How U.S.-Canada Tariff Negotiations Turned Into an All-Out Trade War
New York Times · LC · trust 46/100
Detailed accounts of the final hours of the negotiations show that, while the United States offered Canada what it said was the best deal of any country, what Canada had to give up in exchange was seen as unthinkable.
Detailed accounts of the final hours of the negotiations show that, while the United States offered Canada what it said was the best deal of any country, what Canada had to give up in exchange was seen as unthinkable.
Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada speaking about the trade dispute with the United States on Monday at the Davie Shipyard in Levis, Quebec. Credit... Andrej Ivanov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The clock ticked toward midnight on Friday. New U.S. tariffs on Canada were about to come into effect and negotiators cooped up across the street from the White House were still plodding through the differences on each side. Aides shuffled in and out with new drafts, adjusting and readjusting.
U.S. officials said they had offered Canada the best trade deal of any nation. Canadians believed it was a bad one. In the waning hours, both sides dug in even more.
One Canadian negotiator said it was as if “shadow figures were suddenly in the room,” raising topics that had supposedly been settled in previous days.
Back in Ottawa, Prime Minister Mark Carney got off the phone with Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario. Mr. Ford had told him plainly: Don’t take the deal.
Premier Doug Ford on Monday in Hamilton, Ontario. Credit... Carlos Osorio/Reuters Mr. Ford told Mr. Carney he would not comply with a key U.S. demand: restoring the sale of U.S. alcohol that he, alongside most other provincial leaders, had banned. American tariffs on Canadian steel and automobiles were still too high to enable their long-term survival, Mr. Ford had decided.
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