Scott Bessent warns Carney to stop 'virtue signalling' amid looming trade talks
Posted on: Apr 03, 2025 10:26 IST | Posted by: Cbc
The ruff governance is erst once more ramping up its rhetorical force per unit area on Canada, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issuing a fresh warning to Prime Minister Mark Carney over looming trade negotiations.
Bessent was at an event in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to launch what U.S. President Donald Trump has dubbed "Trump Accounts," an investment vehicle for children.
In an interview with CNBC's Sara Eisen, Bessent was asked about the rift between Trump and Carney over the prime minister's headline-grabbing speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"I would just encourage Prime Minister Carney to do what he thinks is best for the Canadian people, not his own virtue signaling, because we do have a USMCA negotiation coming up," Bessent said, using the American acronym for the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
"I would not pick a fight going into USMCA to score some cheap political points," he added.
Bessent said that Carney "rose to power on an anti-American, anti-Trump message, and that's not a great place to be when you're negotiating with an economy that is multiples larger than you are and your biggest trading partner."
Carney denies U.S. Claims he walked back Davos speech
After slapping tariffs on a range of Canadian exports to the U.S. In 2025, the Trump White House has of late been threatening significant changes to CUSMA as the deal comes up for review this year.
Those threatened changes run all the way up to Trump suggesting the U.S. Doesn't need the agreement at all, despite widespread support for it among American industries.
At Wednesday's event, Bessent also took a swipe at Carney's transition to politics after serving as governor of both the Bank of England and Bank of Canada.
"In my investment career, I've seen what happens when a technocrat tries to pivot and become a politician. It never really works out well," he said.
Bessent's latest comments come on the heels of claiming that Carney walked back what he said in Davos during a phone call with Trump.
On Tuesday, Carney denied recanting his message. "To be absolutely clear, and I said this to the president, I meant what I said in Davos," Carney told reporters on Parliament Hill.
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