“As leader of the Green Party of Canada my reaction is one of shock,” said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. “It had seemed we were close to some sort of deal, and the question for Canadians this morning would be “is this a fair deal?

“But now, the questions are around the credibility gap between what US officials claim and what Canada’s team is saying. What we know is this: Trump has violated the CUSMA agreement he agreed to in the last round of talks. In any question of credibility, I believe Canadian negotiators. We must stand firm as Canadians. And I take the prime minister at his word. He promised “no deal is better than a bad deal.” Greens stand with Team Canada. If we walked away, then that speaks for itself. This was a bad deal. We stand with all sectors and workers impacted by this. And our efforts must be directed to protect those impacted by US actions that violate trade rules.

“We support actions by our government, but we call for a more strategic response. Dollar for dollar retaliation is reasonable, but insufficient. Retaliatory tariffs hurt consumers. When you are in a boxing ring with a bully, a bully with an economy roughly 12 times the size of Canada, our push back has to be targeted to where it hits that bully in ways that cause pain. It is time for strategic reserves for Canadian aluminum, potash, and wood products. Holding back resources the US wants will hit their industries in key districts the US President needs in upcoming midterms. It is time to stop expansion of fossil fuel exports to the US — as all proposed pipelines will do. We must be far less reliant on fossil fuels with their concomitant increased competition with the US in Trump’s fantasy markets. We must  boost electrification of clean steel production for European and other markets. We need to consider export tariffs on Canadian raw resources to the US, including energy. There are things we can do that will build our economic sovereignty. It is time to go beyond an eye for an eye to a real shift in our subservient relationship with the USA. Elbows up.”

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