KUALA LUMPUR: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has not spoken to Donald Trump after the United States President ended all trade negotiations with Canada.
“The President and I have not spoken since he took this decision,” Carney said at a press conference on the sidelines of the 47th Asean Summit and Related Summits.
Carney said Canada is ready to talk to the United States when the time is right.
“We stand ready to sit down with the United States, myself and the President, when the United States is ready to sit down,” he added.
On Friday (Oct 24), Trump announced an immediate end to all trade negotiations with Canada over a television advertisement quoting former US president Ronald Reagan as opposing US tariffs.
The ad by the Ontario provincial government quoted a 1987 speech where Reagan said trade barriers hurt every American worker.
Trump has accused Canada of fraudulently using the advertisement and described it as “FAKE” on his Truth Social platform.
Commenting on the ad, Carney said it is important to remain calm in high stakes negotiations, but Canada will not give up on engaging Trump and the United States.
“Emotions do not carry you far. We made progress and we are ready to pick that up,” he added.
“I will re emphasise that it is the responsibility of the Government of Canada to have these negotiations. Every Canadian is a stakeholder in these negotiations,” added Carney.
Carney said the Canadian government has contingency plans to engage the United States to reduce tariffs despite Trump’s refusal to meet him at the Apec Summit in Gyeongju this week.
“But I will not go into the details of these contingency plans,” he said.
He added there could be further details in the upcoming Canadian Budget next month.
The Apec Summit in South Korea will take place from October 31 to November 1.
