Tasha Kheiriddin: Quebec the fly in the ointment to new U.S. trade deal

Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, gives out ice creams during the fête Nationale Val-des-Monts celebration in Perkins, Que., on June 23. Photo by HYUNGCHEOL PARK/Postmedia

Tick, tick, tick. That’s the sound of the timer counting down to Aug. 19, the date on which U.S. President Donald Trump’s 50 per cent tariffs on Canada will kick in. Or not. Already one former Trump advisor is predicting that Trump will TACO (Trump always chickens out), but in the unpredictable world we live in, there’s no guarantee.

Faced with this deadline, the pressure is on Prime Minister Mark Carney to get a deal with the Americans. Businesses and investors are worried. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is demanding action. Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, and Janice Charette, our chief trade negotiator, are spending their summer in Washington boardrooms, but there’s still no sense of progress. Read more