Ottawa | After a few weeks of lull, Donald Trump resumes Canada in flu by abruptly ending the trade negotiations between the two countries. Should we surprise it?
This will therefore have taken 10 days in Trump to question the 30 -day period that Prime Minister Carney announced in order to arrive at an agreement during the Kananaskis G7.
The reason given by Donald Trump is not a huge surprise.
Provocation
Canada should start to collect a 3% digital giant tax in the coming days.
“Because of this scandalous tax, we put an end to all trade discussions with Canada, with immediate effect,” wrote the president on his platform, Truth Social.
“We will tell Canada within seven days the customs duties they will have to pay to do business with the United States of America,” he added.
Trump and his friends of billionaire circumstances, owners of Amazon, Google, Apple, Meta (Facebook) or Microsoft, raging on this tax for months, if not years.
The tax targets web giants only, that is to say those that generate an annual global turnover of more than $ 1.1 billion and which earn revenues in Canada at least $ 20 million per year.
Members of the United States Business Community, but also of Canada, have warned that the digital services tax that also targets companies like Uber and Airbnb was only going to complicate negotiations with Washington.
But the Carney government does not seem to have any intention of bending.
The Minister of Finance François-Philippe Champagne defended the measure not later than last week.
Parliament has also recently adopted, on the initiative of the Bloc Québécois, a law protecting the management of supply on milk, eggs and poultry, an integral part of our agricultural system.
Another initiative that the White House will collect as a provocation.
Volatile
Should Washington’s announcement be perceived as a decline in the relationship between Mark Carney and Donald Trump, who had direct private communications on the issue of prices?
Prime Minister Carney’s office gave birth to a laconic statement in response to Trump’s rebuff.
“The Canadian government will continue to engage in these complex negotiations with the United States in the best interests of our workers and our businesses,” said.
In all cases, the president’s new tirade against Canada reflects the volatile nature of negotiations with Donald Trump.
Far seems to be the time when Mark Carney hoped to conclude an agreement during the G7, which ended … last week.
