Another tweet, another auto-tariff threat against Canada
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Donald Trump launched a fresh auto-tariff threat against Canada late Friday at a time when Ottawa finds itself in a holding pattern on NAFTA negotiations as it awaits the completion of one-on-one talks between the United States and Mexico.
In a tweet that appeared to reference NAFTA’s renegotiation, the U.S. president said the “deal with Mexico is coming along nicely” and that “Canada must wait.”
Trump then sent a warning to Ottawa: “Their Tariffs and Trade Barriers are far too high. Will tax cars if we can’t make a deal!”
But a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Ottawa won’t change course in response to the president’s message.
“Our focus is unchanged,” Adam Austen wrote in an email. “We’ll keep standing up for Canadian interests as we work toward a modernized trilateral NAFTA agreement.”
Bilateral NAFTA negotiations between the U.S. and Mexico have been building momentum in recent weeks after taking a break in late May ahead of Mexico’s July presidential election. The one-on-one talks are expected to extend into next week.
Canada, however, has yet to return to the NAFTA table this summer. Some observers have raised concerns about Canada’s absence from recent high-level negotiations on the three-country trade deal. There have been warnings Canada could be put in a position where it might have to accept a deal reached between the U.S. and Mexico.
But Canadian officials have insisted Ottawa hasn’t been sidelined during the U.S.-Mexico discussions.
To complicate matters, the already rocky Canada-U.S. relationship has deteriorated since the partners suspended talks in the spring.
Trump slapped Canada and other allies with steel and aluminum duties, which led to retaliatory levies from Ottawa. He has also made repeated threats to apply far more damaging tariffs on the deeply integrated automotive sector. And in June, Trump called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “very dishonest and weak” shortly after he left the G7 meeting in Quebec.
On Friday, his critical tweet about Canada made a point of praising Mexico’s president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
“New President of Mexico has been an absolute gentleman,” tweeted Trump, who also wrote that autoworkers and farmers “must be taken care of or there will be no deal.”
Earlier Friday, a source familiar with Ottawa’s NAFTA effort said Canadian negotiators would not be returning to the bargaining table in Washington until the U.S. and Mexico find common ground on their outstanding issues, especially the auto sector.
If the U.S. and Mexico can resolve their bilateral differences in the coming days, the source said it’s “very possible” Canada’s team — potentially including Freeland — could rejoin negotiations later in the week.