Freeland Says Trump Administration Uses CEO Pressure to Influence U.S. Allies

US President Donald Trump’s administration privately pressures foreign chief executives and business leaders to persuade their governments to comply with White House demands, according to Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s former deputy prime minister and finance minister.

Former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland discusses her dealings with the Trump administration in her memoir, Unreliable Boyfriend. [Photo: Business Wire]

In her new memoir, Unreliable Boyfriend: An Insider’s View of Dealing with a Chaotic Superpower, Plutocrats, and Other Complicated People, Freeland describes the administration’s approach as aggressive, including during private meetings with foreign business leaders, Bloomberg News reporter Laura Dhillon Kane reported.

“The Trump team is swaggeringly, rudely aggressive, even behind closed doors,” Freeland writes.

“Trump’s Cabinet secretaries miss no opportunity to warn foreign CEOs of the dire consequences if their leaders don’t fall in line.”

Freeland served as finance minister, foreign minister and trade minister during former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s tenure.

Her memoir combines accounts of her dealings with Trump and other US officials with her description of her break with Trudeau in December 2024. The book’s central argument is that US allies have too often responded to Trump’s pressure by making concessions without obtaining lasting benefits in return.

Freeland also criticizes leaders who express concerns privately but publicly accommodate the US president.

She argues that this approach risks weakening alliances and giving China greater geopolitical influence as Washington’s relationships with its traditional partners deteriorate.

Her account offers a perspective from a former senior Canadian official on the challenges facing governments seeking to protect their national interests while maintaining close economic and security ties with the United States.