In short, as Canadian conservatives suspected, Mark Carney lied about everything!
U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer appeared on CNBC this morning to discuss the trade agreement between the U.S. and Canada and what caused the final breakdown at the last minute. Greer notes the Canadian team appeared to be negotiating at the end from the position of politics as the Canadian team were aligning themselves with a domestic effort.
Greer draws attention to the friction points being very small. The U.S. tariffs were on less than 5% of overall Canadian exports and less than .06% of U.S. imports. The U.S. made several offers to present Canada with the best trade terms in the world; however, Canada wanted more. Canada wanted to retain all their market barriers, retain all quotas, retain all tariffs and restrictions against U.S. goods and services, but remove all the tariffs against them.
This is a really solid interview to watch because USTR Greer doesn’t need to pretend anything. The terms offered were direct and consistent with benefit to both America and Canada. On the language issue, Greer completely refutes the claims by Mark Carney about the U.S. seeking to change the language of Quebec and starts laughing at the premise. The issue relates to Canada demanding that five percent of all tech income be given to Canadian tech companies they compete against. That demand is ridiculous. WATCH: