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Canada in ‘no man's land' as new U.S. tariffs take effect, former foreign minister warns
Canada in ‘no man's land' as new U.S. tariffs take effect, former foreign minister warns

CTV News

time4 days ago

  • Business
  • CTV News

Canada in ‘no man's land' as new U.S. tariffs take effect, former foreign minister warns

Prime Minister Mark Carney listens as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a group photo at the G7 Summit, Monday, June 16, 2025, in Kananaskis, Canada. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) Canada is bracing for further tension in its trade relationship with the United States, after President Donald Trump imposed sweeping new tariffs. 'This is bad news,' said former foreign affairs minister Peter MacKay in an interview with CTV News Channel Sunday. 'It's bad news for the markets. It's bad news for many sectors on both sides of the border. … There is a lot of impetus now to try to bring this to an end.' Trump hit Canadian goods with a 35-per-cent tariff on Friday—targeting products not compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement. The White House said the decision was made in response to Canada's 'failure to co-operate' on stemming fentanyl imports and Ottawa's retaliatory duties. Trump also introduced 50-per-cent tariffs on semi-finished copper products and maintained existing duties on Canadian steel, aluminum and automobiles. Dominic LeBlanc, Canada's trade minister, said Sunday he expects Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump to speak 'over the next number of days' in a renewed effort to de-escalate the dispute. MacKay, meanwhile, says high-level talks are essential, especially given Trump's direct involvement. 'Having personal discussions with our prime minister … is probably the only way we are going to see this trade agreement finally get done,' he said. MacKay warned that while some 75 per cent of goods crossing the border remain tariff-free, critical sectors like steel, aluminum, copper and autos are facing sharp new costs. He also cautioned that the trade war risks turning personal. 'We've seen what happens, as recently as with the former Prime Minister Trudeau, when it does get personal,' he said. 'The Canadian economy ultimately and quickly pays a price.' Trump signed the executive order late Thursday. The Aug. 1 target date floated for a potential deal passed without progress, and there is still no clear timeline for resolution. MacKay described this current phase as 'no man's land.' 'We are not even where we used to be,' he said. 'Let's just hope that (Trump) doesn't go wildly off in all directions on the eve of getting to some sort of a finish line.' With files from the Canadian Press

‘We turtled': Former foreign affairs minister on Canada rescinding digital services tax
‘We turtled': Former foreign affairs minister on Canada rescinding digital services tax

CTV News

time01-07-2025

  • Business
  • CTV News

‘We turtled': Former foreign affairs minister on Canada rescinding digital services tax

After the federal government rescinded a digital services tax targeting tech companies in the U.S. on Monday, the former minister of foreign affairs says he's disappointed with how the government dealt with negotiations. Peter MacKay says the tax could have brought in serious revenue to a government that's made large spending promises. 'They were significant—they were $2 billion that were essentially to be collected as back tax and then going forward $7 billion, so this is a government that has made massive spending promises on a whole range of things, including defence and promises to the provinces. It's looking increasingly like a challenge for them in terms of keeping those commitments,' said MacKay in an interview with CTV's Todd Battis on Monday. 'Backing off on this particular initiative is not elbows up—it's the president took the gloves off and we turtled.' MacKay says the back-and-forth nature of the trade war between Canada and the U.S. is leading to decreased public interest despite the massive effects on the Canadian economy. 'You know it's a new day, new threat, new tariff, but these have grave implications for the Canadian economy, and short of getting into the natural resource industry in a big way, and that means building pipelines and facilitating the export of LNG, the same I would say for critical minerals, we are in for a world of hurt in the Canadian economy come the fall.' Despite the Carney-led Liberals trying to distance themselves from the government led by Justin Trudeau, MacKay says much of the spending is looking the same. 'A lot of this has been framed as 'that was the old government and we're a new government.' Well, putting a Cadillac hood ornament on a Chev doesn't make it a Cadillac,' he said. 'This is the same government—these were the same commitments with respect to tax revenues. In fact, the spending promises are even larger, and the deficit, therefore, will be even bigger, and that, I think, should garner more attention from the public.' MacKay says he's disappointed with the discussions as he feels Canada got no clear return from the deal. 'These aren't my words. It was 'leverage.' This is coming from some of the trade representatives in the White House today—they were gloating about the fact Canada had capitulated, so I don't know what we're getting in return for backing off this particular issue,' he said. 'Of real concern should be those in the dairy industry, the supply management industry. What's next? We still have tariffs on aluminum, on steel. We're not in the best place in terms of being able to actually diversify our trade relationships, which has been talked about since before the election, to be quite frank.'

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