Don’t judge quality of U.S. democracy off Harris-Trump outcome: envoy

Canadians should refrain from evaluating the quality of America’s democracy based on who wins the presidency, whether it’s Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, according to the U.S. ambassador to Canada.

David Cohen shared his thoughts with Global News on election night, noting that despite facing challenging elections in the past, America remains a global leader more than 250 years after its founding.

“I don’t think that you can judge the quality of the democracy by campaign rhetoric. You have to look more to governing and how people govern,” Cohen said Tuesday. “I certainly do not think that you can judge the quality of a nation’s democracy on the basis of the outcome, and the conduct of one election among hundreds of elections that are being held today.”

His remarks come as Canadians closely monitor the potential for increased U.S. economic protectionism in the next four years, and how a review of North American free trade could unfold under either a Trump or Harris administration.

Canada is likely to watch for how either Harris or Trump might address homebuilding and efforts to reduce soaring house prices, which have sharply risen since 2020, and whether such strategies could be implemented in Canada.

Many of Harris’s domestic proposals, especially those related to tax credits, would need Congressional approval, making Democratic control critical for her vision to come to fruition.

Meanwhile, Canadian officials and experts are concerned about the potential impacts of Trump’s broad tariffs, which could bypass Congressional approval. Economists generally agree that tariffs tend to increase prices for consumers as businesses offset the higher costs of importing goods.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce reports that $3.6 billion worth of goods and services cross the U.S.-Canada border each day.

“Any disruption to that cross-border supply chain has an outsize impact on small businesses in Canada and the economy as a whole,” said Jasmin Guenette, vice-president of national affairs at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, in an interview with Global News last month.

Cohen also addressed concerns about rising U.S. protectionism, saying he “pushes back a little” against such discussions.

“Whatever ‘Buy America’ or ‘Buy American’ policies exist, they exist in the face of the largest bilateral trade relationship in the world — and a bilateral trade relationship that is the envy of the world,” he remarked.

“The extraordinary nature of the trade relationship between the United States and Canada … is extremely likely to be sustained … no matter who the next president of the United States is.”