‘What you’re seeing is Mark Carney being frustrated’: 580 CFRA’s Bill Carroll gives his opinion on latest tariff news

CFRA's Bill Carroll gives his opinion on the latest news with Rosey Edeh.

Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will adjust counter tariffs on some steel and aluminum products on July 21 to levels “consistent” with progress made during trade negotiations with the United States.

Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Bill Carroll from the Morning Rush shared his opinion with CTV Morning Live Friday.

“I think it’s Mark Carney realizing that, you know, we thought we’d have a deal before the G7 summit, and we didn’t. And then we agreed we’d continue to talk and maybe have a deal within 30 days. But what happens on day 31? That was never clear,” Carroll said.

“So, I think what you’re seeing is Mark Carney being frustrated saying, ‘alright, we’ve lost the attention of Donald Trump.’ We know he doesn’t have a long attention span. And also, he is the president of the United States. And a lot of things have come up, so let’s say Iran for example.”

Carroll says he thinks that the prime minister is trying to put some pressure on the U.S. to grab the president’s attention. He notes that Carney thought that things were going well, but the reality suggests otherwise.

Carroll adds Canada had Trump’s attention when Ontario Premier Doug Ford was being tough, especially when he threatened to cut off the electricity and add a tax on it. Carney, on the other hand, didn’t act quickly.

“I think the steel industry told him weeks ago we should’ve countered their latest steel and aluminum tariffs. And we didn’t do that,” Carroll said.

“I think they’ve started to look at Canada again as not in a big hurry, kind of weak, (we’re) happy with what they’re doing. The prime minister seems to like me. I didn’t think that was the way to go. Again, I could be wrong.”

Though what Carney is doing right now is a good thing, it’s a bit too late, Carroll says, noting that Canadians have already started to see weakness in the economy, such as layoffs.

“Tariffs and counter-tariffs are made for both economies and, as a small open economy, Canada’s best path to improving its standard of living is to have zero tariffs, even if other countries impose them on us. This is not two wrongs make a right or two bad policies cancel each other out; this is two egregious wrongs compounding each other into a colossal wrong,” Concordia University economics professor Moshe Lander told CTV News Friday.

“Giving time to try and find a path to zero and a return to where we were last summer is very diplomatic, but anybody currently caught up in the tariff war, such as the Canadian auto industry, will feel it is too little, too late, but that is also because they see things through their narrow self-interest, as they should.”

Lander says the removal of interprovincial trade barriers and free trade deals with Europe and Asia are a great alternative, “but nothing can substitute fully for the integrated free-trade deal with the U.S., and Mexico.”

“We are 10 days out from a deadline regarding interprovincial barriers, but I think progress has stalled, particularly at the provincial level. Removal of those barriers is worth about $200 billion (or nine per cent of Canadian GDP), a massive sum given the state of our economy,” Lander added.

Carney said Thursday if sufficient progress is not made on resolving the ongoing trade dispute with the U.S., Canada will impose counter-tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum products on July 21.

Lander says Carney will make decisions regarding the tariff rate “and how broad-based it will be according to what happens between now and then.

July 21 coincides with the end of the 30-day trade deal deadline announced after Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump met in Kananaskis, Alta., on the sidelines of the G7.

With files from CTV News National’s Luca Caruso-Moro