Canada PM calls Trump’s tariff threats as bluster
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said some of US President Donald Trump’s threats should be seen as preliminary preparations before negotiations to renew the free trade agreement between the two major trading partners.
Carney stated that they are reviewing the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement this year and said that he expects a “robust review”.
“The president is a strong negotiator, and some of these comments and positionings should be considered in a broader context,” Carney said Monday.
Trump threatened over the weekend to impose 100 per cent tariffs on goods imported from Canada if America’s northern neighbor reaches a trade deal with Beijing, but Carney said Canada is not interested in negotiating a comprehensive trade deal with Beijing.
Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister for Canada-U.S. Trade, said he spoke with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Sunday and made clear that Canadians are negotiating a “narrow trade deal” with China that deals mostly with “just a few sectors of our economy.”
He compared it to a deal Trump made with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea last summer, in which the U.S. cut some tariffs on China while Beijing moved to allow rare earth exports and lift a pause on U.S. soybean purchases.
LeBlanc also said the upcoming talks are a review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and not a full-scale renegotiation of trade as was the case during Trump’s first term.
Carney, who left the United States during a visit to Beijing this month, dropped a 100 percent tariff on Chinese electric cars in exchange for lower tariffs on Canadian products.
Trump’s tariff threat comes amid an escalating war of words with Carney as the president’s attempt to buy Greenland puts the NATO alliance on edge.
Carney has emerged as a spokesman for a movement aimed at helping countries find ways to engage and counter the United States under Trump.
“The middle powers need to act together because if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,” Carney said in Davos.
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