{"id":179631,"date":"2026-08-23T12:55:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T12:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/179631\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T12:55:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T12:55:20","slug":"the-man-daring-to-call-trumps-bluff-and-showing-the-world-how-its-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/179631\/","title":{"rendered":"The man daring to call Trump\u2019s bluff \u2013 and showing the world how it\u2019s done"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump<\/a> and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney<\/a> have never been among contenders to open a mutual admiration society. But over the weekend, their relationship descended to new, uncharted depths of mutual loathing.<\/p>\n

The collapse of trade talks between the two North American powers was projected by both governments as a disaster of each other\u2019s making. But in reality, Trump has far more to lose politically over the short term than Carney, with vast punitive tariffs being applied on American trade with and from Canada that could cause fresh US economic dislocation and inflation just 70-odd days before November\u2019s midterm elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shortly after 1am on Sunday, Trump fumed that \u201cCanada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!\u201d. On Truth Social, he insisted that successive Canadian governments \u201chave charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of Tariffs. No more!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

But Carney gave as good as he got. In stark contrast to most other world leaders who continue trying to find ways to appease the authoritarian in the White House<\/a>, the Canadian Prime Minister treated Trump as a naked emperor leading a government of total amateurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey asked too much and offered too little\u201d, he told reporters on Saturday. \u201cYou\u2019re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked\u201d, he claimed, adding: \u201cWe cannot accept what they\u2019ve offered and will not give what they demand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Describing the Canadian negotiating team as \u201cunified\u2026everyone in the loop, everyone knows what our objectives are\u201d, Carney told reporters<\/a>, \u201cyou cannot say that about the US administration\u201d. Effectively confirming widespread reports<\/a> that Jamieson Greer, the US Trade Representative (USTR), and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick were at loggerheads within the Trump administration over key aspects of the negotiations, Carney chose to walk away from the table.<\/p>\n

Doug Ford, Ontario\u2019s premier and leader of the centre-right Progressive Conservative Party, was even less diplomatic. \u201cPresident Trump is the type of person that would steal your lunch money the first day. He\u2019d steal the toque off your head the second day, and the third day he\u2019d steal your running shoes. He is not to be trusted whatsoever,\u201d he told reporters as he credited Carney\u2019s tough approach and urged the country to unite around him.<\/p>\n

Lutnick is being pointed to as the main source of the talks\u2019 demise. In April<\/a>, with his trademark cocksure garrulousness, he mocked Carney publicly during an appearance at a Washington conference, accusing the Canadian government of deploying \u201cthe worst strategy I\u2019ve ever heard\u2026They suck\u201d. Later, a US Department of Commerce spokesperson claimed Lutnick was referring to \u201chow Canada sucks off of our $30trn (\u00a322trn) economy\u201d, a claim that suggests the White House views trade with Canada as being similar to negotiating with leeches.<\/p>\n

An open backer of Trump\u2019s repeated claims that Canada must become America\u2019s 51st state, Lutnick took particular umbrage over exceptions that had already been discussed by the two governments regarding metals tariffs. He also reportedly pulled the rug from beneath a preliminary agreement that was negotiated by Greer\u2019s team at USTR, claiming it had been \u201csprung\u201d on him.<\/p>\n

\"WASHINGTON,Trump with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (centre) and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer (right) (Photo: Alex Wong\/Getty)<\/p>\n

For their part, the Americans accuse Ottawa of engaging in a series of last-minute demands (\u201ca cornucopia of caprice\u201d, said one lawyer close to the administration), with Canada claiming that Washington sought to control its sovereign ability to strike third-party trade deals with other countries.<\/p>\n

Amid deep recriminations, the trade war between the two countries is now suddenly intensifying, with 50 per cent American tariffs being applied to $20bn (\u00a314.7bn) of Canadian imports, which include dairy, cement, wine and even hockey equipment. Separate existing tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminium, lumber and cars will remain in place.<\/p>\n

Carney, in turn, plans to reveal details of his countermeasures against the United States within the next few days, after Greer told Fox News that the US had no plans to resume talks.<\/p>\n

For Trump, the impasse comes with significant political risk. Despite his constant denials, US tariffs are passed on to American consumers in the form of higher prices. Very few importers or manufacturers agree to absorb the costs. Research by the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis identifies a clear correlation<\/a> between tariffs and inflation, arguing that Trump\u2019s trade duties have become \u201can important driver of the persistent rise in consumer prices\u201d.<\/p>\n

With most American voters telling pollsters they are worse off than they were before Trump returned to power, the state of the economy is expected to be a huge driver of turnout in November\u2019s midterms<\/a>. Democrats have established a clear lead<\/a> over Trump with regard to the economy, and now the imposition of fresh tariffs on the country\u2019s northern neighbour can only put fresh pricing pressure on consumers.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s ire with Carney may fuel the defeat of his fellow Republicans<\/a> at the polls in November. If so, the Canadians will be having the last laugh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney have never been among contenders to open a mutual admiration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[17,162,111,401,6133],"class_list":["post-179631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-canada","tag-donald-trump","tag-mark-carney","tag-trade","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}