The Quiet Diplomat: Mark Carney's Backroom Play to Temper Trump's Tariff Tempest

Remember those tense days? Back when Donald Trump's tariffs were, shall we say, a rather large thorn in Canada's side? Well, a fascinating tidbit has emerged from none other than Mark Carney, the former Bank of Canada governor and, you know, a pretty big deal on the global financial stage.

Turns out, Carney had a quiet word, a significant intervention if you ask me, with then-Ontario Premier Doug Ford back in 2018. The subject? A planned ad campaign – a rather spirited, anti-tariff one, you could say – that Ford's government was gearing up to unleash. Carney's advice, stark and to the point: don't do it. He genuinely believed, it seems, that such a public broadside, however well-intentioned, would simply play right into Trump's hands, giving the former U.S. President exactly what he wanted – more fuel for his 'America First' fire.

It's an interesting reveal, isn't it? Carney, speaking to TVO, essentially laid bare a moment of behind-the-scenes political maneuvering. His logic was quite clear: why poke the bear, especially when the bear was, frankly, spoiling for a fight? He argued, and fairly so, that those tariffs, targeting Canadian steel and aluminum, were undeniably illegal under NAFTA. But confrontation? That wasn't the way, not according to Carney's playbook anyway.

And here's where it gets even more compelling: Carney himself picked up the phone. Yes, he actually called Donald Trump. The purpose? To apologize. An apology, mind you, for what he perceived as Canada's perhaps 'excessively aggressive' public response to those tariffs. Now, that's a bold move, isn't it? A high-stakes diplomatic play during the incredibly sensitive, indeed fraught, NAFTA renegotiations. Carney's aim, apparently, was to smooth ruffled feathers, to suggest a different, less confrontational path, perhaps a more nuanced, long-game approach.

He felt, you see, that Canada should have focused more on the undeniable mutual benefits of our deeply integrated economies, rather than engaging in a shouting match. It's a classic case, really, of strategy over emotion. While Ford's impulse to defend Canadian industry was entirely understandable, Carney saw a bigger picture, a need for a more subtle touch. After all, wasn't the goal to resolve the issue, not escalate it? It certainly paints a vivid picture of the kind of delicate tightrope walk Canadian officials found themselves on during that rather tumultuous period in cross-border relations.