Indigenous Canadians know why Donald Trump’s skin tone is the colour of rust.
Centuries ago, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and European settlers established a diplomatic framework known as the Covenant Chain. Initially forged in iron and later upgraded to silver, this chain was a living and breathing metaphor for international relations. The choice of silver was deliberate because it reacts to its environment. If left ignored and exposed to the elements, or taken for granted, it begins to tarnish. To prevent this, the treaty required a continuous ritual known as “polishing the chain.” The nations had to regularly meet in person, exchange gifts, smoke tobacco, and address grievances. Polishing the chain meant recognizing that a treaty is an active relationship that demands constant maintenance, mutual care, and intentional upkeep. If one partner was hurting or under threat, the other was obligated to step in and help before the tarnish could turn into permanent corruption.
Fast forward to today, and we look across the border at the escalating trade war between Canada and the United States. Punitive tariffs are being slapped on essential goods, supply chains are being severed, and political rhetoric is being weaponized. It is clear that modern Western leaders have entirely forgotten this foundational lesson of continental diplomacy. Instead of polishing the chain, Washington treats international agreements as disposable, transactional contracts. They view trade as a zero sum game to be won or discarded based on the political winds of the week. They have abandoned the generational obligation of mutual care, choosing instead to retreat into aggressive protectionism and economic hostility.
By ignoring our shared history and treating our closest neighbor as an adversary, we have collectively walked away from the council fire. We have stopped doing the hard, daily work of maintaining our vital alliance across the border. When economic partnerships are reduced to bitter political theater that is short sighted, the foundational bond between our nations is stripped of its luster. The relationship is neglected, exposed to the elements of greed, and allowed to completely corrode. When a historic alliance is left to decay like this, it is no coincidence that the relationship was allowed to rust. Perhaps it’s a stroke of poetic justice that a completely rusted relationship is being managed by a clown with a matching skin tone.
