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OTTAWA \u2014 Prime Minister Mark Carney is in no hurry to resume trade talks with U.S. President Donald Trump but will speak again with the president \u201cwhen it\u2019s appropriate,\u201d Carney said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Carney said he expects to speak with Trump sometime in the next two weeks but otherwise stands ready for when the Americans next knock on Canada\u2019s door to return to the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to speaking with the president soon, but I don\u2019t have a burning issue to speak with the president about right now,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen America wants to come back and have conversations on the trade side, we will have those discussions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prime minister made the remarks when speaking with reporters at a news conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he is attending a G20 Leaders\u2019 Summit, which Trump did not attend.<\/p>\n
Trump had scuttled talks last month on his punishing tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles after the Ontario provincial government ran an anti-tariff ad blitz across the U.S. that rankled the president.<\/p>\n
Ontario\u2019s ad campaign featured clips of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan warning that tariffs lead to trade wars and hurt the American economy.<\/p>\n
The federal Conservatives in Parliament have accused Carney of failing to move the needle on the U.S. tariffs, after Carney campaigned in the spring time as being the best choice to quickly resolve the trade dispute.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were elected under false pretences,\u201d Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus said of the Liberal government during Thursday\u2019s question period in the House of Commons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were supposed to find a solution to the problems with Donald Trump, but they have failed miserably.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Liberals have maintained that such trade talks have a natural ebb and flow to them, and that they will eventually resume.<\/p>\n
Carney said Sunday he and Trump have both been preoccupied with other matters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been busy. We passed a budget \u2014 a budget that\u2019s going to catalyze a trillion dollars of investment. We have launched new trade agreements. We\u2019ve secured new investment in the country of a size not seen, arguably, before,\u201d Carney said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we\u2019re busy, he\u2019s got other things to do and we\u2019ll re-engage when it\u2019s appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canada is preparing separately to enter broader talks over the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, known as CUSMA, the country\u2019s most important free trade pact, set to come up for renewal next year.<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s former chief trade negotiator Steve Verheul has warned members of Parliament that the U.S. will likely seek to ramp up pressure on Canada and Mexico during the review by not supporting an extension of the agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to try to use that as leverage,\u201d Verheul told a House of Commons trade committee on Oct. 30.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe period between January and June will be critical to the future of the CUSMA and to our trading relationship with the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a92025 The Canadian Press<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n