Was Prime Minister Mark Carney “nuts” to make a deal to import electric vehicles from China? That’s what Howard Lutnick says. “Carney has a problem with us,” the U.S. Commerce Secretary told a conference audience April 17. “He gets on a plane and he goes to China. Does he think the Chinese economy’s gonna buy his stuff? China is entirely an export-driven economy!”
Lutnick’s style was crude, his attitude abrasive. The deal he trashed was arguably a rational tactic to buy Canada’s canola sector some short-term breathing space. But on the challenges of trading with China, he wasn’t wrong.
