Professor Achim Hurrelmann talks to The Toronto Star about Canada’s relationship with Germany and the recent visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Canada.
… Scholz’s visit is a rare example of German leaders taking on an international trip that is solely focused on Canada.
“It clearly shows that Canada has jumped in importance as a partner for Germany, largely due to the war in Ukraine,” Hurrelmann said Tuesday. “This is clearly about Canada, and the resource potential especially.”
While the rhetoric about friendship and shared values from both Scholz and Trudeau clearly serves each of their political purposes, as centre-left governments that profess progressive policies, Hurrelmann said there appears to be genuine mutual interest in deepening what has until now been a “relatively shallow” partnership. In 2021, Canadian exports to Germany were worth $6.9 billion — about 1.1 per cent of total exports that year — while imports were worth $19 billion, according to data from Statistics Canada.
But with the destabilizing effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and lingering disquiet about the potential for populist isolationism in the United States, Canada is perceived as a “really well-aligned, multilateralist, like-minded partner” for Germany, Hurrelmann said.