Toronto: Even as Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs on American products amid a trade war with Washington, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s popularity has increased due to the hard line taken by Ottawa.
While the tariffs imposed by Administration of US President Donald Trump are expected to cause economic pain in Canada, there may be political gain for the ruling party. A survey from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute or ARI, released on Tuesday, suggested that Carney is benefiting from a Trump bump.
ARI said it found that “three-in-five Canadians (62%) now approve of Carney’s performance, up 11 points from August and approaching his previous high-water mark.” That was in April this year, again amid trade turmoil, when his popularity touched 63%.
Nearly three-quarter of the respondents or 73% felt that Canada “should refuse difficult concessions even if it means worsening trade relations with the United States.” While three-fourths support Carney’s decision to walk away from negotiations with the US late last month, there is a division when it comes to opinion on whether Canada can counter America. Over a third, 34%, felt that Canada is in a weak negotiating position, three points more than those believing it was strong, while 22% saw them as evenly matched.
Carney reached out to Canadians on the matter on Tuesday as his government presented the counter-tariffs. In the latest of his series of Forward Guidance videos posted online on Tuesday, the Canadian Prime Minister said his government “made the right choice” to walk away from a “bad” deal being offered by the Trump administration. “In too many areas, they wanted dependency”, he said.
{{/usCountry}}Carney reached out to Canadians on the matter on Tuesday as his government presented the counter-tariffs. In the latest of his series of Forward Guidance videos posted online on Tuesday, the Canadian Prime Minister said his government “made the right choice” to walk away from a “bad” deal being offered by the Trump administration. “In too many areas, they wanted dependency”, he said.
{{/usCountry}}He used the 15-minute plus video to outline the three-pronged approach of his government to face the crisis, matching the CA$ 27.6 billion (US$20.04 billion) US tariffs dollar-for-dollar, to support for the hardest hit sectors, and diversifying trade partners. “We relied too much on one economic partner,” Carney said.