Whining on both sides of negotiations on tariffs
TORONTO – I confess to monitoring other press and media, North-American and Trans-Atlantic. My goals are are transparently obvious: to “take the pulse” of (a) what is of importance in various socio/political societies whose initiatives may impact our own readership and, (b) understand how the “narrative” surrounding those initiatives is interpreted. Typically, I ignore – at my peril – outlets that have a history of uncontested predictability. Any information contained in their transmission is available, albeit varnished, elsewhere. Their “distinct insights” may provide value.
Tuesday’s Power and Politics, hosted by Katie Simpson, on CBC and rebroadcast on X, was one such occasion. Mme Simpson interviewed the American ambassador, Peter Hoekstra on – you guessed it – tariffs – imposed on Canadian products destined for the USA. The gist of her line of questioning was that the USA appears to be treating Canada unfairly. She soldiered on in the hope of eliciting a response pleasing to Canadians – something the “official Canadian delegation” has to date been unable to get.
Ambassador Hoekstra’s reactions evolved from polite denials of favoritisms to guarded explanations of “the facts of life” to seemingly smirking disbelief that Canadians would be so misinformed about bot the substance of the discussions and the dynamics of negotiations. Professing not to know what the overall goals of the negotiating teams might have been (“I was not there”), he suggested that the myriad of considerations for the team would have evolved from “the energy in the room”. But he added that US negotiators are fully aware of everything that Canada and Canadians are saying and doing on the subject. An almost gratuitous remark referred to the “elbows up” campaign, leaving unsaid the reaction: “how’s that working for you?”.
He had clearly accepted the interview as part of a counter-offensive to parry the flood of data and perceptions released by the Canadian side. Hoekstra reminded the audience that the USA is negotiating with every nation and that only Canada and China responded with retaliatory [counter] tariffs. From my perspective, he seemed put-off by the suggestion that treating Mexico (a CUSMA partner) more gently than Trump was treating Canada was totally unfair.
Acknowledging that the policy and application of tariffs and their impact is a more complex topic for the brief interview (as it is for this column), he embarked on an effort to simplify. When all the exemptions are taken into consideration, 90% of Canadian exports to the USA are tariff-exempt, he claimed. Mme Simpson did not have a counter position readily available; but that is not he job.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Carney, in addressing reporters’ questions about the pace of negotiations, acknowledged that 85% of products crossing the border are unaffected by tariffs and that we will get to a signing when it is appropriate, and, in Canada’s benefit.
