The music was ringing, the glasses were clinking and François-Philippe Champagne was in the garden talking passionately about critical minerals.
Champagne — Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry — visited Washington in recent days for a series of meetings that spanned the White House Correspondents’ Dinner festivities. His trip was not entirely recreational: one of the oldest members of Prime Minister Justin TrudeauWithin the American government, Champagne is one of the leaders of the “Team Canada” task force which is preparing for the American presidential election in November.
A former business executive and foreign minister, Champagne, 53, is also widely seen as a contender for prime minister if Trudeau resigns in the coming months.
Governments around the world are awaiting the outcome of the US election, with many gripped by deep apprehension about the possibility of a second Trump administration. The issues are particularly intimate in Canada. An American president may be the leader of the free world, but in Ottawa he is also a neighbor – potentially noisy and inconsiderate.
POLITICO spoke with Champagne on the sidelines of a weekend event about how he views the prospect of a Donald Trump to come back. During the conversation, Champagne effectively sketched out what a pro-Canada sales pitch for Trump and his advisers might look like – emphasizing the country’s vast resources, its ambitions for economic growth and its historic affinity with UNITED STATES.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I know that within Team Canada, the official line is: we’re going to have great relationships with Republican presidents, great relationships with Democratic presidents. But surely this election must be a little different, right?
Yes. But I would say, look, we’ve been trading with each other for over 150 years. We have seen over a century of different administrations. I served in Canada when there were different administrations. I started with Prime Minister Trudeau in 2015. We built a relationship on both sides. But I would say that during an election period, it is important for us to reaffirm the nature of this relationship. I often say we need to move from kindness to strategy – connecting the dots.
In my opinion, we must have a North American program. I think North America can be at the forefront, both when it comes to megatrends — decarbonization and digitalization of the economy — and when it comes to critical minerals, semi -drivers, supply chain around electric vehicles, energy.
I remember meeting the governor. [Brian] Kemp in Georgia and saying: Governor, you and I have more in common than you think. And I said, do you know your Hyundai factory? I know the CEO very well. What about your SK factory? I know the president. Both of these plants rely on essential minerals that we extract and refine in Canada. And in the 30…
