Donald Trump has refused to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, further escalating the trade dispute between the US and Canada. The US president said he would not meet with Carney “for a while” despite efforts from the Canadian leader to resume trade talks.
Trump announced on Sunday that he would be hiking tariffs on Canadian goods by an additional 10% and terminated all trade negotiations. This came after what he called a “fake” anti-tariff ad campaign featuring the late former president Ronald Reagan.
When asked whether he would meet with Carney at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea, Trump bluntly replied: “I don’t want to meet with him, no.”
He added: “I’m not going to be meeting with him for a while… One of the most difficult countries to deal with has been Canada, as much as I love Canada itself and the people of Canada.”
However, Doug Ford, the Ontario premier who sponsored the ad, remained unapologetic. He said: “We have achieved our goal, to make sure that conversations start with the American people, and with their elected officials, and my goodness, it’s started all right.”
Meanwhile, Carney said he was ready to resume talks with Trump following the row. Speaking on the sidelines of a summit in Malaysia, he stated: “We stand ready to sit down with the United States, myself with the president, my colleagues with their colleagues, when the US is ready to sit down.”
Carney added that he had not had any contact with the US president in Kuala Lumpur. Separately, he revealed that Canada has begun talks on a new free trade deal with the Philippines.
The deepening trade dispute comes as global stocks rallied on hopes that the US and China are close to reaching a fresh trade agreement. Trump said he will “come away with a deal” when he meets Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this week.
