Amid Trade Deal Collapse, ABC Pushes PM Carney’s Anti-American Spin

Jorge Bonilla
August 23rd, 2026 6:04 PM

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In a brief report long on speculative doom and short on facts and data, ABC News, once again, instinctively took the side oppositional to the Trump administration. This time, the Disney subsidiary parroted the spin of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney while reporting on the collapse of a potential deal between the United States and Canada.

Watch the report as it opened ABC’s This Week on Sunday, August 23rd, 2006:

 

 

ABC THIS WEEK WITH GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS

8/23/26

9:02 AM

JON KARL: Good morning. Welcome to This Week. We will get to our exclusive interview with Texas Governor Greg Abbott in a moment. But we begin with breaking news involving America's relationship with our closest ally. This weekend tense trade negotiations broke down, triggering major new U.S. tariffs against Canada, with the Canadian Prime Minister vowing to match those tariffs dollar for dollar. Prime minister Mark Carney declaring, quote, “America has changed”. Let's get right to Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott at The White House. Good morning, Rachel. We seem to be witnessing a breakdown in relations which- with Canada that seems to go beyond trade.

RACHEL SCOTT: Yes, John, good morning to you. And this really did come down to the wire. These talks completely collapsing between the U.S. and Canada. And this morning, Americans are now bracing for an all-out trade war with one of our closest allies and also our neighbor to the north. So President Trump has now imposed a 50 percent tariff on about $20 billion in Canadian goods. He says that Canada wants the benefits of being a state without actually being one. Well Mark Carney, Canada's Prime Minister, is not backing down. He says that Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar imposing tariffs on a sweeping amount of goods, apparel, electronics, paper goods and steel. And that would start on September 8th. So that means for Americans here at home, they could see prices increase. We could also see small businesses be hit. But John listen, you mentioned it here. And this goes far beyond trade because this also impacts our relationship with Canada. And Carney did not mince words. He says that America is attacking Canada at one point, even comparing it to being at war with America. Jon.

That’s it. There is no further context or analysis on the trade deal, no interview with our trade representatives…or even a Canadian representative, for that matter, to get to the bottom of why the Trump-announced deal failed at the last minute. There is only fearmongering about costs- which is a political message ahead of the midterms.

The truth is that there are bits and pieces of information trickling out which seem to indicate where the deal went bad. But that would’ve involved basic research, and the sort of nuanced reporting that is beyond the interest level of the Elitist Media.

Here’s the Obama-era United States Trade Representative, Mike Froman, providing some perspective on CNN. He hints as to what the major holdup may have been, and you’ll know it when you Xi it.

 

 

MIKE FROMAN: Um, but you know, issues like the Canadian dairy system has been a bone of contention between the U.S. and Canada for, for decades. And I imagine it continues to be one today. I think the new issue is that the Trump administration is pressing Canada, as well as other countries, to adopt a common approach vis-a-vis China, whether it's a common external tariff or export controls, or ensuring that the Chinese products- inputs don't get inserted into products in Canada that will then be imported into the United States. And that's a new set of trade issues. And Prime Minister Carney has noted that that goes against their sovereign right to establish relationships with other countries. So that's going to be an issue of contention that the administration is going to continue to have to have dialog with- with Canada and with other countries over time.

We’ve known about access to dairy, but access to China is a more recent development. There is broad U.S. concern over the idea that Chinese products might get absorbed into Canada as a means of bypassing U.S. export controls. And Prime Minister Carney has made clear what he thinks about Canada’s new relationship and trade deal with China:

 

 

Then there’s the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, issuing a stern warning about allowing Chinese auto manufacturers into Canada:

 

 

There is much going on beneath the surface of the failed trade talks that has not been communicated to the public yet. Spitting out the same old Trump-deranged talking points in the absence of actual reporting on why the trade was rejected serves no purpose in support of the public good. No purpose, that is, other than a political one less than three months from a midterm election.

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