Video taking off 16x its usual first day

Canada's trade negotiator: Washington asked too much, offered too little

At the Toronto Global Forum, Janice Charette tells Brian Tobin why the summer talks collapsed and why Canada should not wait for the old relationship to return.

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Hook Global Story of October 23, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 201,178 views a day, 16 times a normal first day on this channel (12,568).

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2:13Charette says daily cross-border trade still works, despite political friction at the top.
6:55Why the July-August talks failed: the U.S. asked too much and offered too little.
8:47Formal talks are paused, but informal discussions continue: "the pens are down and the doors are open."
12:44She does not expect a return to fully tariff-free trade with the United States.
16:30Her advice to business: more trade inside Canada and new markets abroad.
21:53On autos: "Canada will be a country that builds cars," followed by three requests for business leaders.

Janice Charette does not soften her account of what went wrong. Canada's chief U.S. trade negotiator tells Brian Tobin that the intensive talks of July and August fell through for a simple reason: the United States asked for too much, and what it offered was not enough.

The conversation took place at the Toronto Global Forum, and Hook Global's upload carries footage credited to CPAC. Charette brings long government experience to the stage: she is a former Clerk of the Privy Council, Canada's most senior public servant. Tobin, who introduces her, is a former Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and now vice chair of BMO Financial Group.

Formal negotiations have stopped, but Charette insists contact has not. "The pens are down and the doors are open," she says. Nor does she treat the U.S. midterms as a reset button: "President Trump will be president after the midterm elections."

Her bigger message is about what comes next. "I don't think we're going back," she says, describing a transition to a new trading relationship rather than a pause before the old one returns. For business, that means less reliance on one market. She calls heavy exposure to a single client or supplier a risk and urges more trade within Canada and more customers abroad.

The auto industry gets the most direct answer of the session. Asked how to reassure manufacturers hearing doubts from Washington, Charette replies, "Canada will be a country that builds cars," and Tobin calls it "a hell of a good answer." She also reminds the room of Canada's leverage south of the border: "We're their number one customer. The customer is always right."

She closes with three requests for the business leaders in the audience: keep talking to government, keep investing at home and make Canada's case to American partners. Her shorthand for the second point is "let's not over-rotate."

The 27-minute session drew about 87,000 views in its first seven hours, a far faster start than the channel's longer videos usually get. In the comments, many viewers thank Charette by name.

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