Tariff row: Trump rules out meeting Canada’s Carney

Carney

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would not meet with Canada “for a while,” as Prime Minister Mark Carney offered an olive branch to resume trade talks.

Trump announced he would be hiking tariffs on Canadian goods by an additional 10 percent and terminated all trade talks following what he called a “fake” anti-tariff ad campaign that featured the late ex-president Ronald Reagan.

When asked whether he would meet with Carney at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, he told reporters on Air Force One: “I don’t want to meet with him, no.”

“I’m not going to be meeting with him for a while… One of the most difficult countries to deal with has been Canada, as much as I love Canada itself and the people of Canada,” Trump added.

Trump did not confirm when the tariff hike is set to begin.

Speaking on the sidelines of a regional summit in Malaysia on Monday, Carney said he was ready to resume talks with Trump following the row.

“We stand ready to sit down with the United States, myself with the president, my colleagues with their colleagues, when the US is ready to sit down,” Carney told reporters. Punch