Seek first to understand. During an assembly of Canadian left-spectrum pundits the U.S. and Canada relationship is the topic; the backdrop is the economic consequences, trade and NAFTA. In this group the high-minded Canadians express their views, their wounded sensibilities, and yet simultaneously highlight an important strategic flaw.

Within their political frame-of-reference, they cannot fathom the tenuous nature of their dependency. They think they are more important than they are. Their inability to accept the weakness of their economic position is based on their feelings. Pride is very dangerous in negotiations amid apex predators. If you are prideful you provide a strategic advantage for the opposition. In negotiations, President Trump doesn’t care about ‘feelings’ or opinions toward his approach.

The Canadian economic position is ‘not to lose‘, the Trump position is to win. There is a huge strategic difference within those two perspectives.