CENFAD Lecture Series: Dr. Asa McKercher

Please join us for a lecture by Dr. Asa McKercher (Steven K. Hudson Research Chair in Canada-US Relations and Associate Professor at St. Francis Xavier University)

"Elbows Up in the MAGA Era: Managing Canada-US Relations in the Second Trump Term"

In December 2024 press reports emerged that then president-elect Donald Trump had mused about annexing Canada. With Trump then repeating his annexationist threats and launching a trade war, Canadian-American relations have been upended. Eight decades of intergovernmental cooperation – and a century and a half of continental harmony – are in doubt. From consumer and tourist boycotts to efforts to seek out new trade and security partners, Canadian have responded to the second Trump administration with a flurry of nationalism characterized by the slogan “elbows up”, an aggressive style of play in hockey. Yet given American power and the fact of geography, how much room is there for Canada to maneuver? And what will the clash between MAGA and Elbows Up mean for Canadian foreign, defence, and economic policy?

Asa McKercher (PhD, Cambridge) is Steven K. Hudson Research Chair in Canada-US Relations and Associate Professor at the Mulroney Institute of Government, St. Francis Xavier University, and a senior fellow at the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History. His books include Building a Special Relationship: Canada-US Relations in the Eisenhower Era, 1953-1961 (2024), Canada and the World since 1867 (2019) and Camelot and Canada: Canadian-American Relations in the Kennedy Era (2016), as well as the edited collections North of America: Canadians and the American Century, 1945-61 (2023) and Undiplomatic History: Rethinking Canada in the World (2019). He is Editor-in-Chief of International Journal, Canada's journal of global policy analysis.