OTTAWA, Sept 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. needs to start being serious and stop trying to be tough before talks on a possible trade deal with Canada can restart, Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters on Tuesday.
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Canada walked away from negotiations on an agreement to avoid additional U.S. tariffs on August 21, saying the American side had made unacceptable last-minute demands.
Since then U.S. President Donald Trump has declared that Lake Ontario should be renamed Lake America, described Canada’s leaders as “the worst” he has to deal with, and repeated assertions that Canada is ripping off the U.S.
He also posted an AI-generated meme showing Canadian geese with Trump’s distinctive hairstyle marching under a U.S. flag.
Carney said there was still a chance to strike a mutually beneficial trade deal that respected Canadian sovereignty.
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“And when the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions,” Carney said, adding that recent U.S. actions were “not constructive.”
U.S. officials have challenged part of the Canadian narrative as to why the talks collapsed, saying there was a good deal to be had on the table. Carney said Ottawa had never felt the proposed terms would be adequate, especially when it came to the highly integrated auto sector.
“The attitude of the United States… has been one that the core Canadian industries either would be subsidiaries, effectively, of the United States industries, or (Washington) would put in place terms where those industries would be gradually wound down in Canada and wiped out,” he said.
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“Of course, we’re not going to accept those terms.”
(Reporting by David Ljunggren, editing by Maria Cheng and Bill Berkrot)
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