Canadian Steel Company CEO Says Freeland Is “Way Out Of Her League” In Tariff Talks
Barry Zekelman says there’s a deal to be had right away.
Barry Zekelman, the chair and CEO of Canadian steel company Zekelman Industries, ripped Chrystia Freeland on her approach to steel tariff negotiations with the U.S.Zekelman spoke at the Parliament building to a committee on international trade.
According to reports, here’s some of what Zekelman said:
“They have stalled and blown this big time, and our consumers and our industry in Canada is suffering because of it. We’re waiting for someone’s ego. They need to get into a room and get the deal done … whether Freeland picks up the phone and calls (U.S. Trade Representative) Robert Lighthizer and says here it is … the deal is available this afternoon. This can be solved. Literally, I can do it this afternoon. How do I know that? I’ve talked to Mr. Lighthizer myself. We could have had that a long time ago. This is the worst negotiating I’ve seen.”Zekelman also added that Lighthizer doesn’t like negotiating with Freeland:
“He can’t stand negotiating with her because she’s just not a businessperson. She’s way out of her league.”Freeland and the Trudeau Liberals have faced tremendous criticism – particularly from the Official Opposition – for not getting an end to steel tariffs in the USMCA deal.
While the government has tried to spin the deal as a good thing, the more Canadians look at the deal the more people are seeing that the U.S. got a bunch of one-sided concessions from Freeland & Trudeau, while Canada didn’t get any real concessions in return.
Spencer Fernando
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