President Donald Trump’s America First trade policy has triggered a Canadian confidante of Hillary Clinton who coauthored a book with the failed presidential candidate.
Louise Penny, who cowrote State of Terror with Clinton, announced Friday she would boycott the United States due to the “economic sword” Trump was wielding against Canada.
“I can hardly believe I’m saying this, but given the ongoing threat of an unprovoked trade war against Canada by the US president, I do not feel I can enter the United States,” Penny announced via a Facebook post, “at least not until that economic sword, that could throw hundreds of thousands of Canadians (as well as Americans) into poverty, is removed completely.”
Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny are guests on Good Morning America, on Monday, October 11, 2021, on ABC. (Paula Lobo/ABC via Getty Images)
Penny, professing her Canadian pride and solidarity with Canadians’ economic interests, nonetheless had scheduled her latest book launch not inside her native country but in the more lucrative U.S.
She is one of many leftwing artists canceling events at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in protest of Trump.
I can hardly believe I’m saying this, but given the ongoing threat of an unprovoked trade war against Canada by the US…
Posted by Louise Penny on Friday, March 7, 2025
The author credited other “unpalatable” Trump actions for her decision, calling Trump’s economic agenda a “moral wound.”
“Oh, dear. It is so painful” to announce she could not visit because of Trump, Penny wrote. “I have visited friends, made friends, personally and professionally, with so many Americans. I have such respect, affection, for them. For you. But…enough. What is happening is not just a potential economic catastrophe for Canada and so many other nations, it is a moral wound.”
“Until things change, I cannot do in-person events in the United States,” she continued, adding, “Please understand this decision is not meant to punish Americans. This is about standing shoulder-to-shoulder with my fellow Canadians.”
The Penny and Clinton-penned State of Terror was criticized as a vehicle to air Clinton’s grievances at Trump and President Joe Biden, who succeeded in Clinton’s unrealized lifetime ambition of winning the White House.
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye.
