After agreeing 30-day timeline, Mark Carney now says ‘nothing’s assured’ on deal with U.S.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney lowered expectations on Monday about reaching an agreement with the United States for an economic and security pact by July 21. Speaking in Brussels, where he signed a defence partnership with the European Union (EU), Carney was asked which options Canada would be considering, besides higher tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum, if he does not strike a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump within the next 30 days — as agreed to during the G7 summit last week in Kananaskis. “We’ll do what’s right for Canada,” he said. “We’re working hard to get a deal, but we’ll only accept the right deal with the United States. The right deal is possible, but nothing’s assured.” Carney said earlier this month his team was in “intensive discussions” with the U.S. and held off on further retaliation on additional tariffs of Canadian steel and aluminum, pending those discussions. In an interview with Radio-Canada days later, the prime minister hinted he was hoping to come to an agreement with Trump during the G7 summit. But the summit in the Canadian Rockies passed without an agreement to end the tariffs, and both men agreed to pursue negotiations toward a deal within the next 30 days. Days later, Carney announced a series of measures that would come into force on July 21 should both countries not come to an agreement — including increasing the existing counter-tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum, blocking U.S. producers from competing for federal procurement projects and addressing global overcapacity in these sectors. Politico has reported that the Trump administration has “a lot of fish to fry” given all the trade deals his administration is trying to strike with other countries to lift reciprocal tariffs, and with all the deadlines on the horizon, Canada might simply not be a top priority. In fact, the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office recently circulated a draft “agreement on reciprocal trade” with the EU, according to the Wall Street Journal, which included concessions to existing regulations such as its Digital Markets Act, its carbon-based border tariffs, methane rules and more. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said she would not go into details of the trade negotiation but said she was “very clear” that topics that touch the sovereignty of the decision-making process in the EU are “absolutely untouchable.” “Of course, we discuss tariff lines, we discuss non-tariff barriers, like standards and norms, for example. We discuss strategic purchases. We discuss all these topics, but where it is the sovereign decision-making process in the European Union and its member states that are affected, this is too far,” she said. On Monday, Carney said that Canada would continue diversifying its trade relationships “with like-minded partners, reliable partners, partners that are aligned with our values” irrespective of the outcome of the talks of a new deal with the Trump administration. For instance, Canada just signed a security and defence partnership with the EU, considered a first step in joining the ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030 initiative which will “create significant defence procurement and industrial opportunities for Canada,” according to a press released issued by the prime minister’s office. “It begins here, and you see the ambition in this partnership and the scope of ambition, and that’s the future of trade,” said Carney. He continued: “The future of trade is digital. The future of trade does take carbon into account. Carbon is trade, right? The future of trade, it does have this defence cooperation. It is consistent with industrial policy, recognizing that industrial policy amongst allies.” “That’s the future of trade, not a narrow discussion on tariffs,” Carney said in an apparent shot at Trump’s comments at the G7 that he is a “tariff person” which he called “simple” and “easy,” and that Carney has a “more complex idea” of international trade. Carney, however, sidestepped a reporter’s question about whether he felt more comfortable in Brussels than in Washington — by talking about the weather and the food. In doing that, he also took an impromptu shot at the fine dining in Canada’s capital. “In terms of relative comfort, well, it’s very hot in Washington right now and very humid. I’m sure that dinner will be better — with all due respect to our American friends, it’ll be better than would be in Ottawa. The dinner will be better tonight,” he said. After his trip to Brussels, the prime minister will be departing to The Hague for the NATO Summit where allies are expected to sign off to an increase in defence spending of five per cent of their respective GDP — although it is still unclear if the timeline will be 2032 or 2035. National Post calevesque@postmedia.com

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