Both Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Donald Trump were in Asia. Prime Minister Carney visited Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea; he addressed the ASEAN Summit at his first stop. His address to the Association of South East Asian Nations lasted about five minutes. His speech was generally meaningless, included buzzwords from the late-20th-century free-trade model with an ESG-DEI overlay. Such words as multilateralism, a rule-based system, sustainability, and inclusivity were sprinkled throughout. He repeated his “rupture” comment and, at times, seemed to plead. .MacBAIN: Parks Canada gets it wrong, again.The one significant point was that our prime minister promised $25 million in technical assistance for a free trade deal with ASEAN — though not a large sum, still it is $25 million we do not have.The free trade deal with ASEAN is not expected until 2026; delays are normal. He has a Letter of Intent with Malaysia, which is an agreement to possibly negotiate a future agreement. Also, he has agreed to begin talks with the Philippines on a free trade agreement. Taken together, these developments mean he secured nothing that will help Canada now. .In South Korea, Prime Minister Carney addressed the APEC CEO Summit (a gathering of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders and business CEOs). APEC has long promoted free trade deals. His speech mentioned the same buzzwords as his ASEAN address. He briefly mentioned “a new partnership between government and business.” Further, he announced a new partnership for security and defense with South Korea — no details or timeline were provided. This is also where Prime Minister Carney met China’s President Xi, but nothing was settled, and they agreed to meet next year. So again, nothing immediate.President Trump visited Malaysia for the ASEAN Summit, where he presided over a peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia that ended their border war, and signed trade deals with Malaysia and Cambodia, which included an agreement on rare earths. In Japan, he met the emperor, newly elected Prime Minister Takaichi, and secured $550 billion in US investments. .NEUMANN: Alberta’s democracy needs some sober second thought.In South Korea, he attended the APEC CEO Summit, met with President Lee Jae-myung, and secured a $50 billion deal for purchasing American products, along with partnerships for upgrading US shipyards and South Korea’s defense aircraft. While in South Korea, President Trump also met China’s President Xi Jinping; they agreed on a framework for a one-year lessening of trade tension, including China’s suspension of export controls (including on rare earths), controlling fentanyl precursor chemicals, purchasing US soybeans, and a large expansion in agricultural goods purchases, the sale of TikTok to the US, and the US suspending restrictions on select Chinese firms and reducing tariffs. In short, Trump returned to the US with concrete deals..One can only speculate on why the Asian countries brushed off Prime Minister Carney for at least a year. Certainly, they are aware of his poor performance on securing a trade deal with the US and the higher tariffs imposed on Canadian goods. Worse still, Canada should have been at the front of the line in making a deal, given our proximity and long-time strong relations with the US. The prime minister and the mainstream media seek to shift the blame onto President Trump. It was Carney and the Liberals who wanted a fight because they could not run in the last election on the government’s record. .BEST: Judges are remaking Constitutional law, not applying it, and Canadians’ property rights are part of the collateral damage.Mark Carney, when still Governor of the Bank of England, revealed his anti-American stance in his speech in Jackson Hole on August 23, 2019. In that speech, he proposed ending the US dollar’s role as the world’s reserved currency, promoting the use of China’s Renminbi and the Euro, and creating a new digital reserve with the IMF at the centre. This was an insult to the UK, as he did not include the British pound even though the Brexit referendum had been approved. The IMF is heavily criticized for its one-size-fits-all mentality and its poor track record of predicting or preventing financial crises; moreover, a one-world digital currency should alarm every reader. Mark Carney, when campaigning, positioned himself as the man with the experience and expertise to expand Canada’s economic base and successfully negotiate with President Trump. Trade talks with the US are now paused; and according to his accomplishments in Asia, he proves to be just another bureaucrat who has been promoted beyond his competency. Dr. A.W. Barber is the former Director of Asian Studies at the University of Calgary. He is internationally active and has wide-ranging interests.
