Mr. Trump and Mr. Trudeau spoke twice on Feb. 3, once in the morning and again in the afternoon, as part of discussions to stave off tariffs on Canadian exports.
But those early February calls were not just about tariffs.
The details of the conversations between the two leaders, and subsequent discussions among top U.S. and Canadian officials, have not been previously fully reported, and were shared with The New York Times on condition of anonymity by four people with firsthand knowledge of their content. They did not want to be publicly identified discussing a sensitive topic.
Quote:
On those calls, President Trump laid out a long list of grievances he had with the trade relationship between the two countries, including Canada’s protected dairy sector, the difficulty American banks face in doing business in Canada and Canadian consumption taxes that Mr. Trump deems unfair because they make American goods more expensive.
He also brought up something much more fundamental.
He told Mr. Trudeau that he did not believe that the treaty that demarcates the border between the two countries was valid and that he wants to revise the boundary. He offered no further explanation.
The border treaty Mr. Trump referred to was established in 1908 and finalized the international boundary between Canada, then a British dominion, and the United States.
Mr. Trump also mentioned revisiting the sharing of lakes and rivers between the two nations, which is regulated by a number of treaties, a topic he’s expressed interest about in the past.
The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Jimmy Stang For This Useful Post:
That border thing is terrifying. I’ve seen a proposed revised boundary. He’d take most of the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence and Southern Ontario including Toronto and Hamilton.
Every time I think he’s had the stupidest idea ever he proves me wrong.
Without getting into the debate on the pros/cons of dairy supply management I don’t think now is the greatest time to bring that up when despite our provincial government’s best efforts we’re still in the best position we’ve probably ever been in to advance our economic interests with the provinces that will be most affected by it changes to supply management.
Unless you think the price of cheese hypothetically going down is worth more to the country than getting pipelines to east coast built.
I mean if the price of cheese isn't going to go down, can we at least get access to all the cheese made in every province across Canada?
The Following User Says Thank You to Azure For This Useful Post:
Without getting into the debate on the pros/cons of dairy supply management I don’t think now is the greatest time to bring that up when despite our provincial government’s best efforts we’re still in the best position we’ve probably ever been in to advance our economic interests with the provinces that will be most affected by it changes to supply management.
Unless you think the price of cheese hypothetically going down is worth more to the country than getting pipelines to east coast built.
It will never ever be Alberta that gets supply management rescinded even though we'd probably be the largest beneficiary. But if Ontario decides to trade supply management for their auto industry I'd certainly be pleased.
I'd put the end of supply management well below getting a new pipeline, but above ending the interprovincial trade barriers on liquor. On the basis that cheaper milk/eggs/dairy products are more generally important to consumers than cheaper booze.
Ideally all of them happen, but I doubt the country is united enough to put aside all our petty differences.
That was an excellent, intelligent, and thoughtful response from Trudeau there. He didn't take the bait from that reporter, who was clearly fishing for some kind of viral sound bite that he could feed to the American networks in order to escalate tensions. I wouldn't be surprised if that was a Fox News reporter.
And I love that he made it crystal clear that the American people are our brothers/sisters/neighbours, and that our collective anger is directed solely at the U.S. government.
I haven't been a big fan of Trudeau over the last several years, but I gotta hand it to him. The guy has been outstanding during these last few weeks and has done a great job steering us through the insanity.
The Following 22 Users Say Thank You to direwolf For This Useful Post:
That was an excellent, intelligent, and thoughtful response from Trudeau there. He didn't take the bait from that reporter, who was clearly fishing for some kind of viral sound bite that he could feed to the American networks in order to escalate tensions. I wouldn't be surprised if that was a Fox News reporter.
And I love that he made it crystal clear that the American people are our brothers/sisters/neighbours, and that our collective anger is directed solely at the U.S. government.
I haven't been a big fan of Trudeau over the last several years, but I gotta hand it to him. The guy has been outstanding during these last few weeks and has done a great job steering us through the insanity.
Now wait. I was told that when Trudeau is caught off guard or isn't reading from a script he turns into a babbling, blithering idiot.
Could that not be the case? Are the legends not true?
__________________ "It's a great day for hockey."
-'Badger' Bob Johnson (1931-1991)
"I see as much misery out of them moving to justify theirselves as them that set out to do harm." -Dr. Amos "Doc" Cochran
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Yamer For This Useful Post:
Why did they wait until now to retaliate? Those original tariff measures were put in by Canada way back in October.
At least with China I feel like we can eventually work out some kind of deal. With Trump, his reasoning changes every 5 minutes and it's like dealing with a toddler.
Why did they wait until now to retaliate? Those original tariff measures were put in by Canada way back in October.
At least with China I feel like we can eventually work out some kind of deal. With Trump, his reasoning changes every 5 minutes and it's like dealing with a toddler.
I'm just guessing here, but it's not like Canada's EV tariffs had any immediate impact on China...they just precluded the possibility of Chinese EVs entering the Canadian market, which was status quo anyways. China is probably smart enough to know that retaliation wasn't going to achieve anything productive at that point. So they bided (bid?) their time until they could achieve something (tbd)
__________________
CP's 15th Most Annoying Poster! (who wasn't too cowardly to enter that super duper serious competition)
That border thing is terrifying. I’ve seen a proposed revised boundary. He’d take most of the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence and Southern Ontario including Toronto and Hamilton.
Every time I think he’s had the stupidest idea ever he proves me wrong.
Over my dead body. We will take up arms. I would rather die fighting then become part of the US
The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to dissentowner For This Useful Post:
