Canada’s Other Anti-Trump Weapon: Fighting Corruption

Canada, stay angry.

Donald Trump has sparked yet another trade war with you. You probably figured out that he predicated his first try in 2018 on a made-up issue before he decided to exempt your country from steel tariffs. Who knows the motive behind this one? There will always be something. But you have leverage that you aren’t yet using.

I humbly offer this advice as a former U.S. Republican who heads a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting corruption.

In my view, Canada can inflict real personal pain on Trump using nothing but domestic legislation, your regulations and diplomatic savvy. Do it right and you can also effectively pressure his broligarch enablers.

Trump’s drive to install corrupt authoritarianism gives Canada leverage over the U.S. president that Russia only wishes it had. Here are five weapons in your arsenal:

1. Crack down on crypto corruption.

Consider Trump’s shady meme coin, $Trump, his wife’s, $Melania, his “financial firm” World Liberty Financial or the newly announced joint venture with Charles Schwab, Truth.Fi. Trump is aiming to make corrupt (if legal) profits from the dodgy world of meme coins.

For the unfamiliar, meme coins generally occupy the least legitimate corners of the cryptocurrency space.

Trump knows that as U.S. president he will have the loudest megaphone in the world, which presents him an extremely lucrative opportunity to profit by drumming up demand for his coins and then selling at the peak. These scams take advantage of people — including Canadians.

Canada has a duty to protect its citizens from financial scams. Moreover, Canada plays an outsized role in the cryptocurrency industry and the dank corner of meme coins is begging for global regulation. With its economic weight, place in the liberal order, substantial reserve of global goodwill and global diplomatic acumen, Canada could easily lead such an effort.

Plenty of U.S. states have jurisdiction and would follow your leadership. With the accuracy of a laser, that would hit Trump’s pocketbook, and the crypto industry would be smart to side with you to demonstrate they are serious about cleaning up their industry.

2. Shine light on shady real estate buyers.

Canada is known to have some corners of its real estate market with financial opacity problems. Well, guess who built a business leveraging exactly that?

The leaked Paradise Papers detailed how the Trump Organization clearly leverages corrupt capital and international tax havens. These sources of dirty funds are central to its business model.

Canada could target the core of the Trump Organization's business model by implementing the recommendations of Transparency International to make clear who owns real estate, and by cajoling other countries and U.S. states to follow suit.

3. Tackle tax havens and money laundering.

Next, target both Trump and the broligarchs that hold so much sway over him. Lead an aggressive initiative to tackle money laundering and the murky world of offshore finance. The names of Trump’s cabinet members in his first administration dot the Panama Papers exposé of wealth hiders.

Trump’s willingness to do shady business with repressive leaders is well documented. Less known is the fact that Kremlin-controlled firms have invested in Twitter and Facebook. Or that Mark Zuckerberg and other tech titans avoid paying billions in taxes by routing their profits to tax havens like Dublin, Ireland.

Canada, which has dared to demand that Meta pay to restore a small portion of the billions in ad profits it makes in your country, should look to other ways to hold the major social media platforms accountable for their disruptive, massively profitable business dealings.

4. Punish broligarchs for the social harm they cause.

Speaking of Zuckerberg, few forces are more corrosive to democracy and the rule of law than social media’s disinformation fire hydrants. The United Kingdom still seethes over the role of Elon Musk and his X in its race riots last year. Zuck and other tech tycoons who packed Trump’s inauguration dais profit from their tearing at society’s fabric. If this industry doesn’t begin to support democracy instead of devouring it, lead an international coalition to start hemming in those profits.

U.S. voters want to see leadership on this. But with Trump president, don’t look for it from Washington. Australia just banned social media for people under 16 years of age, and action from individual U.S. states likely is not far behind. Canada, get on board.

5. Yank Musk’s supply chain.

There’s another way to squeeze Musk. An analysis by the Washington Post in June demonstrated that an enormous proportion of the wealth of the unelected co-leader of the United States is tied up in Tesla stock — and Canada just so happens to hold a critical position in Tesla’s supply chain. Look for every other way in which the broligarchy’s wealth depends on Canadian suppliers and target those links in the chain with surgical precision.

Do well by doing good, as they say. Canada is well positioned — with more soft power and diplomatic capital than almost any other country — to wield anti-corruption as a weapon that leverages pressure against Trump’s destructive tariffs and anti-democracy agenda.

You have the tools. Use them.