Donald Trump speaks alongside a map showing Lake Ontario labeled as Lake America in the Oval Office. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenDonald Trump speaks alongside a map showing Lake Ontario labeled as Lake America in the Oval Office.
Prefer the Guardian on GoogleMark Carney has rebuked Donald Trump’s administration and urged officials in Washington to “start being serious” amid escalating trade tensions between the US and Canada.
Days before Canada is due to retaliate against Trump’s sweeping tariffs with its own duties on US goods, the Canadian prime minister criticized US officials for insulting his country.
Trump signed an executive order last week directing the US federal government to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America – a move that has been rejected by Canadians.
The US president’s most senior trade negotiator has meanwhile downplayed the potentially disastrous effects of a US trade war with Canada, declaring the spat to be “more their emergency than ours”.
The US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, argued that Canada was more vulnerable after the breakdown in talks set the stage for sweeping tariffs between the two neighbors, telling Politico: “There are no negotiations happening on trade right now.”.
Greer appeared to blame the escalating trade war on Canadian officials, telling Politico: “It’s not clear Canada wants a deal.
Read moreUnacceptable asks from Canada included lighter taxes on heavy-duty trucks, according to Greer, who said such requests torpedoed the trade talks.
Canadian officials, on the other hand, attributed the collapsed negotiations to a White House disagreement over who was directing trade talks. Mark Carney, the country’s prime minister, also said that American negotiators saw the French language in Canada as an “irritant”, but added: “In Quebec, these are rights.”.
Trump, for his part, has argued in recent weeks that Canada “wants the benefits” of being a US state, without being one – a preoccupation of the US president – as he lashed out at the country’s leaders.
Greer suggested that negotiations broke down after a misunderstanding around what was, and wasn’t, on the table. “Was that political? I don’t know,” he told Politico.
