Canadian PM Mark Carney demanded Washington 'start being serious' about trade, but with U.S. tariffs biting and Ottawa's counter-tariffs set for September 8, the pressure is squarely on Canada to come back to the table.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the Trump administration to "start being serious" about trade talks, but the message sounded less like a threat and more like frustration from a leader watching his leverage slip away. With U.S. tariffs already hammering Canadian goods and Ottawa's own counter-tariffs set to kick in next week, the war of words is heating up fast.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday, Carney urged American officials to drop the online taunts and get back to the negotiating table. "When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions," he said. "But it's not constructive."
The Prime Minister's complaints come roughly a week after U.S.-Canada trade talks collapsed, and they do little to hide the reality: President Trump's trade leverage is working exactly as designed. Washington has slapped 50 percent tariffs on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has made clear the pressure campaign is just getting started.
Greer downplayed the fallout for American consumers and pinned the stalled negotiations squarely on Canadian intransigence. "There are no negotiations happening on trade right now," Greer told Politico. He described the spat as "more their emergency than ours," a blunt assessment that underscores how much more Canada has at stake in a trade fight with its largest partner.
Rather than bending to reality, Carney announced Canada would impose retaliatory tariffs on nearly $28 billion in American goods starting September 8. The move covers products previously protected under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, but the optics are telling: Canada is the one escalating into a fight it cannot win.
Greer suggested Canadian negotiators torpedoed the talks with unreasonable demands, including lighter taxes on heavy-duty trucks. "It's not clear Canada wants a deal," he said. Canadian officials, for their part, blame the collapse on internal White House disagreements over who was running the talks -- an excuse that has done nothing to change the tariff reality on the ground.
Carney's remarks arrived the morning after his Liberal government swept three federal byelections Monday night, a result he credits to Canadians rallying behind his trade posture. But the applause at home does not change the math at the border: the U.S. is Canada's biggest customer, and a prolonged fight will hurt Canadian workers and consumers far more than Americans.
The administration has shown no appetite for backing down. Trump continues to hammer Canada over its treatment of American farmers and has renewed his push to rebrand Lake Ontario as "Lake America," while senior officials keep the pressure on in public. With September 8 looming, the next week will reveal whether Carney's tough talk holds up -- or whether Canada finally comes to the table serious about a deal.
Canadian PM Mark Carney demanded Washington 'start being serious' about trade, but with U.S. tariffs biting and Ottawa's counter-tariffs set for September 8, the pressure is squarely on Canada to come back to the table.
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