BATRA'S BURNING QUESTIONS: Why do we hear more from Trump than Carney on trade deal?

low -key G7 summit for Prime Minister Mark Carney until he was caught on a hot mic talking to US President Donald Trump.And what did he say?Well, we didn't hear from Carney or the Canadian delegate about what was exchanged, that the two men talked about, but we certainly heard from President Trump about what was said.Have a listen.

The hotline moment at the G7 where the Canadian prime minister is talking to you about their Chinese car cap, and he said you said you like it.Can you comment on that?On my what?The cap that Canada put on Chinese car imports.You were talking about it with Carney.

What do you think of that?Well, I don't know that I said I like it, but I could understand that, yeah.

Is that a factor?

Would I rather see a cap than no cap?Yeah, I would.on Canada.

Would the U .S.ever consider allowing Chinese cars?

Well, we haven't.They pay over 100 % tariff, so we don't have the problems that Europe has or Canada.

Mark Carney, who likes to say one thing about Donald Trump in Canada, says another thing about Donald Trump in the United States, says another thing about Donald Trump in Europe.But there they all are at the G7, and you see Carney leaning over, having a quiet chat with the President.Caught on that hot mic, and once again, we hear about what was said and exchanged, but from the U .S.side, but never the Canadian side.So it was really, it's not, controversial.

It was simply Carney talking to President Trump about the fact that there is a cap on the Chinese EVs that Canada is going to be allowing in, which seems to make Trump happy.

Well, you know, it goes in line with Mark Carney, and is it elbows up, is it elbows down?Is it rupture?Is it deeper integration?Is it Canada strong will make America great again?Or is it that deeper integration will make us weaker?The message changes all the time, and you're right, he is, he talks tough about Donald Trump.

he's in Europe or in Canada he's slavish when how he deals with President Trump when he sees him he's like a giddy schoolgirl talking to the president and you know he's trying to emphasize oh no it's only 49 ,000 and we've got a cap on these Chinese EBS he knows that this is an issue for the the americans as i was reporting this week this is an issue for the canadian auto industry as well something that honda canada president dave jameson has been pointing out others in the auto industry have been pointing out we're having trouble keeping uh access to the american market because they want more american parts and cars made here and we're gonna try and have melanie jolie bring Chinese assembly plants here, which will not use Canadian parts.We're going to import 49 ,000 going up to 72 ,000 Chinese EVs.And that's going to make our auto industry happy.There's a good chance we're killing our own auto industry.Carney's message was probably not helpful and Trump seemed dismissive at the end.And in fact, once again said he'd like to cancel Kuzma.

I don't think that's going to happen, but he's not going to renew it for 16 years the way the Canadian side wants either.

So Laurie, I think it's, I find it always interesting how, you know, and this is what Canadians are observing too.You know, we hear about it from, in our newsroom, from our legislature, the editor from Canadians coast to coast, and they say how they're confused by Carney's constant shift in reaction, you know, he's shapeshifting from being the elbows up guy to being the, you know, the darling of the Europeans who's critical of the United States.And then, and then they see this, you know, cozy relationship with Donald Trump.And so there's, it's a bit, it's a bit confusing.Look, to be clear, I want him to have a good relationship with the United States.I think that's important.

I think all this bullshit that we're seeing,for the last few years, anti -American stuff, has been nonsensical and stirred, and the Liberals have benefited from it.Canadians aren't benefiting from it.So I'm not criticizing that aspect.I just find it odd how he has this narrative of a tough guy, But then, you know, he's the first one out there running in front of the CNN cameras, didn't talk to Canadian media, but talked to CNN about the deal that President Trump made with Iran, praising it.I find it all just odd.

Well, I think, you know, look, it's not unusual that politicians say one thing in one venue and another thing in another venue.But it is it's pretty dramatic with Carney.And to me, it consistently avoids the real issue.Like the idea of this hot mic moment.where Carney says to Trump, oh, you know that EV deal with the Chinese?It's capped at whatever it was, 47 ,000 vehicles.

And he says, Trump said he liked it.And then later Trump said, well, I don't know if I liked it.It's better than there being no cap at all.But let's look at the real issue.The Americans are putting, are saying, Trump, they're going to put an additional tariff on us.because we're importing something using forced labor.

Now they're doing that all over the world, right?So now Canada's concerned, well, what do we do about that?The turmoil that this, what is it, 47 ,000 Chinese EV vehicles is causing?

49 ,000.

49 ,000, to the much larger economic issues involved, it's kind of disturbing.In terms of, you know, what did Trump say?Maybe I won't sign, maybe I don't sign,like it.Maybe I won't sign it.Maybe I will, yada, yada.

Okay, that's standard stuff.I mean, the serious negotiating Brian has written about is going on at the level of the negotiators.And it does seem like we're not going to have, you know, the horrible situation of the United States saying, okay, six months notice, Canada, Mexico, we're out, the whole deal's done.But there are other issues.again, going to China.I mean, the former chief of defense staff just warned, I believe, was one of them, I think, CTV, about don't get into this stuff of disparaging the United States and replacing the United States with China.

That's a bad idea.This is the former, you know, the former head of the defense staff saying, look, you know, geography is destiny.You know, the United States is our major partner.And so then it goes to other issues, as Brian has also written about.The Griffin I believe it's the Swedish jet, correct me if I'm wrong, versus the F -35s.The military, as Brian reported, the military and the defense minister are all for the F -35s, and we have to buy a certain number of them.

We've already done that.But now you're going to mix it with the Gripen to make some political statement about the Americans?To me, the problem right now is that so much is driven by the liberals' understanding that as long as Trump is an issue, that as long as Kuzma is an issue, it's good for them to bash the Americans.Juxtaposed against, it's a stupid policy to gratuitously bash the Americans, because we do 70 to 75 percent of our trade with them, and that's not going to change.You know, he says, Carney says,we want to double our foreign trade within a decade.

That's great.But that's not going to change the reality.Geography's destiny, our major trading partner and political, you know, the country we have to deal with the most is the United States.So stop spitting at it.That's right.

You know, Brian, picking up on Lori's point, because President Trump talks about it in that clip that we played earlier with respect to Kuzma or USMCA, depending on which side of the border you're on.But this July 1 deadline, you did the reporting about the Gripen and how the the Liberals might be forcing this down the throat of the Canadian military.And that's going to rankle the ire of the Americans.Then there's a whole bunch of legislation that's likely going to rankle the ire of the American in advance of this July 1st sort of negotiation countdown.I'm wondering, I get that domestically that works for the Liberals.Is there no one around there saying, hang on a second, let's let's just stop poking our finger in their eye as we as we go as we move forward and try to find a reasonable deal here?

Or do they just not care?

I don't think there's anyone telling them, look, this is a bad policy.Stop poking the bear in the eye on the Gripen jet.You know, Melanie Jolie and Stephen Fure, the minister in charge of defense procurement, they are all in on the Gripen.And for Jolie especially, I believe that it is driven by two factors.One, she wants to convince Saab to set up a manufacturing or assembly plant in Montreal, or at least Quebec, and that would be beneficial for her.I think it's also driven by anti -Americanism.

Fuhrer, I've talked to many people who know him, who served with him, who say, this guy's always hated the F -35.He's never liked the F -35.Sure, the heads of the Air Force and the chief of defense staff and all the brass at DND HQ have wanted the F -35.And it's won in five different competitions.But don't worry about that.We'll make a political point.

We'll buy the Swedish jet.And we'll fly the Swedish jet.on NATO missions in Europe and we'll fly the F -35 on NORAD missions in Canada and all will be good.You know, if we buy all 88 F -35s and then buy Gripens on top, I don't think that will be an issue.If we cancel the planned purchase of 88 and just say we're going to stop at the 30 we've already committed to, then I think that will become an issue.We have been unreliable partners in this jet.

We signed on to it in the 90s.promising to buy it, developed it in association with our allies, and then have just been pulling in and out of this deal for decades now.I mean, this is almost 20 years of me writing about this plane and whether Canada will buy it or won't buy it.It's under review.It's not under review.We're going ahead.

We'll never buy it.And, you know, they're trying to come to a decision.Here's the crazy part.They're trying to come to a decision before.It's a Farnborough, I believe it is, air show in the United Kingdom, because the UK, Italy and Japan are going to announce a joint program for the sixth generation of fighter jets.And we want to join in on that.

Who's going to think we're a reliable partner?I mean, this goes well beyond Donald Trump and the terrorists.We are proving ourselves to be an unreliable ally, unreliable partner.But we want to jump in on these things just to show that we're, well, the most European of non -European countries, I suppose.

Well, Laurie, so Prime Minister Carney's on his way back to Canada.now, and presumably he's going to stick around in our borders for some time.Who knows?But what's his message going to be now when he comes back?Because we all witnessed the relationship, such as it stands with the United States, with the two men, and getting back to our hot mic moment.What's his message going to be when he comes back to Canada?

Because he's already got some liberals in his caucus, whether he pays attention to them or not, that are upset with him for a whole host of reasons.Certainly, they're not going to like the fact that he was at least perceived to sort of be, you know, explaining himself to Donald Trump.

What's he going to do when he comes back?He's going to say it was a success.Yeah, of course.That's what he's going to say.It was a great success.You know, and he has that, he does have that thing in Europe where he's adored because of that Dava speech, you know, where all the middle powers were going to get together and create a new foreign policy.

Well, look at the real politic.Well, what did they do on the deal between Iran and the United States?Now, in fairness, we haven't seen it, but it doesn't sound like a great deal for those of us who care about democracy.But what did the powers do, like the non -U .S.powers do?

They said it was a great deal.It was a wonderful deal.We know we're totally for this.Now we're ready to go in and help, you know, open up the Strait of Hormuz.So what politics say and what they do are very different things.And I think with Carney, that's a, he's the classic new kind of politician.

It doesn't matter what you said yesterday.It doesn't matter on climate change.It doesn't matter what you say in your speech.opposed to the right now.He wants to have that balance between I'm the best guy to protect you from Donald Trump.How are the negotiations going?

Well, we don't know.No, we get general things from the Canadian side.But really on that major issue, we don't know.We're all waiting like everybody else.And Cardi will alternatively criticize the United States.and Donald Trump and praise him.

But I think the main thing we've talked about here is that that's really secondary to what is going to be our trading relationship with the United States emerging out of these ongoing negotiations on the USMCA or the CSA, whatever you call it.Right now, that's the government's biggest file.You know, they can redistribute income.They can have, you know, they can have like a grocery benefit, you know, those kind of things.But the big issue right now is that and what it means to the cost of living.And to me, when you look at the economic numbers, is it a technical recession?

Is it not?Our economy's weak.Everybody knows that.Carney has admitted it.So to me, all this other stuff is like, it's like flak.It's like confetti.

It's not about the real issue on which, despite the best efforts of good journalists like Brian, who give us, you know, a lot like give us, OK, where where things stand, OK, doesn't look at the whole deal is going to blow up.But but right now, you know, they've got to do these things.But it's I just find it astounding that we've all been sitting here for months.And as you said, whenever we find out something about the deal, it starts with Donald Trump.Doesn't make any sense.That's right.

So pretty uneventful for Prime Minister Mark Carney.But until he got caught on a hot mic at the G7, then suddenly we all started paying attention.Well, let us know what you think in the comments below.Like this video and subscribe to our YouTube channel and go to thetorontosun .com.You'll find commentary and coverage there you will not find anywhere else.