LILLEY: Trade deal with Trump within 30 days is Carney's new goal
A deal was close last week but then fell apart, the goal now is for a trade and security deal within 30 days.
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A deal on trade and security within 30 days: That’s the goal for Canada and the United States after a meeting between Mark Carney and Donald Trump that took place Monday.
The meeting took place ahead of the official G7 opening in Kananaskis, Alta., about an hour’s drive west of Calgary in the Rocky Mountains.
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Talks have been ongoing for months and there had been hope that the two leaders could have announced a deal before the G7. While talks on that front had proceeded far enough that the Prime Minister and President were personally involved and talking, things cooled off last week and momentum was lost.
“Prime Minister Carney and President Trump discussed immediate trade pressures and priorities for each country’s workers and businesses, and shared updates on key issues raised in negotiations on a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the U.S.,” the official readout of the meeting from Carney’s office stated.
“To that end, the leaders agreed to pursue negotiations toward a deal within the coming 30 days.”
The readout stated that the two leaders also discussed where they could cooperate on “critical minerals, gun and drug smuggling, illegal drugs, and border security” as well as areas for cooperation on defence.
Earlier in the day, Trump was asked what was holding up a potential deal between the two countries and it came down one issue – tariffs.
“I think we have different concepts,” Trump said of his view on trade compared to Carney’s.
“I have a tariff concept. Mark has a different concept, which is something that some people like, but we’re going to see if we can get to the bottom of it. Today.”
Clearly, they didn’t get to the bottom of the issue on Monday, but the two leaders have said that they want a deal by mid-July.
“We did a deal with China in a weekend, Canada should take half a day,” one American official recently quipped.
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Clearly with a deal not coming last week and now the announcement of a new 30-day window, there appear to be some sticky issues on the table. Is one of the issues that Trump is insisting on keeping 10% tariffs on some Canadian goods of services not currently subject to tariffs?
New details of a trade deal between the United States and Britain were released on Monday and point to some new tariff rates for the U.K., including 10% on automobiles, while other tariffs are removed or rates settled.
Prime Minister Carney sold himself to Canadians as the man with the plan who could go elbows up and stand against Trump and his tariffs. There was very little evidence of that on Monday.
At both the bilateral meeting between Trump and Carney and when Carney opened the G7 meeting, the PM was heaping praise on Trump.
“The G7 is nothing without U.S. leadership and so and your personal leadership, leadership of the United States, many issues, geopolitics, economic, technology and working hand in hand with the United States,” Carney said as he welcomed Trump to the summit.
There was no mention of tariffs, or having them lifted, as Carney stood next to Trump, smiling awkwardly as the president described his love of tariffs and how his view differs from Carney’s. There also wasn’t any mention of tariffs in the readout of the meeting that stated the two countries want a deal within 30 days.
Just a mention at the end that they will keep in touch and meet again at the NATO leader’s summit next week.
Last week, Carney announced that Canada was substantially increasing military spending and would meet our NATO target of 2% of GDP this fiscal year. The move was clearly an attempt to win favour with the Trump administration which has been pushing member countries to live up their commitments.
Carney’s decision to increase spending much faster than originally planned was also seen as an attempt secure a trade deal as Trump continues to link trade and security.
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