TARIFF WAR, EH?Trade negotiations devolve into personal insults from both sides
The rhetoric in the U.S.-Canada trade war is extreme: “They are among the worst Nations in the World to deal with. They feel entitled, and yet, WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US!”, President Trump said yesterday on social media. “Someone should get these clowns to 'fall in line' or, the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!”, he added later.
The language on the Canadian side has been pretty spicy too. “He has a lot of room to kiss my ass,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Monday, referring to Trump.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, of course, has been feisty in defense of his nation—more so than his European counterparts. His political popularity at home is partially driven by the fact that he has stood up to the White House’s never-ending tariff demands. “We cannot accept what they have offered, and we will not give what they have asked,” he said when trade negotiations collapsed.
The New York Times has a must-read account of how the talks foundered. Here’s one detail that shows just how far apart the two sides are: Canada declined to end a ban on the sale of U.S. alcohol in Canada, and the U.S. in turn refused to lower tariffs on automobiles made in Canada to a level that would allow the Canadian auto business to remain sustainable.
