Carney dismisses 'unelected' Trump officials' explanation for why trade talks fell apart

Carney dismisses 'unelected' Trump officials' explanation for why trade talks fell apart

'Some of what they're saying now is different' from last negotiations, PM says

Prime Minister Mark Carney has dismissed a series of recent comments by U.S. cabinet members that challenge the Liberal government's explanation for walking away from trade talks last month.

"I don't think, with all respect, appointed, unelected cabinet members in the United States are experts on Canadian politics," he said in Thunder Bay, Ont., on Thursday.

Ever since he pulled Canada's negotiating team back to Ottawa late on Friday, Aug. 21, Carney and Canada's chief trade negotiator Janice Charette have maintained Canada left after the U.S. introduced last-minute changes the government deemed unfair and uneconomic.

Carney has said those changes would have restricted Canada's ability to sign trade deals with other countries, rolled back cultural protections for the French language and degraded the auto industry over time.

Carney: 'Unelected' U.S. cabinet members aren't experts on Canadian politics

"There are a few issues that the United States was arguing up to the last hour: red lines, we're not going to change, boom it's in there. You know, our way or the highway, take it or leave it. You know, attitude. Now they're not," Carney said.

"So all of a sudden they don't care about Canadian language or culture and those elements. Well if they didn't care they shouldn't have kept them in the deal."

That is a very different message to the one being shipped by the Trump administration since the deal collapsed.

U.S. must recognize Canada's red lines, Carney says

"We had a deal, we shook hands, the president announced it, everybody was positive. Canada made the decision for political purposes, they wanted to walk away. This is politics only," U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said last week.

"If you think I ever said the words French. Do I care about how the Québécois speak? I mean what could matter less to America, we don't care," he said. "So the fact is we never brought those words up, this is manufactured."

Lutnick said the French language issue was "manufactured" in an effort to ensure the Parti Québécois loses the Quebec election, and federalists win the upcoming Alberta plebiscite on whether to have an independence referendum.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, the Trump cabinet minister who took the lead on negotiations, also disputed Ottawa's assertion that last-minute U.S. demands derailed a trade deal.

In an interview with CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton, Greer said that late in the talks Canada "had some additional views. They had some additional requests. They had some additional things that were too much for the United States."

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Carney says Trump and his cabinet should stop 'throwing shade' and get serious about a deal

Carney brushed those versions of events away, laying out what he needs to see before Canada returns to the bargaining table with the Trump administration.

"Some of what they're saying now is different than what they were drawing the line on [during the talks] and we are always going to stand up for what's in the best interest of Canada," he said.

The prime minister said that to resume negotiating with the U.S. he is looking for a deal that is durable over time and works to the benefit of both Canada and the U.S.

"We're ready to sit down and strike that deal when the Americans are ready," he said.

That will happen, Carney said, when the U.S. recognizes where Canada's red lines are and respects them.

"Our position is clear. We need to retain the right to protect and promote the French language, Canadian culture, Quebec culture. Fundamental," he said. "We need to maintain our ability, our sovereignty, to conclude trade deals with other countries."

Charette says Canada consistently raised auto industry in U.S. trade negotiations

Carney said Canada would have to be assured that the deal was durable and any tariffs which had been reduced or eliminated would not suddenly be reimposed at a later date.

"There were a few instances in the negotiations where those protections were not going to be given, and in fact, the opposite was going to be inserted, which is unacceptable," he said.

In a post on Truth Social published shortly after Carney spoke, U.S. President Donald Trump said Canada's prime minister was painting the president as the bad guy because it is politically useful.

"It is very good for Canadian Politicians like Prime Minister Carney to make President Donald J. Trump 'the enemy,' until their economy collapses, then it will prove to be very bad for Politics — Worse than anything that has ever happened to a Canadian Politician," Trump said.

Recognizing the integrated auto industry

Carney said that he understands Canada isn't going to land a trade agreement that looked like something the two countries would have signed before the U.S. changed its tariffs and commercial policies, but it still has to work for Canada.

"It's not a question of going back to what was past. However, the terms of our automobile sector, our steel sector, our aluminum sector have to be competitive," he said.

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To do that, Carney said, the U.S. administration also has to recognize that the auto sector is an integrated industry that straddles the border.

Since those trade talks fell apart, Trump and his cabinet have taken to insulting Canada on social media and trolling Canadians by renaming Lake Ontario "Lake America."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent compared Canada's navy to a now closed ride at the West Edmonton Mall and U.S. Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said Canada is "a country that doesn't have a military."

On Tuesday Carney dismissed those insults and said senior U.S. officials engaging in that kind of behaviour is "beneath their office."

Peter Zimonjic is a senior writer for CBC News who reports for digital, radio and television. He has worked as a reporter and columnist in London, England, for the Telegraph, Times and Daily Mail, and in Canada for the Ottawa Citizen, Torstar and Sun Media. He is the author of Into The Darkness: An Account of 7/7, published by Vintage.