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Donald Trump's tenure as President of the United States has been among the most disruptive in American history. In many areas, President Trump has upended convention, undermined norms, and cast aspersions on a host of institutions. Trump's imposition of punitive tariffs on steel and aluminum, along with the threat to withdraw from the NAFTA have been significant threats to the Canadian economy. The President's instincts on trade may be one of the few constants in a worldview on foreign policy that has otherwise lacked consistency. This article argues that Trump's actions on trade have other precedents in American history, many of which have similarly embroiled Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that since the completion of the NAFTA in the early 1990s, there has been too much focus on what governments in Ottawa, Washington, and Mexico City have or have not been doing to deepen North American integration. The NAFTA was an anomaly that obscures the larger history of incrementalism that has shaped North America's political economy. A focus on large, government-led integration projects like the NAFTA as a model for North American integration distracts from an examination of the many connections and processes taking place across borders every day. Security has become fully entrenched as a driving paradigm of North American relations. However, much of the activity in this domain and others is taking place at the bureaucratic, sub-state, and non-state levels rather than via active direction from national leadership. As scholars and analysts of North America, we would do well to move away from the NAFTA as a model for negotiating North America's future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]