WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump expressed optimism about resolving a trade fight with Canada and downplayed the prospect of quitting a continental trade pact, in a potential sign of de-escalating tensions between the two countries.
Trump was asked last Saturday whether he intended to have the United States leave the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin.
“We’re doing great. We’re going to have a great relationship with Mexico. We actually have a good one with Canada,” he said.
He went on to say that a deal with Canada could come “fairly soon”, but provided no details on whether formal talks between the two economies had resumed.
“Canada has to treat our farmers better, and they can’t charge our farmers tariffs.
“They’re charging our farmers 400% tariffs and many other things, so when those things go away, they’re willing to get rid of it all,” Trump said, adding, “You’ll probably see a deal with Canada fairly soon.”
The United States and Canada have been locked in a clash that has expanded well beyond tariffs and that threatens to rupture cross-border supply chains relied on by key industries like auto manufacturing.
Talks in August on a broader trade deal collapsed at the last minute, leading Trump to follow through on threats to hit Canada with 50% levies on billions of dollars in goods.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney retaliated with tariffs on Sept 8, hitting a score of US consumer goods and raising duties on many US steel products to 50% from 25%. Trump, in turn, announced additional counter-measures against Canada, including bans on certain products while expanding duties on others.
Carney, however, recently signalled that another round of retaliation was unlikely, saying that the latest US measures against Canada would only have a “modest” impact overall.
The prime minister also confirmed last Thursday that he had spoken to Trump recently on geopolitical issues, though it was not clear if that covered trade.
Trump’s remarks last Saturday and Carney’s earlier comments bolster hopes that the United States and Canada are looking to calm tensions and find an off-ramp to an economic dispute that has morphed into a broader confrontation.
The US president has repeatedly mocked Canada, threatening to make it a 51st state and deriding its prime minister as just a “governor”, comments that have fuelled anti-Trump sentiment north of the border and allowed Carney to cast himself as a defender of Canadian sovereignty.
As the relationship deteriorated, there were fears that Trump might threaten to withdraw from the USMCA, a dramatic move that could rewrite the rules governing trade across the continent.
Any country can quit the trilateral pact on six months’ notice, though the deal’s language is ambiguous on the process. — Bloomberg
