Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government appeared to distance itself from the Ontario premier’s interventions on trade following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to increase tariffs because of an Ontario government television ad.
Hours after Trump said he would raise tariffs on Canadian goods by a further 10 per cent, Canadian cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc posted on social media, saying talks with the U.S. are “the responsibility of the federal government.” Carney, speaking to reporters in Malaysia, then underlined the point, saying negotiations with the White House are the “sole responsibility of the government of Canada” and that such talks are “the best way forward.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose government commissioned the ad, said Friday he would pause the campaign on Monday in the hopes that trade talks can resume. But some provincial premiers in Canada have praised Ford and Ontario for taking a direct approach to reaching U.S. policymakers and the public. And they say that the strong reaction of Trump and some other Republicans is proof that the ad has worked.
The west coast province of British Columbia is launching a digital ad campaign about rising U.S. forestry tariffs — pointing out that U.S. taxes on Canadian lumber are now higher than its taxes on Russian lumber.
"You have a president of the United States that is having a trade temper tantrum every other day and threatening tarills," Parmar said on CBC News. "We have to stand up to a bully, we can't back down."
Some other provincial politicians, on the other hand, praised Ontario for withdrawing its ad campaign. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said that consistent diplomacy is needed to reach a positive resolution with the U.S.
In the meantime, Carney and Trump are attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Malaysia, where the prime minister will try to hoth expand trade relationships with Asian countries and restart talks with the U.S. Brian Clow, a former senior aide to former prime minister Justin Trudeau, said that with the Ontario ad being pulled, Carney has an opening to seek out Trump at the Asean meeting and cool tensions.
Posted by John3262005
2 Comments
Least cursed federal-provincial division of responsibilities
!ping CAN
> You have a president of the United States that is having a trade temper tantrum every other day and threatening tariffs,” Parmar said on CBC News. “We have to stand up to a bully, we can’t back down.”
I 100% understand the arguments about how appeasing Trump seems to get your country less blowback for the short term while you behind the scenes divest from the U.S. for the medium and long term, but this above quote is way more true.
The dude is slapping illegal tariffs outside of his executive authority because he didn’t like a fucking ad that a province put out. Not even some BS justifications or anything, but because his feelings got hurt over objective facts. Like at what point do you just need to bully the living shit out of Trump for being a loser?