Canada Is Building A Trade Network Around America. Its Namesake Railroad is Ready To Cash In.

Canada’s leader Prime Minister Mark Carney has become, to some, the leader of the Western world’s opposition to all things President Donald Trump. The former head of the Bank of England is forging ahead with new security and economic relations designed either simply to piss off Trump, or to diversify away from the U.S. economy. One strategy is a West Coast Canadian railroad that goes directly to Mexico, making no planned stops along the way.

There is no love lost between the two countries at the moment, so bypassing the U.S. for trade, including by taking a train across U.S. territory to do so, seems right on script. Recently, tensions between the U.S. and Canada reached new heights, with Trump threatening to block Bombardier aircraft sales in the U.S. unless the Canadian jet maker moved some production to the U.S. The White House also announced import bans on certain Canadian dairy products, motorcycles and most alcoholic beverages (a tit-for-tat as Canadian provinces did this first) while expanding the list of Canadian goods facing 50% tariffs. Canada answered with tariffs on about $20 billion of American exports.

That’s old news at this point.