This article originally appeared in the The Hill. Below is an excerpt from the article.
By Daniel Dorman, February 23, 2026
The percentage of Canadians with a favorable view of the U.S. is now very similar to the percentage with a favorable view of China. According to recent polling, a majority of Canadians now have a moderately negative (22 percent) or very negative (40 percent) view of the U.S., with only 30 percent holding a positive or very positive opinion. In contrast, favorable views of China are on the rise in Canada, from just 10 percent in 2021 to 27 percent in late 2025.
Canadians’ shifting opinion maps onto rhetoric from key government figures. Industry Minister Melanie Joly’s comment that trade discussions with China are “more predictable and stable” than with the U.S. is a good example of missing the forest for the trees.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Davos speech, a thinly veiled criticism of President Trump, came days after a new trade deal and smiling photo-op with Xi Jinping. It was another historic miscalculation. Both Joly’s comment and Carney’s speech betray a naive equivocation between China and the U.S.
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Daniel Dorman is managing editor and director of operations at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa and the Center for North American Prosperity and Security in Washington.
