6/12/2018

CANADA/G7/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said Canadians would pay a price for countering the U.S. on trade, while his aides sought to tamp down tensions between the two allies following a dust-up with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the weekend. U.S. administration officials have been hammering the Canadian leader for declaring Saturday at a press conference after meeting with Mr. Trump and other world leaders that Canadians ‘will not be pushed around’ by the U.S. Mr. Trump saw the statement as a slight after concluding what he considered friendly meetings… ‘He’s giving a news conference about how he will not be pushed around by the United States. And I say, ‘push him around? We just shook hands.’ It was very friendly.’ ‘That’s going to cost a lot of money for the people of Canada,’ Mr. Trump said. Mr. Trump’s latest comments suggested the U.S.-Canada spat could simmer for a while, potentially hanging over discussions to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement. The conflict sharpened last week, in the days after the U.S. imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada and the European Union. Canada responded by imposing retaliatory tariffs on a range of U.S. products, including toilet paper, orange juice and whiskey, effective on July 1—Canada Day.”

-Vivian Salama and Paul Vieira, “Trump Says Trade Spat Will Cost Canada ‘a Lot of Money’,” The Wall Street Journal, June 12, 2018 7:24 pm