For now, at least, Donald Trump’s threat of heavy tariffs on Mexico and Canada are on hold. Who knows what he’ll do now? He is nothing if not unpredictable. 

Let’s put Mexico aside. The history between Mexico and the United States is much different than between Canada and the U.S. So, it’s fair to deal with our country separately. It’s not even clear why we’ve been put in the same category of troublesome neighbours. 

The lion’s share of illegals coming into the U.S. enter from Mexico. As for fentanyl, a mere 21 kilograms came from Canada last year while 9,500 kilograms originated in Mexico. 

Even if Trump never imposes tariffs on our goods, I believe the damage is already done. Canada and the U.S. have been friends for two centuries. The last military conflict took place in 1812. But now we’ve been blackmailed for no good reason and that will not be forgotten soon.

If you’ve ever been threatened by someone who you thought was close, you know the feeling. It’s a betrayal and the end of trust. You don’t threaten a friend and then expect everything to go back to normal, especially when the reason for potentially punishing tariffs is so much smoke.

But there is one aspect of this Trump-induced trade war that many Americans and Canadians may forget. It has nothing to do with the cost of eggs or lumber but more about loyalty and comradeship and blood shed together in noble causes. It’s why these proposed tariffs sting.

It’s been said a million times that Canada and the U.S. are each other’s biggest trading partners and that we share a peaceful border. Think of the great conflicts in history when war was fought between neighbours: France and Germany, the nations that make up the Balkans and now Russia’s tragic invasion of its neighbour Ukraine. 

We have been spared that, thank God. Instead, we have been allies with the U.S. in some of history’s most noble causes.

Canada and the U.S. fought side by side in two world wars. On June 6, 1944, D-Day, young Canadians stormed the beaches of France, facing withering fire from the Germans. These soldiers often won together, shared setbacks and died together.

My father, Benjamin Lewis, was a U.S. infantryman who ended up as a prisoner of war in Germany at the age of 19. He went to the camp with two shrapnel wounds that left him with a lifetime of back pain.

His best friend in the prison camp was a young man named Bill Mackenzie from Toronto.

I know this because after my father passed, I read some of his old letters. My father and Bill corresponded for a few years until eventually their connection faded away. 

In the letter my father got from Bill, his old comrade spoke about how grateful he was that their friendship kept them from falling into despair while behind German barbed wire. This Canadian and American were, for those months, a two-man support group. 

Trump is known for not reading and having a thin grasp on history. His friends are not former POWs. They are the ultrarich who know nothing about real sacrifice. Trump once mocked the great John McCain for spending five and a half years as a prisoner of what was then North Vietnam. When he was liberated, he was physically broken much as my father was. Trump said he likes his heroes free. 

I’m sure my father never forgot Bill, and I would bet Bill never forgot my father. The war for those two young men was their seminal life experience. They were, in a way, a microcosm of a relationship between two great countries. 

I honestly believe God brought Ben and Bill together. Now I worry Trump will tear the relationship between two great nations apart…over nothing.

(Veteran Toronto journalist Charles Lewis is an American and Canadian citizen.)