President Donald Trump‘s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said negotiations with Canada broke down due to Prime Minister Mark Carney‘s Political goals, addressing the press on Thursday.
‘We’re Just Being Used,’ Howard Lutnick Says
Lutnick, during the briefing shared by Forbes, said that he met Canadian Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc “at least 10 times in the last month.” Lutnick then said that he had spoken to Carney twice “in the 24 hours before this [the talks] ended.”
“I have texts back and forth with Mark Carney,” he said, touting a “longstanding relationship” with the Canadian PM since he worked at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS), he said. “Canada has the best trade deal in the world before we started,” Lutnick said, adding that the country was going to have “the best deal in the world.”
Lutnick then said that “Canada walked away” from the deal, saying that the country made the decision for “political” purposes. “This is politics only,” he said. He also denounced the dispute over the French language. “If you think I ever said the words ‘French,’ do I care about how the Québécois speak? What could matter less to America? We don’t care,” he said.
“We never brought those words up. This is manufactured,” Lutnick added, pointing to elections in Canada in October. “My guess will be as soon as these elections are over, you’re going to see a plane full of Canadian negotiators flying down,” to make a deal, he said.
“We’re just being used by them; that’s what happened; that’s why it ended. It didn’t happen from math; the math was sensational,” the Commerce Secretary said.
It was previously reported that Lutnick’s intervention in the talks during the latter stages was a crucial factor in the failure of the talks, as the Commerce Secretary viewed the deal as being generous for Canada and being a threat to the U.S.’s metal producers.
Heavy-Duty Truck Tariffs Were Discussed at 4 p.m. on Friday
Lutnick also pointed to the issue of tariffs on the medium- and heavy-duty trucks. “The words ‘medium- and heavy-duty trucks’ were raised in these trade negotiations at Friday at four o’clock,” Lutnick said. “These were not raised. These were not part of it. This is a different thing,” he added.
He said that the aforementioned trucks were different from the trucks that the ordinary American drove. “I know what an F-150 Ford is,” he said. “What’s an F450? ‘Oh, it has two wheels on the back,’ and you’re like, ‘Well, who sees those?'” Lutnick questioned. “That’s a construction product. That’s a different It’s a whole different category. It was never raised,” he reaffirmed.
He then slammed the Canadian government, saying these terms were put in to not make a deal. “It was nonsense,” Lutnick added.
The Office of the Prime Minister of Canada did not immediately respond to Benzinga‘s request for comment.
Jamieson Greer Reaffirms ‘Best Deal’
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that the Canadian government was offered the “best deal” and reaffirmed that talks about the medium- and heavy-duty truck tariffs were separate from the Section 232 tariffs. “I’ve been clear about what we believed we could deliver, including about autos," Greer said.
Earlier, Lutnick said that the tariffs on the auto sector would bring jobs back into the U.S. auto manufacturing sector. He also hailed the domestic manufacturing push from automakers like Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) and Toyota Motor Corp (NYSE:TM).
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