In a world of conflicting geopolitical tensions and opposing strategies, finding a compromise to optimize outcomes is a challenge. It is exactly that situation that we Canadians find ourselves in, caught between

trade negotiations with the world’s two largest economies, the United States and China . With Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement ( CUSMA ) renewal discussions looming and a need to find a solution with the U.S., our most important and largest trading partner, now is not the time to upset our American friends. There is no question that renewal of our trilateral North American trade agreement must be our No. 1 priority on the trade front even as we look to expand our reach to other markets.

Expanding to other markets is a great strategy, but it simply isn’t enough. We simply cannot ignore the largest economy in the world on our doorstep.

That said, the U.S. has been clear that it believes Canada is not an important trading partner, even though the U.S. exports more goods to Canada than Canada exports to the U.S., eight million U.S. jobs are tied to trade with Canada and Canada is the No. 1 customer for 36 U.S. states. It is our job to illustrate that we are a vital trading partner to the U.S. in many ways.

Can the U.S. find alternatives? Of course. But if the conditions are right, mutual respect is restored, irritants are eliminated and trade is fair, why spend billions to find new supply sources when a reliable, trusted trading partner is on your doorstep already tooled up and ready to roll.

Meanwhile, we have strained relations with the world’s second-largest economy, China, that also need to be resolved.

Tariffs imposed by Canada on Chinese-built electric vehicles (EVs) of 100 per cent, in alignment with the U.S., have triggered retaliatory restrictions on the export of canola from Canada to China, a huge blow to our globally leading producers of this key commodity.

How do we thread this needle: make peace with China to have canola flowing overseas again and open additional trade relations with the world’s second-largest economy without upsetting the U.S. and putting at risk our most important trading relationship?

There are solutions. First of all, U.S. President Donald Trump does not care about EVs. Cutting our tariff on China to, say, 50 per cent from 100 per cent is, I suspect, not something that will upset him. Making that move will open up the flow of canola sales to China; the impact of that is worth a lot more to Canada than the loss of some EV sales.

If we are worried about our ability to compete with highly government-subsidized Chinese-built vehicles, we should mandate that it build a certain number of vehicles in Canada that meet our North American regional value content requirements to balance any imported vehicles. We should also help our EV manufacturers become more competitive by helping them invest in world-leading technologies.

Secondly, Trump does care about a few other important things and dairy is one of them. He really, really doesn’t like our protectionist strategies for our dairy industry. Get rid of them. Do we want cows or do we want cars?

Let me tell you, we want cars. The automotive industry in Canada is worth billions of dollars and employs half-a-million people directly and millions indirectly. For every one vehicle assembly job, there are seven or eight indirect jobs in myriad industries supporting that assembly. The multiplier effect is enormous, making the automotive industry an absolute cornerstone of our economy and workforce. Don’t let that go.

Protecting industries such as dairy just makes them uncompetitive. Look at New Zealand. It eliminated protectionist strategies in its dairy industry decades ago and today has the world’s largest dairy export business. Tiny New Zealand is the biggest dairy exporter in the world. That could be Canada, with highly efficient farms making amazing products for the world. Sounds like a win.

Trump also cares about American jobs, so let’s offer U.S. content requirements for tariff-free cross-border travel of vehicles within North American in addition to existing regional value content. This helps enhance our integrated supply chain and creates American jobs, and that is a sacrifice worth making if it means we keep building vehicles in Canada in, by the way, some of the most productive assembly plants in the world.

The U.S. is looking for fair trade, not free trade, so let’s give it to them and get a deal locked in.

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Linda Hasenfratz is the executive chair of the board of Linamar Corp.