US Ambassador to Canada says trade relations not affected by Ambassador Bridge blockade

David Cohen appeared on CBC's Power & Politics with Vassy Kapelos, where he said flatly that "it has not affected trading relations between the two countries, and I think that it's doubtful that it will."

February 24, 2022

This is a direct contradiction to the comments made two weeks ago by Chrystia Freeland, who said that the blockades at the Ambassador Bridge had affected Canada's reputation as a country that is good to do trade with.

"The world’s confidence in Canada as a place to invest and do business is being undermined," she said on February 14, during the same conference where the Trudeau Liberals announced they would be invoking the now-scrapped Emergencies Act.

"These illegal blockades are doing great damage to Canada’s economy and to our reputation as a reliable trading partner," she said.

"We fought tooth and nail to protect Canada’s privileged trading relationship with the United States during the NAFTA negotiations and in the face of the illegal and unjustified 232 tariffs," she said.

Other commenters, such as Flavio Olpe, the president of Canada's Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, said that this was the "worst time in the last 50 years to be pointing out to international investors that Canada's access to the US market is not guaranteed."

Cohen said that there was a definite urgency to get traffic back up and running during the bridge's closure, and that some politicians in Michigan did have concerns with trade from Canada.

"Democratic politicians from Michigan expressed grave concerns about the future of trade between Canada and the U.S. while the Ambassador Bridge blockade continued. Michigan Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin suggested that her state was relying too much on products from abroad," the CBC wrote.

"It doesn't matter if it's an adversary or an ally — we can't be this reliant on parts coming from foreign countries," she tweeted.

"The one thing that couldn't be more clear is that we have to bring American manufacturing back home to states like Michigan. If we don't, it's American workers ... who are left holding the bag."