Last Friday, an hour before midnight, Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended trade negotiations with the United States and ordered Canada’s trade delegation home, rejecting last-minute terms Washington had put on the table.

The proposed agreement would have preserved tariff-free access for most Canadian goods

The best of Broadview straight to your inbox.

Δ document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() );

while reducing U.S. tariffs on key Canadian industries, including auto, steel and aluminum. But the final U.S. demands, Carney said, were unfair, uneconomic and threatened Canada’s ability to make its own decisions on trade, culture and other matters of national sovereignty.

There are countless analysts writing about the political and economic factors that led to this decision. That is not my role. My role, as a United Church minister, is to first acknowledge that this decision (which I personally support) has taken us into uncharted territory; and second, to help guide my congregants and others through this tumultuous........

© Broadview Magazine