Lutnick Blasts Canada's Trade Strategy

0:00It's April 17. This is Calgary News today. Local news powered by AI. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik just torched Canada's trade strategy with America, calling it the worst he's ever seen. He made the blunt remarks at a World Economy Summit right ahead of the Canada-US-Mexico agreement review set to kick off talks around July 1. Lutnik pushed back hard on a former Canadian negotiator, who claimed time favors Canada as US pressures build. He highlighted America's $30 trillion economy as the planet's talk consumer, and mocked moves like chasing deals in China and export only. Machine that won't buy much back. White House officials quickly pushed back, telling the New York Times Lutnik got misquoted. He also took a swing at X-Minister Christie of Freeland, who helped negotiate the original deal during Trump's first term. Meanwhile, the US trade rep says, Canada trails Mexico in these talks, and wrapping everything up by the July 1 deadline seems unlikely.

1:00Tensions are rising with the review looming this summer. Canada's trade minister Dominic LeBlanc fired back, stressing no drop-dead-date exists, and they won't hold things up. Both nations are posturing strong as the real bargaining heats up.