00:08For over a year, Canada has worked intensively and in good faith with the United States to
00:15negotiate a new comprehensive trade deal. We've been pragmatic, patient and persistent.
00:23We pursued every opportunity to reach an agreement that protects Canadian workers and their families,
00:31that strengthens our economy and that respects Canadian sovereignty.
00:38We've been under no illusions. We recognized from the start that America has changed.
00:46Early last year in this room, I observed that the decades-long process of steadily increasing
00:52integration between our economies was over.
00:56Our government understood before many that America would transform all of its commercial
01:02relationships, that it would put a series of tariffs on its closest allies and use economic
01:08integration as a weapon. We recognized that sometimes its signature was written in pencil.
01:18The bonds between Canadians and Americans are long and they remain strong. A mutually beneficial
01:28trade agreement is possible, one that respects our sovereignty, one that builds on our complementary
01:34strengths, one that lowers costs for families on both sides of the border, one that creates
01:39good jobs for our workers. Canada has always worked towards these goals, even while America's attention
01:50and dedication to them have wavered. We've consistently proposed long-term partnerships, while America
02:00has often pursued short-term transactions. The gap between partnership and competitor unfortunately
02:09has remained too wide in recent days. So last evening I instructed our negotiators to return
02:16to Ottawa. We cannot accept what they've offered and we will not give what they've asked.
02:28Canada has made offers to secure a fair, comprehensive deal that would be in the best interests of Canadians.
02:37We were willing to drop our remaining retaliatory tariffs on strategic sectors, particularly steel,
02:44aluminum and autos, if the United States substantially lowered theirs to levels that made it economic
02:52for Canadian companies to export to the United States. In exchange for a fair deal, we would encourage our
03:00provinces to return U.S. alcohol to the shelves. And we would take administrative measures to protect supply
03:07management without changing the system itself, the U.S. quotas or the tariffs that would apply.
03:15There were some things we wouldn't do. We were not prepared to compromise Canada's sovereignty or to undermine our key
03:23industries.
03:24We were not prepared to compromise on our sovereignty, the protection of the French language and our culture.
03:34For our American colleagues, be clear. For my government and for Canada, these questions have never been on the table,
03:43even if the United States have tried until the last minute.
03:52Now, in recent weeks, there had been important progress made towards a possible agreement, an agreement that would have reinforced
04:03Canada's position as having the best deal in the world with the United States,
04:07including by securing the best terms for each of our most important strategic sectors and by providing greater certainty about
04:16our future trading relationship.
04:20And while we believed earlier this week that we were moving towards a mutually beneficial agreement,
04:27in recent days, the United States proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits for Canada
04:36and called into question the reliability of any deal.
04:41In short, they asked too much and they offered too little.
04:47More fundamentally, the cumulative effect of U.S. demands revealed the limits of their commitment to a true economic partnership.
04:58As I said earlier, as a result, last evening I suspended trade negotiations with the United States and directed our
05:03negotiators to return to Ottawa.
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