By Harinder Mahil
Prime Minister Carney talked tough about Trump during the election campaign. During one of the campaign speeches, he said: “America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. But these are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us. That will never ever happen….”
Two days before the election, Carney said: “The US is trying to put economic pressure on us to gain major concessions, to the extreme of a level of integration of our counties that would impinge our sovereignty.”
His argument was that no one was better than him to protect Canada from Donald Trump.
Canadians liked what they heard and voted for him. There were many NDP supporters who voted for him. As a result, a number of seats previously held by the NDP, were won by either Liberals or Conservatives making Carney the prime minister.
It has only been three months since the April election. The tough talk we used to hear from Carney has disappeared. Canadians now feel that he is letting us down. Some even in his own party are not happy with him.
The Government of Canada had announced the digital services tax (DST) in 2020 and passed it into law. It required foreign and domestic businesses to pay 3 percent of revenue earned from certain digital services that rely on data and content contribution of Canadian users.
Just three days after Trump broke off trade talks with Canada, Ottawa rescinded the digital services tax. This is despite we know that bargaining with Trump is always full of drama and threats. Much of this tax was to be paid by large US corporations such as Amazon, Apple, Airbnb, Google and Meta. These corporations make billions of dollars every year in Canada and do not pay any tax on this revenue.
It is well known that Doanld Trump is a bully. When you give in to a bully it signals to him that his tactics are working. It simply encourages the bully to continue with his behaviour and become even more aggressive. Although you do not want to provoke a bully, you do not want to submit to his bullying behaviour either.
Since the DST was rescinded, President Trump has announced a 50% tariff on imported copper. This tariff will take effect on August 1, 2025. What has been Carney’s response? Nothing more than calling a Cabinet meeting to discuss this and another one with Canada’s premiers.
This is another escalation in Trump’s trade war that puts Canadian jobs at risk. The US is a major market for Canadian copper exports, accounting for $4.8 billion, or 52 per cent of Canada’s exports.
As if this was not enough, Trump also announced a 35 percent tariff on Canadian goods starting next month. This announcement was made when the two countries are engaged in intense trade talks meant to produce a new trade deal in the coming days.
Canada’s concessions to Trump appear to have yielded little result.
Trump’s trade war is not really about trade -it is about domination. He wants to dominate smaller countries and make US corporations even more profitable. Carney should understand that and take steps accordingly.
It is not easy to confront Trump knowing 75 percent of our exports go to the US. Canada must be assertive and not submit to Trump’s unreasonable demands. This is the reason Canadians voted for Carney.
Canadians expect Prime Minister Carney to take steps to protect our dignity and assert our right to safety and respect.
Harinder Mahil is a human rights activist and is secretary of Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation.
