Lutnick Rejects Canada’s China Tilt, Sees Summer USMCA Talks (1)

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick dismissed as “political noise” the moves in recent days by Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney to strengthen trade relations with China, and raised the risk of that maneuver seeping into talks over a revamped North American trade accord later this year.

“Do you think China is going to open their economy to accept exports from Canada? This is the silliest thing I’ve ever seen,” Lutnick said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Thursday while attending the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland.

Carney last week reached a deal with China’s President Xi Jinping that opened ...