Memo to Donald Trump: Canada does, in fact, have some cards to play. While the president and his cabinet secretaries seem to think they can bully, mock or cajole the Canadians back to the negotiating table, Prime Minister Mark Carney clearly has other plans. As the Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend, Carney is deep into conversations with his European counterparts on what he calls “a unique alliance with the European Union,” one that would see Canada partner with the EU on everything from data centres and cloud storage to military procurement, energy and fertilizer exports, and even post-secondary research and scientific output. 

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to what Carney has been saying. His now-famous Davos speech was littered with clues about how Carney might respond to American aggression — and transgression. “You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration, when integration becomes the source of your subordination,” he said. “The question is whether we adapt by simply building higher walls, or whether we can do something more ambitious.”

The scale and scope of that ambition is now clear. Whether Canada becomes an “associate member” of the European Union — a designation that doesn’t yet exist — or merely its new best friend, the potential upside for both parties is obvious. Both are increasingly wary of America’s tech giants and the ways in which they’re........

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