Can Mark Carney Reset Canada-US Relations Under Trump's Tariffs?

CGTN Europe

CGTN Europe speaks to Radhika Desai, Professor at Department of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba.

Transcript

00:00Radhika Desai is a professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba.

00:05Good to see you, Radhika.

00:06Look, Mark Carney has warned of a dangerous time for the country

00:10and says he will stand up to Trump.

00:12What can we expect?

00:14Well, I think that on the one hand, of course,

00:18given the extent to which ordinary Canadians are incensed

00:22at what the United States is doing,

00:24Mr Carney must say what he just said,

00:27the clip that you just played at the end of where he was elected yesterday.

00:31At the same time, let me emphasize that Mark Carney,

00:34in contrast to his closest rival, Chrystia Freeland,

00:38had emphasized a much softer tone towards the Americans.

00:42He says, we have to negotiate.

00:44These are our very close trading partners.

00:46You have to understand what a lot of trouble the Canadian economy is in.

00:51The governor of the Bank of Canada,

00:53Tiff Macklem, whose predecessor, of course, was Mr. Mark Carney,

00:58has said that if these tariffs are sustained and continued,

01:02there will be a deep recession in Canada.

01:04Canada exports, most of Canada's exports go to the United States,

01:08so Canada is very vulnerable.

01:10The Canadian capitalist class is very deeply committed

01:15to the relationship that Canada has to the United States,

01:17so we will just have to see exactly how tough Mr. Carney can be.

01:22Of course, in his role as central banker,

01:24he dealt with a number of political and economic crises.

01:26You're saying the big challenge here is going to be potential recession at home,

01:30but can he reset the relationship between Canada and the United States?

01:36I think that it's not going to be up to him alone.

01:39I think it's going to be dictated also by the Trump administration,

01:43and I think that the Trump administration's tariff policies

01:46are really a lot of grandstanding for political purposes

01:51because the Trump administration or President Trump

01:54has essentially won office by telling Americans

01:57that the problem that they are suffering from is trade and China

02:02and America's trading partners and so on,

02:05instead of pointing to the disastrous economic policies being followed at home.

02:10So he must appear to be imposing tariffs.

02:13The reality, however, will be different

02:15based on exactly how much it hurts the United States,

02:18how much bargaining power it will give the Trump administration,

02:21and so the reality will be rather messy,

02:25and it will not be definitely under Mark Carney's control.

02:29What about then Canada and the rest of the world?

02:32One might think his background will mean a real focus on international solidarity.

02:37How do you see things playing out?

02:39Well, definitely the political discussion in Canada

02:44has very much been about diversifying Canada's trading links,

02:48naturally with Europe, but also, of course, with China and the rest of the world,

02:54and I think that this would, of course, be at any time a very good idea.

02:58Indeed, many sensible economists have been arguing this

03:02ever since Canada took the plunge in 1998,

03:05negotiating back then the US-Canada free trade deal,

03:09which was then followed by NAFTA and so on,

03:12pointing out that we should not put all our eggs in the US basket,

03:16but this advice has not been heeded until now.

03:21Now these voices are rising, but we'll just have to see exactly what is possible,

03:25particularly if the Canadian government and the Carney continues the extreme hostility

03:33of the Trudeau government towards China, towards Russia,

03:37and the rest of the world more generally.

03:40So I think we'll just have to see whether thinking in Canada changes.

03:45Radhika Desai, thank you very much.

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