CANADA: PM Carney-Can Pick Up On Trade Talks When US Is Ready

(MNI) London - Reuters reports first public comments from PM Mark Carney following US President Donald Trump's announcement that trade talks with Canada would be "terminated immediately". Carney says, "We can't control the trade policy of the US...We recognise US policy has changed...Canadian officials have been working on negotiations on trade, lots of progress [has been] made" Says Canada, "stands ready to pick up on that progress and build on that progress when the Americans are ready to have those discussions."

• Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who has been more combative towards the US than Carney and whose gov't funded the offending TV ads, posted on social media, “Canada and the United States are friends, neighbours and allies. President Ronald Reagan knew that we are stronger together. God bless Canada and God bless the United States.”
• CBC reports that Trump's move caught the gov't 'off guard'. Speaking to reporters, Director of the US' National Economic Council Kevin Hassett implies Trump's move was not a knee-jerk reaction, and that "frustration has built up over time...frustrations over a lack of flexibility".
• Carney says, "We can focus on new partnerships, including with Asia." This is notable as Carney prepares to make the first Asia trip of his tenure. The gov't has indicated a major shift in Ottawa's stance on China. In 2022, in its Indo-Pacific Strategy, the gov't of then-PM Justin Trudeau identified China as “an increasingly disruptive global power”, but now refers to Beijing as a 'strategic partner. '