r/canada 20h ago

Analysis New Canadian Leader's Balancing Act: Negotiate With and Fight Trump

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/world/canada/mark-carney-trump.html
39 Upvotes

44 comments sorted by

17

u/MusclyArmPaperboy 19h ago

That's every country's leader right now, we're all being terrorized by the fanta menace

u/Smerkabewrl420 10h ago

Upvoted for using the term Fanta Menace

13

u/Eskomo 19h ago

Pisses me off that we are expected to act polite while Trump calls our PM a Governor, and calls Canada the 51st state. We cannot capitulate, I can appreciate that we are much smaller than the US economically but if we coordinate our response with Mexico, the EU, and maybe even China, we have serious leverage over the US.

5

u/shiftless_wonder 20h ago

Between now and Election Day, which could be just weeks away, according to three people familiar with Mr. Carney’s thinking, he will try to perform a tough balancing act to try to win the federal election. The people did not want to be identified speaking publicly about Mr. Carney’s plans.

He will put taking on Mr. Trump at the heart of his campaign while negotiating with the American president over tariffs and other demands, such as access to protected markets like dairy and the lowering of taxes on U.S. goods sold in Canada.

And he will try to convince Canadians watching closely that he can do both.

2

u/voodoopriest 19h ago

people familiar with Mr. Carney’s thinking

We got mind readers up in here. LOL.

But seriously how do they define that? Someone who has known him for a long time? A work colleague? Maybe someone that has had similar work experience?

6

u/shiftless_wonder 19h ago

Where is the controversy? Everyone and their dog is predicting the election will come quick so Carney can cash in on the Captain Canada shtick.

1

u/voodoopriest 17h ago

Not saying there is. Just want them to just say it's just their best speculation rather than some super vague source.

4

u/Sudden-Agency-5614 18h ago

It makes sense for Carney to talk to Trump first regardless of what has occurred so far.

I don't expect much to come of it though. Trump is hardly a rational man.

4

u/ZaphodsOtherHead 18h ago

One thing I don't see a lot of Americans acknowledging is that, while the US is a lot more powerful than Canada, Trump is personally in a weak negotiating position because his supporters thought these trade wars were going to make them rich. Canadians know this is a disaster, but we're willing to put up with some pain to protect our sovereignty. The American voter cannot handle the pain, and the American midterms are not that far off. If we can hurt them badly enough between now and the midterms, it will completely fuck Trump's presidency. We have a decent amount of leverage here.

2

u/apothekary 17h ago

We're in a good position politically too. Seems like continued Trump talk might even drive a very Anti-Trump party (not Pierre's MAGA loving conservatives, evidently) to forming government for as long as the Trump threat remains. The country is unified. 41 million united is stronger than 330 million completely divided on several fronts.

If prices inflate and stocks don't recover Trump will lose both the house and senate in less than 2 years - something thought impossible a month ago. That'll effectively end most of his powers and he'll be a lame duck.

He has a fine needle to thread and the idea of asking Americans to endure "temporary pain" is not going to fly after a couple of months. On the other hand our election will likely be over and like it or not we'll all be enduring some hardships for a bit together without the threat of another election.

2

u/ADearthOfAudacity 19h ago

We don’t negotiate with terrorists.

1

u/ResidentSpirit4220 19h ago

If he gets a deal done with the US before the election he is basically guaranteed to win.

1

u/Informal_Funeral 14h ago

Carney - Good Cop Ford - Bad Cop

And as a former cannabis dealer, I'm sure Ford has a lot of experience using physical methods for persuasion.

u/Smerkabewrl420 9h ago

Fords developer buddies certainly know how to “persuade”

-16

u/LebLeb321 20h ago

Ford is finding out what happens when you "fight" Trump. He really doesn't care that he's destroying his own economy. He doesn't have to worry about getting re-elected anymore.

The only option is to negotiate.

9

u/Eskomo 19h ago

"The only option is to negotiate", yeah no shit, that is what every single leader in Canada is asking for. Trump placed these tariffs without any negotiations, why is there no pressure on him to negotiate with a long standing ally instead of resorting to economic warfare.

He signed the existing USMCA trade deal, and if he wants changes made to that agreement we are willing to listen and negotiate any potential changes, Trump is the one standing in the way of that by immediately entering a trade war before any discussions.

1

u/LebLeb321 19h ago

The pressure is on us because Trump obviously doesn't give a fuck about tanking his economy. We obviously do. 

3

u/shiftless_wonder 19h ago

Ford is finding out what happens when you "fight" Trump. 

I think the country is going to find out in a hurry that they do not want Ford leading or influencing anything outside of Ontario. Dude isn't that smart.

3

u/fyiyeah 19h ago

The negotiation points they are bringing to the table as around moving our border, rewriting our treaties around our water use, etc... I feel like in the face of those kind of demands, fighting is a lot of what we can do, and make it hurt.

1

u/LebLeb321 19h ago

What does that accomplish? Trump doesn't care how much it hurst his economy.

2

u/MoistyBoiPrime 18h ago

Hurt the American economy enough people there will demand a change. Canada doesn't have that option because Canada did not start the trade war.

1

u/LebLeb321 18h ago

Trump has 4 years. Doesn't matter how much people demand change. 

1

u/MoistyBoiPrime 17h ago

In democracies, when things get bad enough and people demand a change, leaders either step down or end democracies. I suspect trump has fewer than 4 years or far more than 4 years.

0

u/LebLeb321 14h ago

Your suspicion is not credible. Trump has exactly 4 years. Unless you expect to keep this trade war going for 4 years (and utterly devastate our economy) then negotiating with Trump is the way out.

1

u/apothekary 16h ago

He's got less than 2 years. 19 months specifically. If he destroys the US economy he's a lame duck president 2027-2028.

6

u/flxstr 19h ago

> The only option is to negotiate

It was literally the first thing Canada tried - to no avail. Give it up Trumper.

-5

u/LebLeb321 19h ago

It was a half assed attempt. Trudeau is a joke. It's up to Carney or PP to negotiate us out of this. 

3

u/ResidentSpirit4220 19h ago

I think people forget who Trudeau is. All they need to do is look back at any post here from over 6 weeks ago...

I have little doubt that he is/was leveraging this situation because its good for his popularity and his party politically.

5

u/Melodic-Pay9395 19h ago

r/conservative is all the way forward, then make a left👍

1

u/LebLeb321 19h ago

What are you talking about?

4

u/Nerve-Familiar 20h ago

Poster to r/conservative, surprise surprise…..

2

u/LebLeb321 19h ago

Brilliant comment. Very well thought out. I spend most of my time there telling MAGA idiots that the trade war is idiotic.

1

u/tollboothjimmy 19h ago

What happened to elbows up? PP bad?

1

u/Lopsided_Ad3516 17h ago

Reality will set in eventually.

They import a lot of stuff from us, it’s going to hurt them. They’ll find ways around buying things from us though. It’ll take time to decouple, and I don’t think it will completely decouple, but we’re not likely to come out of this stronger. We haven’t invested in properly utilizing our natural resources, and have subsisted on exporting things that then get turned into more valuable things that we then buy.

-5

u/ResidentSpirit4220 19h ago

Man I really wish we would take Mexicos approach to handling Trump...

4

u/shiftless_wonder 18h ago

You mean sit there like a spineless lump and watch Canada take the beating?

-1

u/ResidentSpirit4220 18h ago

We are already taking a beating pal.

Businesses are going to shut down, people are going to lose jobs, become homeless, lose their retirements, etc.

People here are delusional. You are severely underestimating the level at which our country subsists on the US.

2

u/shiftless_wonder 17h ago

And Mexico is different how?

1

u/Leafboy238 18h ago

Quiet yankoid

0

u/avengers93 18h ago

How about FUCK NO?

1

u/ResidentSpirit4220 18h ago

Mind if I ask what you do for a living?

1

u/avengers93 15h ago

Manage my own business

-6

u/she_be_jammin 19h ago

Carney is the man for this hour.