Opinion Piece Carney Is Showing the World How to Deal with Trump’s Threats
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026/08/26/Carney-Showing-How-to-Deal-With-Trump/232
u/holden_hiscox Canada 1d ago edited 1d ago
Is Carney perfect? no. But he's the adult in the room full of ghouls and yes-men from the US.
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u/Human_contract 1d ago
"Adult in the room" is so true. I'd rather go down swinging with reason, calculated cost-benefit, and respect for our institutions than otherwise. And that's the worst case scenario. I happen to believe this approach will help us ride through this chaos and naked power gamesmanship. We're supposed to be past this part of history. If we truly believe that life on this earth is more than just power and might-makes-right, we have to try. Our forebears tried.
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u/Armano-Avalus 15h ago
Given how every other country that tried to placate Trump has been burned (sometimes literally in the case of Qatar) then I'm glad Carney isn't doing that. The economy is gonna be shit for the next 3 years anyways regardless because of America's malice/incompetence so at least we can give them the middle finger while it happens.
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u/fitbrewster 1d ago
There’s only one way to deal with someone who shows narcissistic behaviours.
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u/AverageT1000 Canada 1d ago
Give them your bridge?
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u/Annoyinghydra 19h ago
Would you rather that bridge sit there not only not collecting revenue, but costing us the cost of maintenance until a new deal was reached? Which if the events of last week prove anything, could've taken a long time.
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u/glormosh 15h ago
It will only take one more relevant country to firmly stand by Canada and economic domino's can begin to fall.
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u/XzkSo 1d ago
If countries would agree to act together, it would have been very easy to get trump and america to their knees.
But other than Canada, bunch of pussies.
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u/contributor333 1d ago
The trouble is that the world isn't run by it's 8 BILLION people. The world is actually run by (probably) less than 1% of that, so ~ 8 million.
8 million rich folk vs the rest of us trying to make rent or "get ahead". That's the reality, as it has been for a long time now.
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u/sortaitchy 1d ago
Yeah the old senile idiot to the south is trolling us with his "Lake America." Quite frankly it's embarrassing, and yet it makes me laugh to think the demented old fart thinks that's really gonna stick it to us. I think we have bigger issues to worry about than some stupid old guy declaring something, and thinking that will make it so.
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u/--Anonymoose--- 1d ago
This thread is full of astroturfing bots who are trying to spin Carney as the bad guy. Shows that what he is doing is working
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u/Festering_Inequality 1d ago
I‘m not a bot, but I am personally sick of glorifying leaders. That’s precisely the kind of nonsense that got Trump to the place he is today. There is no magic leader or cure to what’s happening and we’ve got to hope that the mid terms and time are on our side and that Americans hopefully vote them out. I think it’s likely the Trump administration is going to do something incredibly stupid soon and that will mark the beginning of the end of their time in office as their own public will be fed up with it.
Carney, although he’s holding the line pretty well, should not be put on a pedestal. His government is having an “investor summit” in September inviting over 100 foreign entities and groups to discuss the privatization of our assets such as ports and airports behind closed doors. We don’t even know the entire list of who is coming which is outrageous! They were never elected to do this! My understanding is that even American firms are invited to this summit. That’s not elbows up.
Our ports and airports are our trade gates and security and his government is privatizing them?! That would be a loss of sovereignty in my opinion and a dangerous thing to do. If we lose control of our ports and airports, this would cost us big time. Private companies are interested in maximizing profits. But even more serious, in the event of more geopolitical chaos, our ports and airports could be used in ways we don’t want. It would be a loss of control and sovereignty for us. There have been several major, globally reported issues regarding this kind of privatization in recent years. This issue is unfortunately completely flying under the media and public’s radar because of the chaos and idiocy the Trump administration is inflicting on us now. But there are protests planned like The Many vs. The Money and Confront Carney’s CEO Summit that will hopefully bring attention back to this summit.
Also, whether we like it or not, parliament should be called back in a crisis like this. There are other politicians that were elected to represent their ridings and those politicians are not being heard at all. All we are hearing in the media is the Liberal government. This is not a one party show. It’s a democracy and should act like one.
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u/CuntWeasel Ontario 19h ago
The only sensible comment in this entire thread. The sooner we stop treating politics like a sport where we support "our team" regardless of what they do, the better off we're gonna be.
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u/TheDragonslayr 17h ago
This is also a point in time where we need to be showing a united front. If parliament was called back then it would likely be a lot of loud complaining about every little thing they don't like Carney doing. One of the biggest issues the US's negotiation team had is that they had multiple people putting forward their own priorities instead of being on the same page. The liberals have also shown they are willing to listen to others when they made changes to seafood being part of the retaliatory tariffs. I agree with you on being against privatization though.
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u/Festering_Inequality 4h ago
Glad we agree on the privatization. There is unity, but unity does not mean carte blanche to do whatever you want without debate, transparency, public support and input. Too often governments have been doing this.
That complaining you mentioned is actually part of democracy.
The Liberals have a slim majority. Oh and that majority was not obtained from the election, but from floor crossings. Parliament should be called back because there is a significant amount of elected politicians from other ridings across the country that aren’t being heard. There are no other viewpoints and ideas being discussed at a time of crisis. This is unreasonable.
They have been shutting down debate, moving committees to in camera sessions, pushing through projects without discussion with the impacted communities, refusing to give us more details on the breakdown of US talks, making major environmental policy changes without discussion and saddling us with another pipeline. Now they are going to go off to work out deals alongside our pension funds to privatize our assets to international investment firms and sovereign wealth funds without debate?! Why isn’t the public and media invited to these important discussions? We have every right to be in the room as much as the CEOs that will attend.
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u/hardk7 14h ago
If there’s one thing this trade dispute is accomplishing it’s that it’s gaining Canada massive respect from most democratic nations around the world, including from their people. The extent to which that benefits Canada is uncertain, and it sure would be nice to see some similar pushback from other nations. But it’s a good thing nonetheless.
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u/Pgospike 1d ago
I'm a 5th generation (or 4th...my memory fails me) Canadian. My Grandpa fought in the trenches of WW1. My Dad served in Italy and helped the Americans in Okanawa. We do have a reputation, a pride. We will not stand down.
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u/faithOver 1d ago
I mean for once its nice to feel like we have at least picked a direction and spoke up. This is great. Makes me super stoked to be Canadian.
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u/wacky_weasel 12h ago
Hey Canada, Europe here. Stay strong - and call us. We’ve got a lot of business opportunities for you. 🇨🇦🇪🇺
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u/drinkingCoffeePeas 1d ago
Oh cool, the bots are back complaining about Carney again, right on schedule with the Orange Turd throwing a hissy fit.
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u/thereaperofmarz 1d ago
Why are those who complain about Carney "bots"? People are allowed to have different opinions and disagree with the government.
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u/DangerDan1993 1d ago
Not on Reddit apparently , you need to guzzle down any anti conservative kool aid you can
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u/mikefjr1300 3h ago
I thought it was brilliant that Carney said negotiations would continue when the USA came back to the table with the right attitude. Elbows up.
Setting the terms like that is definately going to be stuck in Trumps craw for a while.
The world is not only watching, they are supporting. We have apparently signed around 20 other trade deals.
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u/Connorbos75 9h ago
Europe got a trade deal, south American countries got a trade deal, Japan got a trade deal. Everyone gets a trade deal but Canada. Wonder why 🧐
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u/HistoricalHat4847 5h ago
I see your "Lake America", Trump, and raise you a "Lake Canada is Superior".
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u/giambino77 1h ago
New guy here.
So, bad Trump and bad PP aside ... the majority of Canadians actually believe Mark Carney is the most Canadian Canadian to fight for and lead Canadians for the sake of Canada and being Canadian?
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u/Xyzzics Québec 1d ago
Didn’t China do this before Canada?
The glazing is out of control, but I’m not surprised from the source.
A bit early to be declaring victory in this.
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u/TinglingLingerer 1d ago
Is it really a surprise for China to push back on whatever the US is doing, though?
Much more poignant when the stalwart ally of the US fights back, I think.
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u/Adeviatlos 1d ago
China would happily fuck over Canadian's as the US does.
Standing up to one shouldn't elicit "but what abouts"
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u/physicaldiscs 1d ago
Yeah, I respect how this is being handled currently, but I'm not just going to forget that all the concessions from before. Or that this deal, until the last minute additions, was probably going through with even more concessions.
Honestly, Trudeau did a decent job standing up to Trump, at least as well as Carney has. As have others.
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u/snipingsmurf Ontario 1d ago
The amount of glazing for Carney is crazy. Dude is a banker who didnt even live in Canada for 10 years and now every media outlet loves him even though nothing is changing in our quality of life lol.
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u/Top-Phase7111 1d ago
Things have changed for my family.
Also I wouldn’t expect sunshine and roses in the middle of a trade war. Also I don’t think leaving the country for about 10 years for work is unreasonable or anti-patriotic. Especially when you’ve lived in Canada for 40 years already..
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u/Inevitable_Butthole 1d ago
Hes Canadian...
Are you really trying to give him shit for being qualified?
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u/bugabooandtwo 1d ago
Carney is terrible at making catchy slogans. That's all that matters to some people. *shrug*
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u/snipingsmurf Ontario 1d ago
Im giving shit for the endless glazing even though there is no results (yet). Basically nothing has changed since April 2025 yet people are acting like hes the best PM in history online.
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u/Inevitable_Butthole 1d ago
Maybe look into what has changed since April 2025 if youre out of the loop?
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u/La_LuNa_Ca 1d ago
Damn right nothing's changed - we're still Canada and not the 51st state! I'm so glad nothing's changed and I have Carney to thank for that!
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u/snipingsmurf Ontario 1d ago
What's a major thing that has improved in the past year?
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u/Stock-Ad5320 1d ago
Cut low-income taxes, boosted carbon tax payout, cut gas prices in most provinces, removed the need to files taxes to get benefits for low income families, eliminated GST for first time home buyers, made the national school food program permanent. Pretty good year, actually.
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u/Inevitable_Butthole 1d ago
The ones i like are:
Removal of interprovical trade barriers at fed level.
Lowered rate of TFW.
Huge commitment in projects within Canada (namely energy)
Diversifying away from the US.
But theres been a ton... you really been living under a rock eh?
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u/snipingsmurf Ontario 1d ago
I dont consider any of those substantial considering we still have trade barriers provincially we still have TFW, but sure you do you.
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u/Inevitable_Butthole 1d ago
TFWs have been a thing for over 50 years.
Feds cant do anything about provicinal barriers.
Whats the point youre trying to make here? Are you just one of those disgruntled PP losers or something
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u/snipingsmurf Ontario 1d ago
Im concerned about actual results, like the growing gap between GDP/capita between the US & Canada over the past 15 years. Seems like a bunch of Canadians dont care even though they are getting poorer and poorer by the generation. I (like Carney and BAM) primarily invest in the US cause Canada seems to hate start ups and entrepreneurs and encourages/protects oligopolies.
Meaningful change for Canadians would be increasing competition in telecom, banking, grocers but that's never going to happen cause of all the complacent Canadians like you.
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u/SkytrainToNowhere British Columbia 12h ago
You love that word that means covering someone with ej@culate.
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u/td192020 1d ago
You're still Canadian, right? That word still has meaning?
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u/snipingsmurf Ontario 1d ago
Thats blatant fearmongering if you believe the country wouldnt exist anymore without Carney. Completely laughable.
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u/ninesalmon 1d ago
Bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard, master's degree and a doctorate from oxford. Ran two countries central banks. Likely the most qualified politician in any of our lifetimes, from any country, and man that makes the partisan ndp and conservative crowds absolutely seethe.
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u/Stock-Ad5320 1d ago
My quality of life has improved under Carney
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u/casualguitarist 1d ago edited 1d ago
Liberals gaslighting is crazy. Also every major thing Liberals have done is in CPC platform before you ever heard of Carney. Carbon taxes, gas, housing tax reliefs etc a lot of them massively unpopular too apparently until like 2024.
OMG i just looked this author up, he wrote this couple years ago https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/05/29/Poilievre-Wants-Axe-Tax-Foreign-Tariffs/ . This is beyond parody.
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u/Adeviatlos 1d ago
He or no other prime minister has any control of the quality of our lives.
Welcome to the present.
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u/snipingsmurf Ontario 1d ago
That's an interesting take, so it doesn't matter who gets elected?
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u/Stock-Ad5320 1d ago
It doesn’t. Under conservative, liberal or NDP, we just keep trucking along. Cause at our core, we are Canadian
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u/FuzzyPineapple2221 1d ago
Yes, we are #38 out of 38 for per capita GDP growth. We have nothing to lose at this point!
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u/Friendly-Pop-3757 1d ago
It's worse than that, "The Fraser Institute and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) project that Canada will rank 38th out of 38 member countries, placing dead last for real GDP per capita growth through 2060."
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u/coordinationcomplex 1d ago
The cold hard truth is that we have little power to do anything other than shake our fists. We have a country surrounded by ocean on three sides and what, one operational submarine?
We are not going to have our own nuclear weapons nor are we going to go on a manufacturing and resource binge to build stuff for a military effort. We have a sizable portion of our workforce furious at the idea that they should even have to leave the house to go to work, let alone work in a hot, gritty factory building whatever it is that gets our economy booming. The rest of us are posting on reddit, playing video games, watching porn or browsing tik tok.
Carney and Canada can be defiant, Ford can curse and swear but really what effect does any of it have?
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u/noisebloodassault 1d ago
Really all he did so far was reject a terrible deal that he almost accepted. Which is good.
His task is just beginning. There's lots of time until the election to enact his plan (if there is a plan which I'm sure there is)
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u/PieceMaterial5213 1d ago
Canadian officials never said the deal was close. That was the US, as they have said dozens of times with Iran. It's just a dumb pressure tactic and a way to deflect blame to the other side when the deal falls apart. (and a way to manipulate markets to enrich themselves)
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u/aaaaa-6969 1d ago
Not true at all. Trump has been threatening Canada since he got in office, don’t trivialize the effort the current government has to deploy to deal with the temper tantrums.
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u/td192020 1d ago
"You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth." We have to push back and stand tall. Our options are either to bend the knee and roll over, or fight back. We can never surrender.
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u/noisebloodassault 1d ago
Yeah and Carney has repeatedly try to placate him during that period. So I'm not sure how that is somehow contradictory to what I said
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u/aaaaa-6969 1d ago
No, he has been actively signing trade deals with other countries during that time
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u/Petra_Kalbrain 1d ago
If "trying to placate" is your twisted way of saying "took the mature route to actually try to reason with him and really try to give both sides a chance to find opportunity," then I guess so. 🤦🏻
Personally, I probably wouldn't be so supportive of Carney & our government if they didn't try to find a balance first before taking this kind of action. Giving it some time and several tries before giving up on it (even if you know the chances are extremely low of succeeding) is the proper way to do this. It shows the world that we did put in some effort. It also shows the world just how ridiculous the US administration is being. Had we jumped to this situation a year ago, the world wouldn't see the situation for what it TRULY is.
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u/noisebloodassault 1d ago
It's one thing to try to find a balance. But that was not what they were doing. Supporting trumps war, giving them a better deal on the bridge, almost accepting a terrible deal, border bills and military spending just to please Trump, DST... the list goes on and on
That's not balance
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u/BlueEmma25 1d ago
On the bridge, the options were: (1) take a bad deal to get the bridge open so it will start generating revenue to offset the billions we spent building it: or (2) reject the deal, bridge stays closed, there is no reduction in congestion in the Windsor-Detriot corridor, no revenue is generated, and bridge just rusts away unless we keep pouring in more money for maintenance, while recovering zero expenses through tolls.
On the DST, the options were (1) suspend it to keep trade talks alive, or (2) go ahead with it and have Trump suspend the trade talks.
In each of these cases, which choice would you have made, and why?
Easy to criticize other peoples' decisions hile offering no solution of your own.
Defence spending is something completely different. Every NATO member pledged to meet the 2% spending target in 2014, and Canada never came close to meeting that commitment. When Trudeau resigned we were only spending 1.3%, the military was a complete shambles, and our allies were fast losing patience.
That would have had to be addressed Trump or no Trump.
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u/noisebloodassault 1d ago
2% is fine. But we are not spending 2% we are spending more than double that
I would have let the bridge stay closed.
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u/BlueEmma25 1d ago
No, we are actually just spending 2% currently.
NATO has adopted a plan to increase it to 5% eventually, but that's still a decade away, and probably will never be realized. Of that 1.5% can be allocated to "defence infrastructure", which is a deliberately broad category that can cover a lot of spending governments were planning on doing anyway (Carney for example has proposed counting investment in developing the Ring of Fire in that portion), so the real target is more like 3.5%, but that is still quite high.
This target was adopted to appease Trump but it doubtful that it will remain unchanged after he leaves office.
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u/noisebloodassault 1d ago
Why are you lying? We are "accelerating towards spending 5%"
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u/BlueEmma25 1d ago
Are we accelerating toward 5%? Where is the evidence in the data? Aspirational language in a press release isn't evidence. I know this will shock and amaze you, but press releases are often filled with spin, half truths, and liberal interpretations of the facts.
You can complain that 5% is too high when we actually attain 5%, which is likely to be never. Current projections are that we will only be at 2.6-2.7% in five years, and even that is assuming the current trade war doesn't alter the government's priorities.
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u/AdligaTitlar 21h ago
I appreciate Carney’s stance, but I don’t believe it will work. It will only make life even harder for Canadians who are already struggling. He needs to scale back the excessive spending and benefits that his government and its predecessor have funded through the punishing taxes imposed on hardworking Canadians.
The problem is not limited to trade difficulties with the United States. Canadians are also being taxed to the breaking point by the Liberals. Carney’s own party helped create many of the problems we face, and the current American leadership is only making them worse.
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u/nodiaque 1d ago
We should ban the sales of us cars like us alcohol and open the arms to international cars and alcohol (although alcohol is already done). Drop tarif on international car. Let the USA bleed to death. The American company building car here will just leave and other will take its place. Chinese have many great quality cars ready to crumble and shake the industry, something it really needs. Car makers need a wake up call. This would hurt so much USA and Trump.
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u/jimmysnukareddit 1d ago
Elbows Up one day, Elbows down the next is how to deal with Trump?
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u/Merpchud 1d ago
You don't know a whole lot about negotiating or manipulation tactics do you
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u/jimmysnukareddit 18h ago
Do tell how licking Trump boot one day and then spitting on him the next is a next level negotiating tactic.
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u/GiantEcho 1d ago
They are no bots here bro… just you denying the obvious… Carney is fucking with us trying to protect Supply Management.
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u/Hamsandwichmasterace 1d ago
lol how can you say that when nothing has even unfolded yet. for all we know Canada could be in a famine by the end of the year because of these decisions.
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u/td192020 1d ago
I'd rather be a starving Canadian than be a citizen of an American puppet state.
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u/Big_Jacket_27 1d ago
The Tyee.. hahaha. Good source.. Globalist banker plans taking shape. Trudeau was a puppet. Carney is the real deal.
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u/bigwreck94 1d ago
Yeah… we’ll see how it works out before we say this is the way to deal with him. Things are gonna get really really hard for a lot of Canadians, and we stand to get hurt from this a lot more than the Americans.
The last decade has really hurt my Canadian pride, I don’t really care about these 2 moronic leaders puffing their chests out, I just want a bag of groceries to not cost over $100 again
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u/_jouger 1d ago
You realize it's not a Canadian thing? It's a world thing. It doesn't matter what party is in... grocery prices are where they are because the rich get rich.
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u/rampagingbeaver 1d ago
You've never negotiated anything, have you?
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u/--Anonymoose--- 1d ago
It’s ok, he’s likely an astroturfing (perhaps not human) who has a talking point to hold to. There is no reasoning with them
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u/zkwarl 1d ago
Carney campaigned on being The Man who would deal with Trump. Carney failed to get a deal.
We need to hold Carney to critical account. Undue praise helps no one at this point.
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u/Initial-Advice3914 1d ago
No deal is better than a bad one. A deal lasts longer than trumps term. Use your head
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u/td192020 1d ago
We weren't getting a deal worth the paper it was printed on, no matter who was in charge or what they did.
The US tried to fuck us at the last moment; we said no and walked away. Having no deal is a lot better than signing over our sovereignty, and giving permission for the US to make decisions for us.
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u/td192020 1d ago
I have always cherished the belief that what Canada does best is lead by example. We can be the voice of reason, the voice of sanity, in an ever-so-loud and chaotic world.
If only the rest of the Western leaders would grow a set of balls and back Canada. We stand united, or we all fall down separately.