Donald Trump’s administration has announced plans for fresh tariffs on hundreds of Canadian goods. Covering close to $28 billion in goods, and with none of the exemptions previously covered under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), the new tariffs are a clear escalation in the American president’s beef with Canada.

This move has reignited calls for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government to strike a deal with the United States to end the ongoing trade war. Some are even calling for Canada to offer more concessions if it will help secure a trade deal.

The problem, however, is that Trump’s deals don’t amount to much.

The issue is not that Trump’s deals are typically short on detail — though they are. Nor is the issue that they contain vague and ambiguous language — though they do. Nor is it that they have tenuous relationship to law — none of Trump’s trade deals during his second term have been ratified by U.S. Congress.

The problem is that Trump himself never feels constrained by any deal he makes.

Countries that sign deals with the Trump administration are quickly finding out that the stability and certainty they hoped to purchase was an illusion.

A tenuous deal with the EU

Last summer, the U.S. and the European Union reached what was called the Turnberry deal after months of conflict over trade. As part of the deal, the EU would accept a punishing U.S. tariff of 15 per cent and commit to purchasing hundreds of billions in American........

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