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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that any move by Canada to economically break from the United States would be “a disaster,” dismissing recent remarks by Prime Minister Mark Carney as unrealistic and historically misguided.
“Canada depends on the U.S. There’s much more North-South trade than there could ever be East-West trade,” Bessent said Monday on “Hannity.”
“He [Carney] talks about middle countries having to do their own thing, and I’m old enough to remember when French President François Mitterrand tried to go down that route. It failed back in the ’80s, it’ll fail now.”
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Bessent argued that Carney should focus less on pushing a “globalist agenda” and instead do “what’s best for the Canadian people.”
Carney said Sunday that Canada has no plans to pursue a free trade deal with China, pushing back against President Donald Trump’s 100% tariff threat.
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Carney said Canada’s recent agreement with China only rolled back tariffs in sectors that had been hit in recent years and did not amount to a free trade deal.
He highlighted “middle countries” like Canada during a speech at the World Economic Forum’s meeting in Davos, Switzerland, last week, suggesting greater powers should no longer set the terms of the global economic order.
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While Carney did not directly reference Trump, his comments were broadly seen as a rebuke of Washington’s recent trade posture.
Bessent claimed Carney “aggressively” walked back some of his remarks during a conversation with Trump in the Oval Office on Monday, though there has been no public statement from the prime minister confirming the retraction.
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
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