MEXICO CITY — President Donald Trump likes foreign leaders to say, “Thank you.” And, to be fair, plenty of heads of government owe him thanks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is, of course, at the head of the line. He has gotten everything he could have wanted from Trump, not just in Ukraine but in United Nations votes and, best of all, in NATO, where the United States is picking fights with Denmark and Canada — quite an achievement.
After Putin, the leaders with the greatest cause for gratitude are those on the Left, especially in countries that are feeling the pressure of American economic nationalism.
I am currently in Mexico, where its hard-left president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has seen her approval ratings rise to 85% on the back of Trump’s tariffs. Sheinbaum was the approved successor to Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, backed by his Morena party. But where AMLO was an old-style revolutionary socialist, the California-educated Sheinbaum is more like an American wokester.
For example, she refused to have Spanish representatives at her inauguration because Spain would not apologize for conquering the Aztecs. Never mind that Hernán Cortés could never have beaten Moctezuma without the enthusiastic support of indigenous allies, that the forced assimilation and the loss of native languages happened largely after independence, and that, in any case, descendants of the Conquistadores are far more numerous in Mexico than in Spain. When was identity politics ever logical?
For such a leader, Trump has been a godsend. Mexican pride has been wounded. Mass protests have been held, demanding “respect.” Plenty of Mexicans admire the U.S. and disdain the anti-yanquismo of their leftist compatriots. But even they have found themselves rallying to their leader in a time of crisis.
The same phenomenon can be seen across the U.S.’s other land border, that “straight line” that Trump scorns as artificial. Before the annexation threats, Canada’s Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, was a shoo-in. Passionate, patriotic, and perhaps the most eloquent defender of limited government in the world, he was leading by around 20%.
His party’s pro-Americanism was not a problem, because most Canadians shared it. Until now. The tariffs, plus Trump’s 51st state rhetoric, have undermined every pro-U.S. politician north of the border. Despite the obvious failings of the Liberal Party, which squandered a golden economic legacy in pursuit of eco-extremism, Canadians, like Mexicans, have rallied to the regime. It is what people do in a crisis.
Mark Carney, the new Liberal prime minister, has repeatedly fallen upward, most recently from having inflicted needless inflation on Britain as governor of the Bank of England. But he looks a bit like George Clooney and knows how to nod sagely and talk slowly. All he has had to do, since the annexation demands, is narrow his blue eyes, look into the middle distance, and repeat banalities such as “Canada will never become part of the United States.” Cue wild cheers. The Liberals have now established a solid 5-point lead.
Trump’s reaction? “I don’t care. The Conservative that’s running is, stupidly, no friend of mine. I don’t know him, but he said negative things.” Well, yes, every Canadian is saying negative things about Trump right now. The unpopularity of the American Right has, however unfairly, tainted the Canadian Right. Global conservatism may be about to be robbed of a great leader.
The odd thing about Trump’s attacks on his neighbors is not just that they are unpopular. Unlike, say, his immigration policy, or his stance on China, his policies on Canada and Mexico poll very poorly. Nor is it that he failed to flag them up before the election. Indeed, when he was asked during the campaign whether he would commit to protecting the 2020 U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement — the deal that, to remind you, he hailed at the time as “the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law,” he replied, “Yeah, 100%.”
No, the really odd thing is that he is doggedly pursuing policies that are already causing economic stock market turmoil, a decline in investment, and price rises. Indeed, his officials’ line on price rises has shifted from “won’t happen” to “pain worth suffering.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that “access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream.” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that more expensive imports will be offset by cheaper domestic goods (which is untrue, since protectionism allows domestic producers to raise their prices). Suddenly, the administration is in full “guns-before-butter” mode, urging austerity as if to win a war. But a war against whom? Canada? Seriously? Is that what Americans voted for?