Canada is prepared to resume trade talks with the US but is not inclined to do so until its southern neighbor's strategy becomes more constructive, prime minister Mark Carney said today.
"When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough, and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions," said Carney in Ottawa on Tuesday.
The US on 22 August imposed new tariffs on $28bn of Canadian imports using Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 after trade talks between the two countries broke down the evening before.
Canada has vowed to retaliate "dollar for dollar" starting on 8 September.
US president Donald Trump on 24 August called Canada "among the worst Nations in the World to deal with" before renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America days later.
Carney said negotiations were derailed by unreasonable US demands, suggesting they would have put Canada's sovereignty at risk.
Carney's comments came the day after his party and trade strategy got a boost from voters who elected three Liberal candidates in special elections to regain the party's majority position. The governing Liberals now hold 173 of the 343 seats in the House of Commons, allowing the passage of legislation without support from any of the other parties. The Conservatives remain the official opposition with 138 seats.
The special elections were held to replace members of parliament who had resigned from their posts between general elections, which had temporarily reduced the Liberals' to slightly below majority status.
Byelections were held in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia, the three provinces hit the hardest by punitive US tariffs on Canadian goods.
The US' latest trade action has nearly tripled the estimated effective tariff rate on imports from British Columbia to about 11pc, while roughly doubling the rate on imports from Quebec and Ontario to about 11pc and 8pc, respectively, according to ATB Financial.
About 52pc of Canadians said they are "personally willing to undergo some significant economic pain" to help the rest of Canada amid the trade battle, according to a recent Ipsos poll. About 73pc of those polled support imposing an export tariff on crude oil, natural gas and electricity, while 69pc support limiting energy exports to the US altogether.
Because of tariff exemptions by Trump on energy imports, Alberta and Saskatchewan have been relatively unscathed and have both advocated diplomacy over retaliation.
