Trump, the troll: Why Europeans should look to Canada

Berliner Morgenpost Trump, the troll: Why Europeans should look to Canada Thorsten Knuf • 4 hours • 2 minutes reading time The NATO country Canada is a loyal ally of the Europeans and an important trading partner, too. Nevertheless, public interest in it is limited. Now that the career of liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is coming to an inglorious end and the US Republican Donald Trump is about to return to the White House, it is worth taking a look there. On Monday, Justin Trudeau announced that he would step down as party leader of the Canadian Liberals and as Prime Minister. It is still unclear who will succeed him. Trudeau, once the hope of left-liberals around the world, had long been on the ropes at home due to his own mistakes. But Trump has recently weakened him even further: The announcement that he would impose tariffs of 25 percent on imports from Canada triggered panic in the economy and politics there. Trump repeatedly mocked the prime minister as a "governor" - as if Canada were the 51st state of the USA. For Europeans, this means that they must not only expect the future US president to weaken NATO, stop supporting Ukraine or start a trade war. They must also prepare for Trump to intervene in the internal affairs of European allies and expose local heads of state. Trump's confidant Elon Musk has been doing this for a long time. Governments that are already struggling are likely to be particularly at risk. They would then also be weakened on the international stage - which their opponents at home will immediately exploit. Imagine how such interventions would have worked in Germany last summer. The traffic light coalition would probably have come to an end even more quickly. A disrespectful US president who behaves like a Russian troll: The Trump/Trudeau case has shown that such nightmares can also come true.