In stark contrast to most other world leaders who continue trying to find ways to appease the authoritarian in the White House, the Canadian Prime Minister treated Trump as a naked emperor leading a government of total amateurs, writes Simon Marks at The i Paper.
“They asked too much and offered too little”, he told reporters on Saturday. “You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked”, he claimed, adding: “We cannot accept what they’ve offered and will not give what they demand.”
Describing the Canadian negotiating team as “unified…everyone in the loop, everyone knows what our objectives are”, Carney told reporters, “you cannot say that about the US administration”. Effectively confirming widespread reports 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.
Doug Ford, Ontario’s premier and leader of the centre-right Progressive Conservative Party, was even less diplomatic. “President Trump is the type of person that would steal your lunch money the first day. He’d steal the toque off your head the second day, and the third day he’d steal your running shoes. He is not to be trusted whatsoever,” he told reporters as he credited Carney’s tough approach and urged the country to unite around him.
Simon Marks’ original article is also archived.