RAGGING THE PUCK?

Trump’s tariff ultimatum pins down dithering Carney

Mark Carney’s strategy for the last several months has been simple: Avoid meaningful discussions with the Americans and wait for the midterm elections. The hope is that Democrats retake the House of Representatives, perhaps even the Senate, weaken U.S. President Donald Trump and deliver Canada a better deal.

That’s always been a foolish strategy, and Trump showed why a week ago Monday.

His plan to impose 50% tariffs on a range of goods, from hockey sticks to honey and flowers to whisky, has given Canada a deadline. The Americans want Canada to come to the table with solutions by Aug. 19 or face tariffs on $28 billion worth of exports.

“Sometimes you have to take trade action to incentivize those actions, and sometimes you take an action that leads to a better negotiation. In the end, we will see where it leads,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said a week ago Tuesday morning.

A deadline replaces delays

That might hint that these tariffs are a move to force Canada to fully engage in talks, something Carney said he would do.

“I spoke with President Trump earlier last week. We agreed to intensify negotiations in the coming weeks, and the team and I look forward to doing that,” Carney said.

What intensifying negotiations means is really up in the air. Despite Carney saying that his government has given the Americans a “series of comprehensive and detailed proposals” on a trade deal, no one else believes that.

Sources familiar with the talks on both sides of the border said that Canada has avoided making comprehensive offers.

“The proposals are generally for promises to discuss these issues, which we’re already doing. Not to actually change these things,” Greer said.

One Canadian source described Carney’s strategy as ragging the puck: Avoiding meaningful negotiations in the hope of facing a weakened Trump after the midterms.

Bargaining chips left unused

Meanwhile, Carney’s team has behind the scenes been encouraging the eight provinces that still have bans on selling American alcohol to keep them in place. While every province and territory originally enacted some form of booze ban, Alberta and Saskatchewan ended their bans last summer.

Keeping the booze bans in place might make sense if Carney were using them as a bargaining chip. But he hasn’t, just as he hasn’t used preferred access to Canada’s critical minerals to secure a better deal.

Both of these issues, along with resolving the impasse over cheese imports, should be offered to the Americans as part of a package to get the tariffs removed.