As Canada is poised to impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States on September 8, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that among the deal-breakers that the administration of President Donald Trump sought to include into a potential pact was that of a veto over the trade deals Ottawa enters into with other countries.
“We are the partner of choice in many respects for countries around the world, and the Americans wanted to restrict that,” he said, describing that American ploy as “unacceptable. Vina Nadjibulla, co-founder and CEO of the Centre for Strategic Statecraft, said Carney’s message “reinforces” Canada’s plan that “this diversification agenda is priority number one. She said CEPA was already a priority for Canada and of the deals being considered, that was on “top of the list” along with those being pursued with the ASEAN and Mercosur blocs.
During a press conference in Ottawa on Saturday, Carney said, “The US introduced, in the last hours, efforts to restrict our ability to have other trade deals.
Possibly the most significant trade deal Canada is currently pursuing is the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) with India. Negotiations are expected to conclude by December when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Canada to meet Carney and formally announce the deal has been clinched. Those numbers become viable with a deal with India in the frame. “Building at home and diversifying trade abroad is not our Plan B.
“Our existing free trade deals already provide Canada with preferential access to 1.5 billion consumers, and we are on track to double that market access by the end of this year,” he said, in the release issued by the PMO. It has been our Plan A from the start,” Carney said. There was an oblique reference to that deal in the statement Carney issued late on Friday night aborting the discussions with Washington and calling the Canadian negotiators back.
