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William Watson: Carney not signing trade deal was good, war talk wasn't

Support industries affected by Trump's tariffs, but retaliation does us no good

Jaw-jaw is better than war-war, said Winston Churchill, who was well-versed in both. Of course, Churchill never jaw-jawed with Donald Trump, notorious bad-faith bargainer. 

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Near the end of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s news conference Saturday the National Post’s Christopher Nardi asked whether we were now in a trade war with the United States. “We were attacked,” Carney answered, “You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked.” So we are “at war” with by far our most important trading partner. It was a candid offhand remark that provided the lead to many news reports of Carney’s comments and is bound to have been noted in the White House. Firm action is good. Not signing a bad deal is good. Taunting a hair-trigger megalomaniac isn’t.

William Watson: Carney not signing trade deal was good, war talk wasn't Back to video

The prime minister’s opening speech, which he read off a teleprompter in a monotone a little less enervating and a French slightly more fluent than when he first took office, was fine. Or at least half of it was. The first 10 minutes addressed the failed negotiations with a seriousness that met the gravity of the moment. The second 10 re-hashed all the good things the federal government has done — or at least announced — since coming to office to “Build Canada Strong” and make us more resilient, independent of the U.S. and connected to the world. It sounded a lot as if a second Carney v. Trump federal election may be........

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