CALLS OF DUTY — The key to enduring a marathon of media interviews isn't to hydrate, Auto Parts Manufacturers Association president FLAVIO VOLPE tells Playbook. "The secret is some scotch," he says. "A little sip here and a little sip there will get you through." — 24-hour telethon: When Playbook got on the horn with Volpe Wednesday morning, we were his 32nd interview since DONALD TRUMP's nationwide tariff threat. And we weren't last in line. We talked about the questions he's fielding during this potential flashpoint in Canada-U.S. relations, what the coverage misses, and his best advice for Ottawa. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity. What do reporters want to hear about most? What's the industry's reaction? It's the journalist community that is most anxious. I got probably 10 times more calls from people looking to see what the reaction is than from people with a reaction. It's not that people are dismissing the threat. It's that we learned a lot the first time around, and we never broke up the team. We got together quarterly instead of weekly. But everybody is aware of the way Mr. Trump negotiates. We're not little girls and boys anymore. You say "the team." Do you mean that informally? I'd say informally, Team Canada. But there are pockets of Team Canada that meet formally all the time. As an industry, we meet all the time with the finance minister and the trade minister and the industry minister. There's been a great informal group of leading associations and advocacy groups that meet quarterly. And are you trading notes? Planning scenarios? It's really about trading notes and insight of what's happening on the ground commercially, on critical political contacts people have, whether that's state level or in Washington — or all over Mexico and Canada. There is a really collegial approach to giving other people a head's up on quantitative research, roll-out plans on communications. A lot of people do this advocacy part differently than we do — white-paper based, quiet consultation. And then there's loud mouths like me. We do our consultation on the front page of The Globe and Mail. What is the coverage missing? Nobody really asked whether I think it's actually real. It's not real. The threat of using trade policy to get foreign policy gains is real. What's your best advice for the Trudeau government? The one key thing we implemented when required during the [NAFTA] negotiations was a multi-partisan Team Canada. The world has changed. In 2017, Trudeau was in the middle of a historic majority and riding high in the polls — and looked rather magnanimous when he brought prominent Conservatives and NDP politicians into the group. I'm not naive. I know that if we had an election today, we'd have a different government. But there's no reason people like [Conservative MP] RANDY HOBACK and [NDP MP] BRIAN MASSE can't be inside an official tent right now. There are others like [Conservative MPs] RYAN WILLIAMS or ADAM CHAMBERS, who are close to the leader, but also either have a trade responsibility or are from manufacturing jurisdictions that would understand Canada-U.S. trade. This is as much a request of the leader of the opposition as it is of the prime minister. Find the right people to be on that team. If we want to be confidential about it because it serves our political interests that way, who cares? It doesn't matter to me. You don't have to hold hands. — Worth noting: The Globe’s CAMPBELL CLARK wrote last night: “This isn’t 2017. There isn’t going to be a united front to meet Mr. Trump’s trade threat. Mr. Trudeau isn’t going to get everyone to put on the team jersey.” — In related news: The Globe reports that Ontario is about to launch a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign in the U.S. | 
