Mark Carney said on Monday that while American negotiators saw the French language in Canada as an “irritant … in Quebec, these are rights,” days after receiving widespread praise from political leaders for rejecting a US trade proposal that many perceived as weakening the country’s Francophone culture.
The prime minister’s remarks came hours after the US president, Donald Trump, showed little interest in retreating from the spat, posting on social media that Canada had been “ripping off the United States of America for years” and threatening a swath of new, economically devastating tariffs on cars and trucks.
Carney instructed his negotiators to walk away from trade talks last week. Tariffs on an array of Canadian products took effect over the weekend, affecting around 5% of Canada’s exports to the US, and Canada said it will retaliate in early September.
On Monday, Carney toured a shipyard with Quebec’s premier, telling attendees Canada “could not accept” a proposed trade deal that would have weakened French language protections after trade talks collapsed between the two countries last week, adding that his government “will not give what they have asked”.
The prime minister’s decision to abandon trade talks with the US spurred declarations from political leaders and pundits in Canada that the country is now fully locked into an economic war with its longtime ally.
Quebec, Canada’s predominantly French-speaking province, has long sought to protect its distinct identity, at times with laws that clashed with the federal government and the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms.
In recent years those rules have also frustrated US negotiators, who have framed them as trade irritants. Bill 96, for example, requires products sold in Quebec to have a French description and for trademarks using generic terms to be translated into French, while Bill 109 compels media services such as Netflix, Spotify and Apple to promote and prioritize French content for Quebec users.
Quebec’s premier, Christine Fréchette, said Carney had made the right decision in walking away from talks that looked to cross a “red line” for Francophones.
“Our culture, our language is central to our identity and it is important to exclude that from the negotiation table,” she told reporters over the weekend. “It’s something that is crucial for us and it won’t change, even though we are threatened with different tariffs, it won’t change. We will stay the way we are.”
Polling from earlier in the month shows that dislike for Trump is highest in Quebec. Separatists in the province have seen a sharp decline in support amid the economic wounds inflicted by the US.
Last week, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the sovereigntist politician most likely to emerge victorious in upcoming provincial elections, said his party would delay a possible referendum into seceding from Canada until Trump is out of office. He wrote that deciding Quebec’s political fate “must not be hijacked by the upheaval of American politics, the outbursts of an unpredictable president or by a campaign of fear”.
The Quebec Federation of Chambers of Commerce (FCCQ) called the tariffs a “worst-case scenario” for the province’s businesses.
“Quebec, in fact, has been the most affected by these tariffs since the very beginning of this trade war,” Fréchette said. “In all our regions, businesses risk losing contracts. In fact, it has already begun.”
On Monday, Trump’s top trade representative, Jamieson Greer, called reports that French language protections were up for debate a “a funny fake story”.
“That is not true,” Greer told CNBC. “I like the Quebecois and I like that they speak French.” He said both he and his sons speak the language.
He claimed the issue at stake was that Americans did not like Canada “forcing” streaming giants in the US to pay some of their profits to support Canadian content. Canada had already dropped that position, however, previously abandoning elements of digital services tax.
“I understand why the Quebecois want to have French language content. We think that’s a really valuable thing and we encourage countries to really put their own country first and put their national identity first.”
Carney rejected that framing, telling reporters it was not “funny” and there was an “enormous spread” in perspectives.
Also on Monday, Trump redoubled his efforts to wage economic war against his country’s longtime political, security and economic ally.
“Canada has been ripping off the United States of America for years,” Trump wrote on social media. Criticizing Canada’s “ridiculously high tariffs” on American farmers, Trump wrote: “Not sustainable, and not anymore!”
The president, who faces mounting domestic unease over his trade spat with Canada, pledged to increase tariffs on cars, trucks, auto parts and steel beginning on 1 January . “We don’t need Canada, they need us!” he wrote, using capital letters.
The move has provoked an increasingly predictable backlash from political leaders.
The Conservative premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, told local media Trump can “kiss my ass”.
“We need to throw everything in the kitchen sink at him. He’s arrogant, he’s cocky, and you know, as Ronald Reagan said, if you come to a draw with a bully, what stops that bully from coming after you the next day and the next day. And that’s all Donald Trump is – is a bully,” said Ford. “Well, he’s going to have a rude awakening.”
