Egypt is pivoting away from the U.S., just as Canada is trying to do

analysis

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi review the honour guard at the Great Hall of the People, on May, 2024 in Beijing.

Egypt and Canada are fundamentally different countries, with wildly different economies and political structures. But they share one crucial trait: the desire to tilt away from the American sphere of influence.

Under Prime Minister Mark Carney, Canada is trying to build trade and defence ties with Europe and elsewhere as U.S. President Donald Trump hits the country with tariffs and asserts his desire to make it the “51st state.”

Egypt is going through a similar process, though one that started a decade ago, when Abdel Fattah el-Sisi became President in the wake of the Arab Spring revolutions. Today, Egypt’s economic and mil