harris-Trump outcome: envoy

Canadians shouldn’t judge the quality of America’s democracy regardless if Kamala Harris or Donald Trump secure the presidency, the U.S. ambassador to Canada says.

David Cohen told Global News on election night America has survived challenging elections in the past, and still remains prominent on the world stage more than 250 years since its creation.

“I don’t think that you can judge the quality of the democracy by campaign rhetoric. You have to look more to governing and how people govern,” Cohen said Tuesday.

“I certainly do not think that you can judge the quality of a nation’s democracy on the basis of the outcome, and the conduct, of one election among hundreds of elections that are being held today.”

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Cohen’s comments come as Canada watches closely for how restrictive U.S. economic protectionism could get in the next four years — and furthermore — how an upcoming review of North American free trade could shake out under a Trump or Harris administration.

Canada will almost certainly be keen to see if either Harris or Trump manage to boost homebuilding and bring down house prices, which have risen steeply since 2020, and whether those ideas can be replicated here.

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Most of her domestic proposals, particularly on tax credits, would require approval from Congress — making Democratic control crucial to enacting her vision.

Canadian officials and researchers are also watching for the potential ramifications for Trump’s blanket tariffs, which would likely not require approval from Congress. Economists almost uniformly agree that tariffs ultimately raise prices for consumers as companies look to make up for the higher cost of importing.

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The Canadian Chamber of Commerce says $3.6 billion worth of goods and services cross the U.S.-Canada border every day.

“Any disruption to that cross-border supply chain has an outsize impact on small businesses in Canada and the economy as a whole,” Jasmin Guenette, vice-president of national affairs at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, told Global News last month.

Cohen told Global News Tuesday he “pushes back a little” when there’s talk about increasing U.S. protectionism.

“Whatever ‘Buy America’ or ‘Buy American’ policies exist, they exist in the face of the largest bilateral trade relationship in the world — and a bilateral trade relationship that is the envy of the world,” he said.

“The extraordinary nature of the trade relationship between the United States and Canada … is extremely likely to be sustained … no matter who the next president of the United States is.”

— with files from Sean Boynton