'Buckle up' for a second Trump presidency, former U.S. ambassador tells Canada

Kelly Craft, Donald Trump's former ambassador to Canada, says the country should prepare for what could be a more antagonistic bilateral relationship with the U.S. if her old boss wins Tuesday's presidential election.

Trump's focus on building up American manufacturing and making NATO allies spend more on defence means Canada would need to make some policy changes to stay in America's good graces, Craft said.

"Canada, they need to buckle up, The whole world needs to buckle up because President Trump will continue his policies from 2016. We are going to make America great again and we will be bringing it back to where it was under the Trump presidency," Craft told Radio-Canada.

"Just look at the first four years — that's a good gauge of what's going to be coming forward."

With U.S. election polling on a knife's edge, Canada is waiting anxiously to learn what could happen to the trillion-dollar bilateral trading relationship.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland sought to reassure Canadians Monday that the federal government is prepared to work with whoever wins the presidential election.

"I know a lot of Canadians are anxious right now and what I want to say to them is, be reassured and have confidence, have confidence in Canada … Remember that our country is strong and that America depends on us in really significant ways," Freeland said.

"Remember that our government has good relationships with the Democrats, we have good relationships with the Republicans, we are absolutely confident we will be able to work effectively with whomever the American people elect. I'm so certain of that."

If Trump wins again, experts agree he almost certainly will revive disputes over Canada-U.S. trade — an issue that's been largely dormant over the past four years, with President Joe Biden in the White House.

While there has been some squabbling over the longstanding softwood lumber dispute, U.S. tax credits for American-made electric vehicles and Biden's first-day decision to rescind Keystone XL oil pipeline permits, the Canada-U.S. relationship has been relatively harmonious with Biden in office.

That could come to an abrupt end if Trump wins. His election platform is again blasting out messages about "unfair trade deals" and "blind faith in the siren song of globalism."

Laura Dawson is a Canada-U.S. relations expert and the executive director of the Future Borders Coalition.

"A Trump victory gives Canadians pause, it gives Canadians reason for concern. We have a pretty good idea of where the Trump team will be going on issues affecting Canada and none of them are very good," she said.

Trump is promising a minimum 10 per cent tariff on all imports — a potentially disruptive development for Canadian businesses and the workers they employ, given that an estimated $3.6 billion in goods cross the border every day. Researchers say such a tariff would shave billions of dollars off Canada's GDP.