OTTAWA, July 29 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday played down the idea of curbing oil supplies to the United States to gain leverage in a trade war, saying that would harm Canada’s reputation.
President Donald Trump, who has already imposed a raft of tariffs against Canada, on Tuesday said he did not care about renewing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade deal. He is also threatening another round of punitive measures later this month.
Last week Carney said he and Trump had agreed to intensify trade negotiations, adding that all options were on the table if the United States went ahead with its latest tariff threat.
Canada is a major shipper of crude to the United States and Carney, in response to a question about potentially using oil as a bargaining lever, dismissed the idea.
“Being a reliable supplier is important. Canadians are reliable. Canadians can be trusted … we have many exports and commodities. One of the biggest commodities, arguably the best, is trust,” he said.
“People trust us, and so when you’re the supplier of a key commodity, a key service, you have got to think really hard about not supplying.”
The province of Alberta, which supplies most of the oil sent to the United States, has also said it will not accept any action to curb exports of oil or impose export duties.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren, editing by Maria Cheng and Deepa Babington)