Be Pleased at America's Greed

The Canadian Shield.

Days! I have spent days wanting to write about Canada's attempts to negotiate a reduction in these coercive tariffs. But the news kept changing: an impending deal, a different impending deal, then no deal at all. So I sat on my hands.

I want to be clear about this: These were not normal trade talks. They were attempts to ratchet down a trade war Trump started, under threat of even more tariffs. Canada was being asked to hand over lasting concessions in exchange for reducing the severity of an attack that shouldn't have existed in the first place.

We'll give you all this if you shoot a little less.

When Canada walked away and the talks fell apart, I had hoped that it had always been Carney's intent to not accomplish anything.

I'm not so sure that's true. We apparently came disturbingly close to a deal, until Trump added final text that was too much for us to take. This is vintage Trump bargaining: get close to the deadline, then demand more.

But had he not done so, we would have ended our retaliatory actions in exchange for a mere reduction in tariffs. No wonder they went after more: There was blood in the water. Canadian red.

Be pleased at America's greed. It stopped us from making a mistake.

Carney now sounds like someone who understands the problem. He says America's behaviour has called “into question the reliability of any deal.” America, he says, has changed. Washington has learned to use “economic integration as a weapon,” while its signature is “written in pencil.”

Carney also objected to a late American demand that could have restricted Canada's freedom to make trade arrangements with other countries. That isn't tariff relief. That's leverage over Canadian sovereignty.

And the actual CUSMA negotiations are still ahead of us. These weren't them. Washington is trying to collect Canadian concessions before we even reach that table. Anything we surrender now is something we cannot bargain with later.

My concern is that Carney seems to understand exactly what kind of negotiating partner this is—and yet was still prepared to make a deal on those terms.

We are at war. CUSMA is in place for another 10 years. We have time to negotiate. It's going to hurt, but this is more than a trade war. It's a fight to retain sovereignty. One that will require sacrifice on our part.

We need to remember that Trump's deadlines are not our deadlines. There is no compelling reason to accept a bad deal simply because Trump drew a line in the sand with a Sharpie.

I know that some Conservatives argue they would have had a deal last year. That we have a long-standing relationship with America that matters. That Trump won't last, so make a deal now we can renegotiate later.

This is a mistake. Yes, we may see some improvements after the midterms—assuming those aren't interfered with. Maybe Trump will be gone soon. But Trump did not invent the forces behind this. He harnessed them. The people enabling him will remain long after he is gone.