Carney: Trump Trade Measures 'Modest'  09/11 06:13

   

   TORONTO (AP) -- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney signaled Thursday that 
Canada may hold off on further retaliation against U.S. President Donald 
Trump's latest trade measures, calling them "relatively modest" compared to 
earlier U.S. actions.

   The comments came two days after Washington escalated the ongoing trade 
dispute by banning some Canadian dairy products and motorcycles and most 
alcoholic beverages after the Canadian retaliatory tariffs took effect. Trump 
also moved to shut Canadian products out of large, long-term U.S. government 
contracts.

   Carney said his government was still studying the measures and acknowledged 
they could have significant consequences for individual companies and 
industries. But he noted that some of the new U.S. tariffs replaced others that 
Washington had removed.

   "We also recognize that, in the context of other things that the U.S. 
administration has done ... that these are relatively modest measures," Carney 
said at a cabinet retreat in Banff, Alberta.

   Derek Holt, an economist at the Canadian bank Scotiabank, said this week the 
latest U.S. measures looked more like an attempt by the Trump administration to 
"save face" than a major escalation, with the economic impact on Canada 
relatively limited.

   Carney also said he remains in regular contact with Trump and had spoken 
with him "a couple of times" in recent days about Ukraine, Iran and other 
global developments, even as the trade dispute between their countries deepens.

   "We continue to have to work with the United States. We can compartmentalize 
across this," Carney said. He said those conversations dealt with geopolitical, 
defense and security issues and did not indicate that trade negotiations had 
resumed.

   Carney said his priority was increasingly to strengthen Canada's economy 
rather than simply respond to each new move from Trump.

   "The biggest impact we can have here is to focus on what we can control: 
building at home, diversifying abroad and delivering for Canadians," he said.

   Ford urges voters to punish Trump's Republicans

   Ontario Premier Doug Ford struck a considerably more confrontational tone 
Thursday, saying he hopes Republicans lose control of both the House and Senate 
in November's midterm elections and that voters hold Trump accountable for the 
trade war.

   "Hopefully he's going to lose the Senate. He's going to lose Congress. I 
hope so, and hold him accountable," Ford said. "But we'll see how that goes. We 
aren't going to interfere in the U.S. election."

   Ford has emerged as one of Trump's most outspoken Canadian critics, accusing 
him of trying to strip industry out of Ontario and move it south of the border 
as the two trade personal insults and threats.

   "He's not reliable at all," Ford said. "He could make a deal today and then 
change his mind. And we've seen that over and over again."

   Still, Ford said he believes Trump wants an agreement before the midterms 
and that Canada should return to negotiations as soon as possible.

   "I truly believe President Trump wants a deal before the midterms," Ford 
said. "I could be wrong, but I think it's best that we sit down and get a deal."

   Door remains open to trade talks

   Carney also left the door open to renewed negotiations, saying Canada 
remains ready to return to the table if the talks are conducted professionally 
and respect Canadian sovereignty.

   "We are always ready to sit down" and negotiate, Carney said, adding that he 
believes "there is a mutually beneficial deal possible that respects our 
sovereignty and is in the interests of both countries."

   Carney said retaliation remained an option when it served Canadian 
interests, citing steel as an area where countertariffs had been necessary to 
protect Canadian companies and workers. But he stopped well short of promising 
another round of retaliatory measures in response to Trump's latest action.

   Trump abruptly ended trade talks with Canada last year after Ford's Ontario 
government aired an anti-tariff television ad in the United States using former 
President Ronald Reagan's criticism of tariffs.

   Ford said Thursday that Trump had nevertheless strengthened Canada by 
forcing it to reduce its dependence on the United States.

   "The only two good things Donald Trump has ever done for Canada," Ford said, 
were that "he woke us up" and "he united the country like I've never seen 
before."