Lutnick Slams Carney Criticism as 'Political Noise,' Previews USMCA Talks

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick dismissed criticism of the US from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum in Davos as 'political noise,' saying that Canada has the 'second-best deal in the world' when it comes to trade with the US.


US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick dismissed as “political noise” the moves in recent days by Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney to strengthen trade relations with China, and raised the risk of that maneuver seeping into talks over a revamped North American trade accord later this year.
“Do you think China is going to open their economy to accept exports from Canada? This is the silliest thing I’ve ever seen,” Lutnick said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Thursday while attending the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland.
Carney last week reached a deal with China’s President Xi Jinping that opened the door to electric vehicles and auto investment from Asia’s largest economy, in return for expected cuts to Chinese tariffs on Canadian rapeseed, also known as canola. He also called China a “more predictable” trading partner than the US.
“We should look at it as just political noise coming out of a prime minister,” Lutnick said of Carney’s recent messaging. “I don’t think it can be real, because he took out the math of Canada’s economy and doing business with the United States of America’s $30 trillion economy. There’s no such thing as changing what they have today.”
Canada has “the second-best deal in the world” with its access to the US market, Lutnick said, behind only Mexico. The Commerce chief also indicated that Canada’s tilt toward China could become an issue in talks over revamping the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement known as USMCA.
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