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Trade concessions are a 'risky move' for Carney · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Well, we are going to stay on this story and
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  Speaker 1: bring in a Leen Madchill. She served as the deputy
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  Speaker 1: chief of staff to BC Premier David emy a eb
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  Speaker 1: part of me, and now runs her own consulting firm. Aileen,
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  Speaker 1: thanks so much for joining us. I know that you
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  Speaker 1: are in Victoria, but it's really interesting because you have
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  Speaker 1: some insights here. Give me your first impressions when we
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  Speaker 1: talk about concessions being on the table. What do you
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  Speaker 1: make of that.
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  Speaker 2: It's a surprising one, and I think it is a
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  Speaker 2: risky move by Carney given the moment that we're in
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  Speaker 2: here in Canada, the retaliatory measures like taking American liquor
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  Speaker 2: off the shelves is very popular among Canadians, and I
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  Speaker 2: think Canadians also don't trust Trump to stick to a deal.
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  Speaker 2: So what this does is actually it removes one of
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  Speaker 2: the most effective pressure tactics that we have just to
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  Speaker 2: get relief on the newest tariffs and get back to
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  Speaker 2: the deal to negotiate on Kuzma. And so it kind
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  Speaker 2: of looks like we're lowering our shields before we've even
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  Speaker 2: reached the main mission. This was supposed to be a
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  Speaker 2: bargaining chip for Kusma. Negotiations and instead we're moving on
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  Speaker 2: liquor and dairy. Just respond to the latest round and
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  Speaker 2: get back to the table. I think the risk for
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  Speaker 2: carneye here is that if we take away this pressure
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  Speaker 2: point that we have and we put American liquor back
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  Speaker 2: on the shelf, something that probably will not be popular
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  Speaker 2: am on Canadians, and then Trump double crosses us. That
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  Speaker 2: sort of makes us look like fools. So I don't
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  Speaker 2: think that that's going to land very well with Canadians,
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  Speaker 2: And that is the risk there for Prime Minister Carney
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  Speaker 2: in this moment.
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  Speaker 1: And the issue of holding those alcohol sales are incredibly effective,
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  Speaker 1: we know that, and very popular with provincial leaders. I
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  Speaker 1: want to play you what Premier eb had to say
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  Speaker 1: just a couple of weeks ago when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: the Booze ban and what he thought about the idea
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  Speaker 1: of removing it. Hold on a second, let's hear from him,
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  Speaker 1: and then we're going to talk a little bit more.
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  Speaker 2: There is not a chance in hell the US alcohol
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  Speaker 2: is going back on the show shelf in British Columbia,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm proud of that, and I know the British
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  Speaker 2: Columbians support that.
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  Speaker 1: So British Columbian support that we have heard from other
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  Speaker 1: provincial leaders and Canadians. And you brought up the issue
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  Speaker 1: of trust and do we trust the US president And
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  Speaker 1: if he does go back on his word, does that
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  Speaker 1: then affect the trust in our Prime minister? Is he
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  Speaker 1: in a difficult position here or should we just stay
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  Speaker 1: the course? Well?
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  Speaker 2: I think that Prime Minister Carney is in a very
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  Speaker 2: difficult position here. Of course, he is at the table
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  Speaker 2: trying to bring benefits for Canada. He's trying to remove
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  Speaker 2: the negative impacts that the tariffs would have on Canada.
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  Speaker 2: But even with the concessions, I think there are still
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  Speaker 2: strong cards for Canada to play in the US trade dispute.
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  Speaker 2: Dispute in the long term, the biggest is continuing to
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  Speaker 2: do that work that we've been talking about for the
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  Speaker 2: last year and a half, diversifying our trade markets, keep
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  Speaker 2: doing deals with other countries like European countries, new fighter jets,
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  Speaker 2: new submarines, new deals for BC LNG. And it was
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  Speaker 2: actually interesting when Karney was asked this week about Trump
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  Speaker 2: once again calling Canada nasty. Carney immediately pivoted into this
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  Speaker 2: sort of language, this frame around starting to do deals
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  Speaker 2: with other countries and starting to expand our economic growth
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  Speaker 2: into other areas. It is a long term strategy, but
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  Speaker 2: it is starting to show green shoots. It doesn't negate,
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  Speaker 2: of course, the pain of a trade rupture with our
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  Speaker 2: largest trading partner, the United States. But there's lots of
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  Speaker 2: hope that Prime Minister Carney can use their a vision,
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  Speaker 2: a strategy that he can point to in the face
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  Speaker 2: of continued attacks from Trump.
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  Speaker 1: And you mentioned the comments by US President Donald Trump
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  Speaker 1: that Canadian Canadian leadership was quote nasty. There does seem
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  Speaker 1: to be an interesting diverging narrative. We had just a
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  Speaker 1: picture and I'll put it up here the Minister Dominic
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  Speaker 1: LeBlanc sharing after meetings in Washington, d C. Smiling standing
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  Speaker 1: in the office with is an American counterpart Jamison Greer that,
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  Speaker 1: of course what we're hearing from the US. What do
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  Speaker 1: you mean of these two different narratives? Are talks going? Well?
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  Speaker 1: Is this just rhetoric? How do we sort of you know,
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  Speaker 1: cut through all of this.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think it was on CBC where it was
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  Speaker 2: reported that the meeting that was supposed to be thirty
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  Speaker 2: minutes ended up becoming ninety minutes. I do think that
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  Speaker 2: that's a positive sign. It means that there was work
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  Speaker 2: happening at that table. Maybe some learnings were happening, maybe
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  Speaker 2: they were problem solving and making some progress at the table.
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  Speaker 2: And so I think that, you know, the posts that
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  Speaker 2: are coming from Minister LeBlanc are probably conveying that. What
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  Speaker 2: I will say from the American side is that there
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  Speaker 2: has been a lot of trying to rewrite the history
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  Speaker 2: of what has gone on in this trade war. Trump
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  Speaker 2: and his administration and to some extent his supporters here
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  Speaker 2: in Canada, have tried to make it seem as O
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  Speaker 2: candidate is somehow to blame for terrists and to blame
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  Speaker 2: for the trade war, when in reality, we know that
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  Speaker 2: it was Trump who launched this unprovoked trade war, this
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  Speaker 2: unjustified trade war, back at the beginning of two thousand
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  Speaker 2: twenty five, then repeatedly said that he was going to
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  Speaker 2: make Canada the fifty first state, and then when Canadians
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  Speaker 2: dared to stand up for ourselves through strategic pressure points
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  Speaker 2: like removing American liquor, he called us mean and nasty.
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  Speaker 2: So it is precisely that kind of rhetoric that we've
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  Speaker 2: seen over the last year and a half that makes
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  Speaker 2: Canadians not trust Trump and not trust that he will
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  Speaker 2: stick to his word.
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  Speaker 1: Aileen Mitchell, thank you so much for your insights. Joining
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  Speaker 1: us from Victoria,