Carney: Canada Was 'Close' to US Trade Agreement Before Tariff Ad
The U.S. and Canada nearly reached a trade agreement before the airing of an anti-tariff advertisement drew the ire of President Donald Trump, according to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in a Dec. 18 interview.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Carney said that prior to the ad's release, "we were close to an agreement. We didn't get that agreement." The ad, released in October by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and featuring audio of Ronald Reagan disparaging tariffs, elicited a swift and explosive reaction from Trump (see 2510240003).
Carney, speaking on Canadian television with Ford, said that the terms of the agreement, "from our perspective, are still on the table," though the U.S. has so far "not picked up that part of the negotiation." He said that his "judgment" was that negotiations on the deal will "roll into the broader" USMCA negotiation, making it "unlikely" that a sectoral agreement will be reached.
Should the U.S. want to "come back" to the negotiating table, Carney offered a sweetener, saying that Canada is "very ready on forest products to strike an agreement." He noted that the U.S. has "affordability challenges," particularly in the housing industry and the forest product sector. "We can make an immediate difference to affordability in the United States," Carney said.