The old British wartime maxim “keep calm and carry on” was given a new twist Sunday at the opening of ASEAN Summit as Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed South Asian leaders about the importance of “reliable partners who honour their commitments.”
The subtle jabs were delivered against a backdrop of rising rhetoric and tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump, who promised to impose a further 10 per cent duty on Canadian goods in retaliation for Ontario government television ads that quote former president Ronald Reagan criticism of tariffs.
Carney has not responded directly to the latest broadside by the US president. It was left to Dominic Leblanc, the minister of US-Canada Trade, to answer with a social media post late Saturday that reiterated the prime minister’s position that Canada will carry on and be ready whenever the US wants to resume trade negotiations.
Carney’s address in Malaysia early Sunday was part pitch for freer trade with the ASEAN block of nations and part veiled reference to the worsening relations with the United States.
“We have all been reminded of the importance of reliable partners — who honour their commitments, who are there in tough times, and who engage collaboratively to fix something that isn’t working,” Carney told the leaders of the 11 nations gathered around the table in the Malaysian capital.
“Canada is such a partner, a dependable partner, and I have come to Kuala Lumpur to say clearly that we want to play a bigger role in this region.”
The Liberal government is pushing ahead with free trade negotiations at ASEAN, hoping to conclude a deal next year.
“Like ASEAN, Canada values the rules-based system. We respect trade agreements and the rule of law,” Carney said in remarks that could also be interpreted as being directed at Trump. “We believe in the value of the free exchange of goods, capital, and ideas.”
He added that the world is now undergoing a fundamental shift — more a rupture than a transition.
“Multilateral trade liberalisation is giving way to transactional, and managed bilateral trade and Investment,” the prime minister said.
There was some hope that Carney and Trump would meet on the sidelines of the summit to iron out the feud over the ads, which aired during the World Series, but the president has said he’s not interested in talking.
U.S. President Donald Trump is dropping all trade talks with Canada, he says, because of Ontario’s anti-tariff commercial featuring the voice of former president Ronald Reagan. But were Reagan’s words actually taken out of context as Trump claims?
Only one ‘general’ needed in trade war
Without directly blaming Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, said it’s up to the prime minister to keep the premiers in line.
“In a trade war you need a general, not 13 of them, and I’m hoping the prime minister can recognize that we’ve got to pull our own act together here if we’re going to have an opportunity to make progress,” said Hyder, who noted that sectoral tariff negotiations are just the warm up for the renegotiation of the Canada, U.S., Mexico (CUSMA) free trade agreement next year.
He also said dissatisfaction on the U.S. side runs deeper than Trump’s reaction to the ad .
“I’m not convinced that the ad itself is the issue here,” Hyder said.
“There are a number of areas in which the Americans have expressed some concerns. I’d like to put the negotiators back in the room to negotiate an agreement.”
One of the irritants Hyder pointed to outside of the trade sphere was Canada’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
In a speech at the onset of the summit, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim delivered an overall message that almost felt like it was directed at the current Canada and the U.S. dispute.
“Across regions, we see rising contestation of growing uncertainty,” Ibrahim said.
“These crosswinds test not only our economics, but our collective resolve to keep faith in cooperation, to believe that understanding and dialog can still prevail.”
Trump was given a rousing, flag-waving greeting when he arrived in Kuala Lumpur early Sunday, where he oversaw the signing of a peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia, which his administration helped broker last summer.
Trump said it took “a lot of phone calls” to get the unconditional ceasefire in the border war.
He said he is very good at getting peace deals done, and argued he’s better at it than the United Nations.
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced on social media he will be increasing “the Tariff on Canada” by 10 per cent “over and above what they are paying now” because of an advertisement by the Ontario government.
It’s unclear at the moment which tariff — or tariffs — the U.S. president is referring to.
