Geoff Russ: Fine, don’t trust Carney, but why believe anything Trump says?

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Now, the same strategy has been used in trade negotiations. Both sides agreed that they had a tentative deal in place, with industry groups kept informed and President Trump even announcing that the agreement was ready for final review.

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Then, in the final hours of negotiations on deadline day, it fell apart due to a combination of differences over automobiles, French-language provisions, and, most critically, Canada’s sovereign ability to negotiate trade with other countries.

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Washington claimed that it was Canadian demands for lower tariffs on trucks that sank the deal, which Carney acknowledges was part of the disagreement, if not the decisive factor. Politico has reported clashes within the Trump administration and said that U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer disagreed with Lutnick on policy issues related to the failed trade agreement.

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Carney does not need to be given a free pass for Canadians to understand a very clear pattern of predatory renegotiations, in which a deal is nearly complete, only for Lutnick to demand ridiculous or impossible terms that Canada is then expected to accept.

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Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe responded to the breakdown by getting right to the point:

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“Saskatchewan has also been clear that any attempt by the United States to influence or place conditions on Canada’s trade relationships with other nations is a non-starter. Decisions about who Canada trades with must be made by Canada. Saskatchewan, more than any other province, is diversifying its trade to other countries, and that will not be compromised.”

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At an absolute minimum, a sovereign country requires the ability to freely conduct commerce with others around the world. Anything less is genuine vassalage. Canada is already dependent enough on trade with the U.S., and accepting that deal would have locked us into that dependency in a vise grip.

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National Post Managing Editor Carson Jerema correctly wrote, “(W)alking away from negotiations, even if it leads to a protracted trade war, was the right thing to do. It may have been the most important moment for Canadian sovereignty in generations, and much credit to the prime minister for having the nerve to stand up.”

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It would be a terrible mistake to simply make the best of this rupture. Saying no to a terrible agreement is the bare minimum of governance, but it is not an economic strategy.

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This country remains bogged down in internal trade barriers between provinces, protected industrial oligopolies, and other minefields of overregulation.

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Canada should be using this emergency to rapidly fix everything that has dogged and degraded its economy from the inside for too long. Capital should be able to deploy without a decade of supplication to Ottawa, the courts, and bloated regulatory boards.

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Carney has pledged to unlock the domestic side of Canada’s economy, but failing to introduce internal shock therapy during this critical period will mean missing the mark once again, and Canadians will suffer even more for it.

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Two things can be true at once: Carney has proven to be a slippery fellow, and the current American administration cannot be trusted either.

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Right now, we should be building an economy so strong that neither opacity from Ottawa nor thuggery from Washington can put us in the position in which we currently find ourselves. Nor does anyone need to pledge loyalty to the Liberal government to back their country at this time.

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National Post

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