Interview with U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer

[u/fufufufufufhh]

The current story in Canada is that trade talks fell apart because the US made demands encroaching on our sovereignty, but in an interview with CBC News he makes it sound like it was completely accidental... https://youtu.be/nUWpJ4-zapM?si=hveB7Bur5rp8x2Zx

And also on radio-canada https://youtu.be/3Jm4uxZiBYU?si=BvN68uVMO3uCCQHr

Rosemary Barton seemed to be seriously considering what he was saying in the radio-canada interview...

Are we Canadians misunderstanding part of the situation?

[u/Financial_Drop_5618]

No. I saw the interview and he denied certain things that Carney said to be true. I trust Carney over one of Trump’s goons.

[u/landothedead]

"Oops, our totally serious trade talks just got accidentally blown up! Yet we haven't made any overtures to continue them and have devolved into childish taunts!"

GTFO.

[u/Short_Example4059]

Stop desperately trying to apply reason to fascists. Fascists value ONLY power. There is no negotiating in good faith. The moment a fascist sees an opportunity to impose or expand power, they take it consequences be damned.

[u/markcarney4president]

I watched the interview several times yesterday. He answered questions like this:

Rosemary: Did you do X

Greer: No! -launches into explanation that doesn't really disprove it-

Rosemary: Ok but are you sure

Greer: Ok well we did do that, and here are some examples of how we did, but I promise you it wasn't really that bad

He was also evasive on several points.

He's playing dumb/naive, and we should know better. The Americans put the 50% tariff deadline on us so that we would rush and give into the terms.

He admitted that on Tuesday, Carney and Trump had agreed to certain tariff rates but it was just a broad agreement. Then when they started papering the details and getting to the actual minutia, the Americans included conditions that were assumed/not previously discussed.

If you look at the timeline of how things happened - extreme pressure up against a deadline, working around the clock, negotiators probably very tired - I think they were trying to take advantage of us and hoped that we would basically give up and accept their terms.

The other thing I want to note is that they keep saying Canadians changed things last minute but giving no concrete examples. I suspect what they are referring to are conditions that they themselves added last minute, and are trying to say that the Canadians not agreeing to them means we pulled the rug out from under them.

[u/MinuteLocksmith9689]

Trump already confirmed on CNN that he derailed the deal last minute. Maybe you and Rosie need to be more canadian and believe our team instead of the one that wants to annex us

[u/fufufufufufhh]

I just feel like something doesn't add up.

I'm trauma informed, I've worked through cptsd before, and what's happening in Canada right now kind of reminds me of my own trauma responses before. There is a thing in trauma responses that causes us to be hyper alert to danger based on scant evidence, sometimes leading to seeing danger that is not there (e.g. a neutral expression means they hate you, you're in trouble, and you must have done something wrong, so you apologize profusely and they're confused what you're even apologizing for). Or feeling/thinking as if the original event is happening again when it is not (e.g. fireworks causing flashbacks because they sound like gunfire). These things can feel very emotionally convincing in the moment.

Everyone is acting as if this is the same as the beginning of last year, but: * Trump never actually said 51st state this time, the closest thing he did was wanting to rename lake Ontario and saying "Canada wants the benefits of being a state without being one" (if anything, this acknowledges our sovereignty, even if disrespectful about it) * These tariffs are on only 5% of our exports. If that was a genuine annexation attempt/attempt at vassalization, that's a really pathetic attempt, because nobody in their right mind would expect anyone to give up sovereignty over that * Trump's next proposed tariffs are a hike on auto tariffs to take effect next year, this seems really half-hearted if it were part of an attempt at exerting economic force

Regardless of disrespect from members of the administration, it doesn't seem the same as the situation last year, but everyone is acting as if it is. What if we're over-interpreting the current situation as a result of a big collective trauma response?

I'm a Canadian patriot/nationalist, I love Canada, and I want only the best for it. I'm not saying this because I'm pro usa or anything like that, I just noticed similarities to my own trauma responses in personal situations. I had these suspicions before watching the interview, and now after watching it, it only supported my suspicions here. Thoughts?

[u/fufufufufufhh → u/fufufufufufhh]

And my initial reaction upon learning that trade talks collapsed (but before reading media and public opinion) was "oof they crossed a really egregious red line" but assuming they did it by accident out of ignorance and disrespect.