When three of Justin Trudeau’s ministers came to the microphone set up in the lobby of the rustically palatial Château Montebello in western Quebec on Monday afternoon, the mood seemed to be one of relief. There may have even been a vague sense of achievement.
In the waning days of his premiership, Trudeau had gathered his cabinet in Montebello for a day and a half of meetings devoted entirely to the situation in the United States (though two of Trudeau’s ministers took advantage of having so many television cameras to announce their support for one of his potential successors).
At noon on Monday, Donald Trump had become the 47th president of the United States. And Trump had previously threatened to quickly apply a 25 per cent tariff on all goods entering the United States from Canada. But on Monday morning the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s administration would not immediately proceed with an import tax — the president …