Trump Downplays Prospect of Near-Term Talks with Carney
Donald Trump says he won’t be meeting Prime Minister Mark Carney for some time after a falling-out between the two countries over an Ontario government TV ad that criticized the U.S. President’s protectionist tariffs.
Mr. Trump spent the weekend in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit where he signed trade deals with Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam that locked in new tariffs on these countries. Mr. Carney also attended ASEAN.
The U.S. President spoke to reporters en route to Japan, where he was asked whether he intended to meet the Canadian leader at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum in South Korea later this week.
“I don’t want to meet with him. I’m not going to be meeting with him for a long time,” Mr. Trump said.
On Thursday, citing the TV ad, the President terminated trade talks with Canada — negotiations Mr. Carney has been hoping would reduce a slew of protectionist tariffs imposed on Canadian goods since Mr. Trump took office.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump said he was hiking tariffs on Canadian imports by another 10 per cent after the TV ad critical of his protectionist levies ran during the first game of the World Series.
The 60-second spot uses footage from nearly 40 years ago of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan decrying American protectionism, saying such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.
Mr. Trump, who has said the Ontario ad misrepresents Mr. Reagan’s comments, said he was raising tariffs by 10 per cent because Canada did not immediately stop running the ad, as he wanted.
The President has not yet issued any executive order to enforce the threatened 10-per-cent hike. It’s not clear if this new levy would apply to all Canadian imports or a selection of them. And he has announced no date for this increase.
Speaking to reporters Monday, Mr. Trump couldn’t say when the extra 10-per-cent tariff would take effect.
“I don’t know when it’s going to kick in. We’ll see,” the President said.
After Mr. Trump said he would terminate trade talks, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose government paid for the ad campaign, said he would pull the ad after this weekend.
The ad is much shorter than Mr. Reagan’s original address. It is edited, with certain passages presented out of order.
In Mr. Reagan’s original speech, the former president defended imposing duties on Japan during a trade dispute over semiconductors. He alleged Tokyo was failing to penalize Japanese companies’ violations of a trade agreement with the U.S.
This article was first reported by The Globe and Mail
