Prime Minister discusses trade deal challenges

Hello, Prime Minister. Mackenzie Gray with Global News.

I'm hoping you can tell us what the specific last minute changes

that the Americans

proposed that made a deal untenable.

Uh, thank you. Thank you for the question. Look, I would say two things.

Um, one is, uh, there are some specifics, and I'll give you some examples, but it

was also a cumulative aspect, as I mentioned in my remarks, uh,

about the

willingness, uh, uh, dans ensemble in

total to enter into a true, uh, economic, uh,

partnership. But in terms of specifics, I'll give you three, and I know there's

other questions. Uh, first, uh, with respect to the auto

industry,

uh, both in terms of the level of the tariffs,

the treatment of

Canadian content, so Canadian parts, Canadian steel, Canadian,

uh, content in vehicles.

The scope of the tariffs. Americans wanted to

limit it to autos only, not include medium and heavy...

autos and light trucks, to be more specific,

not include medium and heavy-duty

trucks, which is a big change obviously.

Uh, and, uh, with respect to, uh, Ford's new, uh, plan, for

example, in Oakville, which is F350s, 450s, 550s, they would have been

excluded. Uh, GM Silverado, uh, uh,

same thing, would have been, uh, excluded from that.

No rationale, just for exclusion.

Um, so effectively moving e- into

a series of terms that would have, would made, uh,

the production, uh, more uneconomic over time. Okay?

So that's, that's, that's a change.

That restriction, that clarification, that precision, um, was a,

was a change. Uh, the US introduced at the last, uh, hours,

in the last hours, um, efforts to restrict our ability to have

other trade deals.

You heard me say a moment ago

what we've accomplished in the last year, 20 new deals, economic and security

partnerships, the prospect of doubling our market access

because we believe in free trade. Uh, we're the partner of choice in

many respects for countries around the world,

and the Americans wanted to restrict

that. They had language that w- they wanted to restrict. Unacceptable.

Uh, and I'll give you a third. Et peut-être on peut discuter plus en

français. Um,

continual efforts always resisted, as I said in my remarks, and always will

be resisted.

Efforts to restrict our protections

of our language, our culture,

and in effect, our sovereignty. So elements coming in,

ramping up,

any of them individually, but collectively, uh, put us in a

position where, uh, what

had been on a trajectory,

absent those elements, for a fair deal, a good deal for

Canadians, not perfect, but a good deal, um, a deal we would not

accept.

Follow-up. Question suivi.

Was Howard Lutnick's involvement in the last days an impediment to getting a

deal?

Uh, it's a question for the US administration

ultimately.

Uh, ultimately, I'm responsible for the decisions, uh, uh,

of, of

the Canadian government. We take it as a, as a cabinet, but I, I certainly, uh,

bear those responsibilities. And so the head of the US administration,

the

President, bears the responsibility for the decisions

they take.

Um, but I will say this, which is that

the Canadian team,

unified. Unified, the individuals you see here,

their team members, our ambassador in Washington, uh,

my chief of staff, uh, even unified, talking together, the clerk of the Privy

Council, everyone in the loop, everyone knows what our objectives are,

collective decision-making. Uh, as, as I say, ultimately, I

and the cabinet bear

responsibility for those decisions, but unity.

You cannot say that about the United States, uh, administration.

And

as a consequence, last point and I'll go to your colleagues,

because I think

this is important. In these subs...

In these last few days,

we were drilling down on specific issues where, that might

have been papered over,

the differences in the administration. If there were indeed differences.

Ultimately, there's a decision-maker at the top.

And in drilling down on those, uh, a number of those issues that I

just referenced, uh, became, uh, very clear, and it was

not a deal that we would sign. Thank you.