Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has taken a veiled swipe at President Donald Trump’s latest trade tantrum, declaring that it doesn’t pay to get emotional during negotiations.
Days after Trump issued an all-caps rant on social media against his key ally in response to a TV advertisement that criticized his tariff regime, Carney confirmed he still hadn’t spoken to the president and that it was up to Trump to explain the sudden deterioration in their relationship.
“In any complicated, high-stakes negotiation, you can get unexpected twists and turns, and you have to keep your cool during those situations,” Carney told reporters in Malaysia on Monday during the ASEAN summit.
“It doesn’t pay to be upset. Emotions don’t carry you very far,” he added.
Trump halted talks with Carney last week and slugged Canada with an additional 10 per cent tariff, accusing the country of putting up a “fraudulent advertisement on Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Tariffs.”
This was in reference to an ad put out by the government for the Canadian province of Ontario, which featured a minute-long clip from an address given by the 40th president.
“Ronald Reagan LOVED Tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy, but Canada said he didn’t!” Trump said in his social media post on Thursday.
“Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD. Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now.”
Less than 24 hours later, Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford said he was suspending the ad so that talks could resume.
However, on Monday, Trump said he doesn’t anticipate meeting with Carney any time soon.
“I don’t want to meet with him,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Japan.
“No, I’m not going to be meeting with them for a while. I’m very happy with the deal we have right now with Canada. We’re going to let it ride.”
The comments were a clear sign that the much-hyped rapport between the pair had been put on ice, merely weeks after Carney visited the Oval Office with an expectation that a deal on sectoral trade issues was imminent.
Speaking on Monday, the Canadian prime minister said the rift was an “unexpected twist” given “considerable progress” had been made in steel, aluminum and energy up until that point.
He also confirmed that he hasn’t been in contact with Trump since the president terminated trade talks on Thursday.
Trump’s meltdown over the Reagan ad caught political observers by surprise and prompted his troller-in-chief, California Governor Gavin Newsom, to describe the president as a “man child.”
“The man child in the Oval got his feelings hurt, so he is punishing the American people with higher costs,” Newsom wrote on X, sharing a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post.
But it was not the only time Trump has slapped tariffs on America’s northern ally.
In early February, Trump signed an executive order imposing nearly all goods from Canada and Mexico and a 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods.
Retaliatory tariffs were threatened, and within days, Trump agreed to a 30-day pause.
Trump’s on-again-off-again trade tactics have resulted in the president being nicknamed TACO: Trump always chickens out.
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