Canada Us Trade Deal Poll Shows 66% Doubt Trump Will Comply
Canadians are split on whether a new trade deal with the United States should come quickly, and the canada us trade deal poll shows 66% do not trust Donald Trump to abide by one. Abacus Data shared the results exclusively with the Toronto Star, and the poll suggests many Canadians would rather wait for a better agreement than settle fast.
Only 24% of respondents said Canada should get a deal done as quickly as possible even if it required concessions not ideal for Canada’s economy. Seventy% said Mark Carney should take time to get a better deal, and David Coletto said, “The public’s basically saying, take the time needed to get a good deal rather than rush into a weaker one, and then a big part of that is because there’s a lot of doubt that even if we got a deal that the Trump administration would live by it.”
Mark Carney and Trump
Fifty-eight% of respondents said Mark Carney is handling negotiations well, while 34% said he is handling them poorly. Coletto said, “That shows the government, generally speaking, has a lot of, right now anyways, public social licence to do this, to follow through on the strategy it’s taken,” a reading that fits a public willing to tolerate a slower process if it improves the result.
The poll also found that 26% said they were confident the White House would abide by the terms of a new agreement, while 66% said they were not confident and 38% said they were not confident at all. That split leaves Carney with support for patience, but it also shows how little room exists for a deal that looks quick and fragile.
Canada-U.S. Trade Talks
The Carney government says talks are ongoing with high-level officials in the Trump administration, but substantive negotiations between Canada and the United States have not yet taken place. Canada wants the United States to lift sectoral tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos and lumber, and Carney has said the United States breached the free trade pact with its tariffs on Canada.
Carney has also pushed for a substantive and comprehensive agreement on trade irritants ahead of a review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement. The poll suggests Canadians are willing to give that approach time, even while the trade dispute continues to hang over the talks and no imminent deal has emerged.
The next pressure point is the review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, where Carney’s strategy will be tested against a public that prefers a better deal over a faster one.
