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| Trade talks between the US and Canada have collapsed |
"I have decided to suspend trade negotiations with the US and have directed Canada's negotiators to return to Ottawa," Carney said in a statement.
"They have worked hard, in good faith, to defend the interests of Canadians throughout these negotiations up until the very last minute. However, last-minute changes in the US proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal."
Meanwhile US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said it was Canada who walked away from the table just minutes before the deadline.
"Tonight, Canada declined to finalise the trade deal under the terms agreed earlier this week, despite the US offer to Canada to receive the best treatment of any major exporter to our market," Greer told the media in a virtual briefing.
"New demands and walk backs of other commitments by Canada have upended the careful balance reached in the past days," he added.
Quite the surprise to see how the negotiations ended this way, considering Canadian Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc has been going back and forth to Washington DC to hammer out a deal with Greer, which got a reprieve earlier this week.
There was talk that Canada would put American wines and spirits back on the shelves of liquor stores as part of the trade deal, and some provincial leaders had bristled at the directive.
But now it looks like they won't have to do that anytime soon.
When the news broke of the failed trade talks, the chatter on social media among Canadians was that of giving Carney thumbs up.
Many were pleased Canada walked away, saying "no deal is better than a bad deal", and that American President Donald Trump was not trustworthy.
"It may be painful, but better to bite the bullet now," writes @67 Sound on Bluesky. "There is no deal with the USA that can be trusted. All that a 'deal' does is mark yourself as a sucker that can be extorted for more tomorrow."
Stay tuned.
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