(BBC) – Two days before US-Canada trade talks dramatically derailed, Vice-President JD Vance was telling an audience at a private fundraiser that Prime Minister Mark Carney was a “very sweet guy”.
In a private audio recording leaked to the Canadian Press, Vance reportedly went on to say that Carney “comes in and puffs his chest out and says: ‘I’m going to, like, out-tough Donald Trump.'”
He described that approach as “hilarious” because the Canadians ultimately “climb down on a lot of issues”.
Maybe those comments, which received considerable coverage in Canada, were not the proximate cause for Carney’s diplomats to pack up and go home over the weekend. But they certainly didn’t help.
Carney’s move abruptly terminated negotiations over a new trade agreement and sparked a fresh round of tariffs between neighbours who conduct more than $872bn (£640bn) in bilateral annual trade.
