The sudden collapse of trade negotiations last Friday triggered a spiralling trade war between the U.S. and Canada
United States Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick accused Canada of scuttling trade talks by adding last-minute demands, saying Prime Minister Mark Carney had political incentives to kill an emerging deal.
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Lutnick on Thursday accused Carney of snuffing out the deal in order to consolidate political support ahead of October’s preliminary independence vote in the province of Alberta and elections in Quebec.
“We’re just being used by them, right? That’s why it ended. It didn’t happen for math. The math was sensational, it’s a great deal that we shook hands” Lutnick told reporters in Washington.
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The comments from the Commerce chief are the latest in a war of words between the two countries, who have pointed fingers at each other over the collapse, and yet another signal that negotiations between the two countries are unlikely to resume soon. President Donald Trump’s move Thursday to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” will also leave Carney little political space to resume talks.
The two countries were at odds in particular over tariff relief for medium and heavy-duty trucks, according to people familiar with the matter, with Canada pressing for the same reduction as passenger vehicles. The U.S. resisted granting that request. The difference would have had a material impact on two major Canadian auto production plants.
Lutnick said he only saw the issue raised Friday, hours before talks broke down.
“The words ‘medium and heavy-duty trucks’ were raised in these trade negotiations at Friday at 4 o’clock,” he said, calling it “a different thing” than passenger vehicles. “These were things they put in in order to make it end.”
