As President Donald Trump was at the White House regaling Chinese President Xi Jinping on a state visit, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was in New York City meeting with diplomatic delegations on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. The regressing U.S.-Canada relationship is the source of Carney’s diplomatic blitz.

The Trump administration’s decision to slap 50% tariffs on approximately $20 billion of Canadian goods, coupled with Carney’s tariff retaliation, has driven a once intimate foreign relationship into a ditch. Trump’s willingness to escalate the trade war as well as his periodic outbursts questioning Canada’s very sovereignty can hardly be called normal. Canadian officials are worried, the Canadian public is angry.