Since U.S. President Donald Trump spent 108 minutes selling his case to the American people this week, it’s time for a simple update on trade talks.
Favouring word economy over volume, I will simply say (without any ability to truly represent our great nation) that the answer is no.
As we prepare to renegotiate CUSMA (which IS the proper term for it with the “C” for Canada first), the U.S. is making many demands in separate areas.
First, we have to agree to permanent tariffs as part of a new deal.
We also have to give them more access for U.S. dairy, remove reciprocal tariffs we levied when they put them on us, allow them to restream and relocate auto production jobs to the U.S., cancel deals that would see more low-tariff Chinese EV’s into Canada, allow U.S. Liquor back on the shelves and stop complaining about crushing tariffs on our steel, aluminum and softwood lumber.
I’m not part of the negotiating team, but I can tell you now the answer to most of that will be “no”.
We won’t be responding to demands. We will negotiate in good faith, like we already have with other nations around the world in the new deals with have signed with China, South Korea, and India, among others.
Mr. Trump, when you are prepared to talk less and listen more, we shall be waiting at the table. Until then, we have other calls to take.
I’m Paul Martin and that’s what I see looking beyond the Headlines.
