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“What’s he ever negotiated,” shot back Carney, making a mocking gesture with his hands to mirror the movement of someone talking. The gesture is usually used to make fun of someone for talking incessantly.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is dismissing criticism from his Conservative rival on the Liberal government’s handling of trade talks with the U.S. as a new report suggests that Americans are demanding concessions before restarting negotiations.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told reporters on Tuesday the prime minister needs to stop “showboating” and outline his plan for a trade negotiations with the U.S., adding that the “only talks that Mark Carney is doing are YouTube videos.”
This is a reference to a video posted the prime minister on Sunday where he said that Canada’s reliance on the U.S. had become a weakness, and vowed not to sugarcoat the challenges facing Canadians.
iPolitics caught up to the PM as he left the Liberal caucus meeting on Wednesday and asked him about Poilievre’s comments.
“What’s he ever negotiated,” shot back Carney, making a mocking gesture with his hands to mirror the movement of someone talking. The gesture is usually used to make fun of someone for talking incessantly.
Citing anonymous sources, Radio-Canada reported on Wednesday that the White House is demanding Ottawa pay an “entry fee” to restart negotiations on a new trade deal.
The outlet described the entry fee as “concessions the U.S. administration is seeking before formal trade talks begin.”
It attributed the information to Canadian sources, but didn’t specify if they were in government. In one instance, a source described as a “high-ranking individual familiar with the matter.”
Earlier in the day, Carney responded to the report and said Canada will not make any more concessions to the United States ahead of negotiations to review the continental trade pact.
“It’s not a case of the United States dictates the terms. We have a negotiation, we can come to a mutually successful outcome. It will take some time, and we will take the time,” Carney said as he arrived on Parliament Hill Wednesday.
The Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement is up for mandatory review this year. Mexico and the U.S. agreed to begin formal talks on that review in January but Canada and the U.S. have not reached that point yet.
More to come…
with files from the Canadian Press
