OTTAWA — Top Conservative and Liberal MPs are downplaying U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s comments dumping on Canada’s strategy heading into major trade talks with the U.S. and Mexico.
But former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig insists that while Lutnick spoke crudely, he has a point about the risks posed by Ottawa’s outreach to China amid the crucial trade talks.
Lutnick turned heads in Ottawa last week when he told a panel event it would be a bad strategy for Ottawa to wait out the clock to reach a good deal with the Donald Trump administration.
“That is like the worst strategy I’ve ever heard. They suck,” Lutnick said on Friday, insisting the president views the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement as a bad deal that must be “reimagined.”
Asked by reporters Tuesday what he made of Lutnick’s comments, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said it “sounds like more bluster to me.”
Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, told reporters in French that he talked with Lutnick “at length” last week, but the commerce secretary didn’t make any such comments when the two spoke.
Canada is primed for major talks with the Americans and Mexicans on a review of the continental free trade pact. But United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has said he doesn’t expect negotiations on the review to be resolved by July.
Lutnick made his comments in reaction to Canada’s former top trade negotiator Steve Verheul saying “Canada is in a good position” and “time is on our side because I think the pressures on the U.S. are only going to increase over time.”
“It’s really a question of Canada being prepared to wait this out a bit,” Verheul said during a Bank of Montreal panel on April 8.
Lutnick also said it was a mistake for Prime Minister Mark Carney to travel to Beijing in January and make a deal on electric vehicle import tariffs.
“Carney has a problem with us. He gets on a plane and he goes to China. Does he think the Chinese economy is going to buy his stuff? China is entirely an export-driven economy,” Lutnick asserted. “Is this nuts?”
At a Chamber of Commerce event in Ottawa, Kovrig said Lutnick’s comments on Canada-China trade were abrasive and crude but “not wrong.”
Kovrig said Ottawa is making a “risky play” by engaging with China at a crucial time for continental trade talks, since Canada remains economically dependent on the U.S.
The former envoy, famously imprisoned by China for more than 1,000 days, now serves as a consultant on geopolitics.
Kovrig said that while it might be tempting to play the Beijing card in negotiations with the Americans, that’s not likely to be helpful.
“If anything, it makes Canada look unreliable to an already disgruntled party,” he said.
“The risk is that Canada just becomes a footnote in the story that China is writing and they instrumentalize Canada to weaken Western alliances, to weaken the United States and ultimately achieve their own objectives.”
Candace Laing, head of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said Lutnick’s comments were “frustrating” but they shouldn’t “rattle” Canadians.
“We are engaged in the relationship and I think our opinion of that matters much more than the commerce secretary’s opinion,” she said.
Poilievre criticized the prime minister for not explaining to Canadians how his government plans to go about renegotiating Canada’s most important trade pact.
“If he wants it renegotiated, does he want a full overhaul? A few tweaks?” Poilievre asked reporters.
“What are his demands? Has he waved the white flag on getting rid of the tariffs on aluminum, steel, autos and lumber, or is he still fighting that fight?”
LeBlanc said in French that Canada has “already started” talks with the Trump administration on the free trade pact and that it’s “going well.”
The minister noted Canada’s chief trade negotiator Janice Charette recently travelled to Washington, and Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S. Mark Wiseman was in Ottawa this week and met with him on Monday.
He said officials from both sides text each other frequently and sometimes hold video meetings.
LeBlanc took few questions and quickly fled the scrum area after he talked up the government’s newly announced Canada-U.S. trade council.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2026
— With files from Catherine Morrison
Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press
