U.S. trade policy is ‘radically different’ now, Carney says

Trade policy under the current U.S. administration is “radically different” from what Canada is used to dealing with, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters in New Brunswick, Carney said the U.S. is trying to “shut out” Canada’s forestry products, making it important for Canada to source locally.

“They’ve changed the rules, or their interpretation of the rules, and that’s what we’re dealing with and that’s why we need to move fast,” he said.

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He said Canada can respond to the U.S. restriction on Canadian forestry products in different ways.

“We can do several things in that context. One is, buy Canadian and build more at home. Secondly, diversify internationally. And third, expand what we do with forest products,” Carney said.

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He said Canada must do so while “in parallel negotiating with the Americans and trying to get a deal for the forestry sector.”

He said a key pillar of the ‘Buy Canadian’ strategy is to knock down internal trade barriers.

“Our Buy Canadian strategy is part of a larger movement amongst Canadian businesses, a movement that’s putting Maple Leaf stickers on grocery aisles,” he said.

Carney also announced that the federal government would be announcing the next tranche of major infrastructure projects to be reviewed by the Major Projects Office on Thursday.

Two months ago, Carney announced the first five projects for consideration, drawing criticism from the Conservatives who called the projects “low-hanging fruit” on the basis their development was already well underway.

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Once a project is referred to the Major Projects Office, it is reviewed and returned with recommendations to the government, which has the final say on whether to give it the designation.

Establishing the Major Projects Office, and the process that comes with it, was among Carney’s first moves after winning the general election earlier this year.

–with files from Canadian Press