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Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks during a meeting of northeastern U.S. Governors and Canadian Premiers, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., June 16, 2025.
What we’re watching: The subnational US-Canada relationship, Golden Dome’s leaden weight, MAGA Iran crackup
Premiers meet with governors to shape US-Canada relations
While the national level drama played out between Donald Trump and Mark Carney at the G7 in Kananaskis, a lot of important US-Canada work was going on with far less fanfare in Boston, where five Canadian premiers met with governors and delegations from seven US states. The groups talked trade and tariffs, reflecting a Canadian strategy of working through deep state-level relationships to help manage the broader tensions with Trump and his policies.
The double-price Carney would pay for the Golden Dome
As he left the G7 meeting in Alberta, Donald Trump said the price tag for Canada’s participation in the US Golden Dome missile defense project would come in at a hefty US$71 billion. Trump expects Canada to join.“They want to be a part of it,” he said. But Canadians themselves aren’t so keen. A recent poll found that 63% of respondents do not want Canada to join the shield, meaning Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has expressed openness to the idea, is caught between placating Trump or siding with the skeptical majority of his constituents.
MAGA-splits over US intervention in Iran
As the world waits to see if the US will join Israel in attacking Iran – and potentially pressing for regime change – the MAGA-Republican coalition is divided. Hardcore America First voices like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Steve Bannon, and Tucker Carlson say no way, while most establishment Republicans and Democrats are still in favor. A new poll finds that while nearly two-thirds of Americans would view a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to the US, a slim majority of Republicans want nothing to do with Israel’s current efforts to destroy Iran’s nuclear program militarily. Overall, 56% of those polled said they favor negotiations to rid Iran of nuclear weapons.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, chair of the Council of the Federation, speaks during a press conference with the premiers of Canada in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 12, 2025.
Canada’s premiers tour Washington as tariff-mania continues
Trump hit Canada and others with 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum earlier this week, a policy that’s set to take effect on March 12 after temporarily pausing 25% duties on all other Canadian imports earlier this month. Trump says the metals tariffs will be cumulative, which means some goods, such as steel and aluminum, could be hit with a whopping 50% tax.
There have been plenty of events on the premiers’ docket, including a party with North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer and a meeting with White House deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs Jim Blair. On Tuesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford talked to business leaders in front of the US Chamber of Commerce in DC, warning that tariffs will hurt American industry and reminding listeners that no one wins a trade war.
Will the premiers find any love? Their ultimate catch, of course, would be Trump himself – the man who can turn off the tariff taps with the stroke of a pen. Graeme Thompson, a senior analyst with Eurasia Group’s global macro-geopolitics practice, says that could be possible, but it may come at a cost.
“I think a permanent reprieve or exemption will come as part of a finalized USMCA negotiation,” says Thompson. “Everything right now is merely the prelude to that. The big question to my mind is what Ottawa will have to concede to get that deal.”