Trump threatens CEOs as tactic against allies, Canada’s ex-finance minister says

A new memoir by Canada's former deputy prime minister and finance minister makes the argument that America’s allies have too often rewarded U.S. President Donald Trump’s bullying with concessions that fail to produce results. | BLOOMBERG

Oct 14, 2026

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration privately pressures foreign CEOs and business leaders to bring their governments into line with the White House’s demands, Canada’s former deputy prime minister says in a new memoir.

“The Trump team is swaggeringly, rudely aggressive, even behind closed doors,” writes Chrystia Freeland, who also served as finance minister, foreign minister and trade minister during former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s nine years in power. “Trump’s Cabinet secretaries miss no opportunity to warn foreign CEOs of the dire consequences if their leaders don’t fall in line.”

The book is titled Unreliable Boyfriend: An Insider’s View of Dealing with a Chaotic Superpower, Plutocrats, and Other Complicated People. It combines behind-the-scenes accounts of her dealings with Trump and other U.S. officials with a retelling of her dramatic split from Trudeau in December 2024.

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