The clock is ticking on Trump’s latest tariff threat against Canada-which, according to the Don has very nasty leadership, you know. August 19 is the date that his throwback 1930 tariffs are threatened to go into effect, involving 50% levies on a wide range of Canadian goods exported to the U.S. Canada’s top negotiators—Dominic LeBlanc and Janice Charette--have been engaged in intense shuttle diplomacy to reach some kind of deal to avoid the new tariffs before they come into effect.
As always with high stakes talks, especially where few official details are provided, there will be leakers lurking. The media love them, but rarely question their motives.
The Globe and Mail is assiduous in their pursuit. Their most recent story on the on-going trade talks cite three Canadian and one U.S. source—all anonymous—with “knowledge of the negotiations.” [1] Their sources suggest that Canada is willing to contemplate big give-aways on defence and economic security issues, in return for a reduction (not elimination) of U.S. tariffs.
According to one Canadian and U.S. source willing to talk to the Globe:
“The U.S. is demanding a right of first refusal on Canadian critical minerals, that Canada complete its purchase of U.S. fighter jets [presumably all 88], that Ottawa buy U.S. tech such as radar planes as part of joining Mr. Trump’s planned Golden Dome missile defence system, and that Washington receive some guarantee on future supplies of oil and gas.”
This is bad enough, but the leakers go on to offer more:
“The U.S. source said one possibility is Canada making a quiet, informal pledge to complete the F-35 purchase with the formal announcement held back until a second-phase deal.”
Now that would be really sneaky.
“One Canadian source said Ottawa might bargain its willingness to fulfill U.S. demands on critical minerals in a future deal for lower tariff numbers.”
“Danger, Will Robinson”--Bad economic security give-away.
“Another Canadian source said Ottawa’s officials had discussed making a pitch on critical minerals and defence as part of a closing offer to get the deal over the finish line.”
What is going on here? Let’s understand. Leakers are part of the negotiating game. They come out of the shadows to offer these narratives to journalists, who lap them up in the absence of any other news. The leaks may not be necessarily true or even very definitive, but leakers will hope, or perhaps have been authorized to hope, that they might push the negotiation in some favourable direction. Leakers are not white knights.
They are definitely not to be trusted, even if you are reading this stuff over breakfast (does any Canadian demographic still do that?).
I have no idea where the leaks come from, or what authenticity they have, or what the leak story might be tomorrow.
But consider that there are certainly elements within the Canadian defence establishment who would love to see the Carney government forced to relinquish its Canada-first defence industrial strategy, its skepticism about the F-35 purchase, its reluctance to go all in on Trump’s fabulist Golden Dome missile system, or even its determination to buy radar planes with significant Canadian elements (the Saab Golden Eye, based on a Bombardier commercial jet), in favour of the latest U.S. product from Boeing. That’s leak as putsch pressure.
And there are certainly Americans who might well imagine that they can bully Canada into making grand concessions in defence and economic security—really concessions of national sovereignty-- in order to avoid more tariff pain and try to get the Canada-US trading relationship back on some steady plane.
And a further thought, in a different direction. Maybe there are even, among these three Canadian leakers, some motive to try to raise public resistance to any such defence and economic security give-away so that the Carney team can simply say—our public won’t go there, sorry Donald.
Carney once toyed with the idea of combing defence and national security issues with trade bargaining with the U.S. It was early days for him in office and prior to the general election. [2] A PM press statement on March 28, 2025, said that that Carney and Trump “agreed to begin comprehensive negotiations about a new economic and security relationship immediately following the [Canadian] election.” It was early in our experience of the Trump administration. Much dark water has flowed under the bridge since. It was a terrible idea from the outset and one that Carney has rightly backed away from. But wouldn’t the Yanks love to see it rekindled.
Trust no leaker. It’s all a (dangerous) game.
Five days to go.
[1] Adrian Morrow, Laura Stone, Bill Curry, “Canada and U.S. discuss critical minerals and defence in trade talks, sources say,” The Globe and Mail, August 14, 2026, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/us-politics/article-canada-and-us-discuss-critical-minerals-and-defence-in-trade-talks/
[2] Prime Minister’s Office, March 28, 2025, https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/readouts/2025/03/28/prime-minister-carney-speaks-president-united-states-donald-j-trump
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.