3 weeks ago
5
By ROB GILLIES, Associated Press
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday some of President Donald Trump’s threats should be viewed as prepositioning ahead of negotiations to renew the free trade pact between the two large trading partners.
Carney noted they are entering a review of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement this year and said he expects a “robust review.”
“The president is a strong negotiator, and some of these comments and positioning should be viewed in the broader context of that,” Carney said.
Trump threatened this past weekend to impose a 100% tariff on goods imported from Canada if America’s northern neighbor went ahead with a trade deal with Beijing, though Carney has said Canada has no interest in negotiating a comprehensive trade deal with Beijing.
Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, said he spoke with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Sunday and made it clear that the Canadians are negotiating a “narrow trade arrangement” with China that mostly deals with just “a few sectors of our economy.”
He compared that to an agreement Trump made with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea last summer in which the U.S. cut s...
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