Oh Canada - again!?!

"We need to get back to the art of the deal, and not have other countries think we are trying to execute the art of the steal. One other rule of negotiations I learned. Never negotiate over the phone. Way too easy to say no. We need Trump and Carney to meet face to face and hammer this thing out. Egos need to be checked at the door, and a reasonable deal needs to be struck. The American people, the Canadian people, expect no less."

I got my big break as a negotiator because of one very important thing - I knew how to get along with the person sitting on the other side of the table. Now that does not mean that things were always love and kisses - the person on the other side of the table knew where his bread was buttered, and so did I. But my big break happened when just the opposite happened of getting along with the other side.

I was one of a few contract types who was working on the company's largest contract. The contract I really wanted to work on was being handled by one of the groups more senior and experienced administrators. But this man was a bit of a hothead. He was at the customer's facility in a very important negotiation. Things got heated, and then our company's representative blew his cool. Told the customer he was going to break his arm off and then feed it to him. And just like that, I was called into the boss's office and told I was getting that contract. Why? I knew how to get along with people. And thus started my real career.

Why bring this up? Canada. Donald Trump. Mark Carney. We really don't need another war right now, even if it is only a tariff war. Canada is our biggest trading partner. Of any country on this planet, the USA and Canada are the closest alike. Getting along with Canada should be as easy as getting out of bed in the morning. But it is not. Where does the blame lie for not getting the trade deal done? With Donald Trump? With Mark Carney? With both? With neither? 

There are two major lessons I learned as a negotiator. First, a "no deal" is better than a bad deal. That being said, lesson number two was a deadlock in a negotiation was a failure on everybody's part. What happened in the Canada trade negotiation was a deadlock. To be followed on with punitive tariffs. Who really loses? Everybody - especially the consumer who will have to pay more for goods they need. 

Earlier in Trump's second term, he floated the idea of reciprocal tariffs. If another country charged us fifty percent tariffs - we would charge them fifty percent back. If another country charged us zero percent tariffs - we would charge them zero back. Easy peasy and very fair (so I thought). What happened to that plan? Was it that Congress had SCOTUS rule against Trump's tariffs? I don't know - all I know right now is we have a mess with Canada.

We need to get back to the art of the deal, and not have other countries think we are trying to execute the art of the steal. One other rule of negotiations I learned. Never negotiate over the phone. Way too easy to say no. We need Trump and Carney to meet face to face and hammer this thing out. Egos need to be checked at the door, and a reasonable deal needs to be struck. The American people, the Canadian people, expect no less.