Carney Should Not Have Apologized to Trump for the Ontario Gov't's Reagan Anti-Tariff Ad

While attending the APEC Summit in South Korea yesterday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters that he apologized to President Trump over the Ontario government's Reagan anti-tariff ad.

I did apologize to the president. The president was offended by the act, or by the ad, rather … It’s not something I would have done — which is to put in place that advertisement — and so I apologized to him.

Trump responded to the apology by telling reporters on Air Force One:

He apologized for what they did with the commercial because it was a false commercial. You know, it was the exact opposite. Ronald Reagan loved tariffs, and they tried to make it look the other way. And he did apologize and I appreciate it.

Prime Minister Carney should not have apologized to President Trump because the ad offended him.

After all, what doesn't offend President Trump?

For starters, this isn't "elbows up" it's abended knee. Carney's apology undermines Canadian solidarity against tariffs across party lines. Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford should be on the same page where it concerns tariffs notwithstanding any genuine reservations. Such reservations ought to have been kept private. This should take priority over appeasing a man-baby like Trump.

The apology also reinforces Trump's behavior. It reinforces Trump's false claim that Reagan loved tariffs. If Reagan "loved tariffs" then why did he and the late Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney embark on negotiating bilaterial free trade agreement following the Shamrock Summit in Quebec City in April 1987? No matter, however. Trump will carry on with his Reagan revisionism with American conservatism marching along in lockstep.

Now, I do understand why Carney thought it appropriate to apologize to Trump. He did so to restart trade negotiations which Trump "terminated" after the ad was aired. And perhaps negotiations will soon resume.

But therein lies Carney's mistake. In seeking to resume trade talks, Carney is operating on the assumption that Trump is acting in good faith. As I argued just over a week ago:

Because the reality is Trump's suspension of talks with Canada has nothing to do with this ad. Trump is just playing games and was looking for any reason to suspend talks with Canada just as he did at the end of June when he was "shocked, shocked" to learn that Canada had passed a Digital Services Tax a year earlier. At the time, I wrote:

But rest assured, so long as he is in the White House, Trump is going keep pulling stunts like this against Canada every couple of months.

In this case, it was just under four months. Regardless of the time frame, it demonstrates that Trump isn't acting in good faith and, unlike Reagan, isn't serious about implementing a new free trade deal with Canada.

Oh, I'm sure Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will make some kind of concession as he did with the DST. Talks will resume and Carney will continue to make visits to the White House only to have the rug pulled out from under him yet again.

This apology to Trump is going to come back and bite Carney with Trump once again crunching his jaw on the Canadian economy.