But Howard Lutnick seemed furious.
asserted
Lutnick → seem → ?
It was early March 2025, the final days of Justin Trudeau’s prime ministership, and the trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump had only just begun.
asserted
war → begin → Trump
Ottawa had struck back with retaliatory tariffs against the first volley of U.S. import duties.
asserted
Ottawa → strike → duties
Two days later, Trudeau and his advisers gathered in his office for a phone call with the American president, according to two Canadian officials with knowledge of what happened, who agreed to speak about sensitive discussions on the condition they weren’t identified.
uncertain
they → gather → condition
During the conversation, which both officials described as heated, Trump brought in Vice President JD Vance and Lutnick, the New York billionaire who serves as commerce secretary.
asserted
who → describe → secretary
The Americans spoke of how they would now exempt goods from tariffs if they complied with the North American trade deal that Trump had signed during his first term.
asserted
Trump → speak → term
As it turned out, Ottawa still saw the remaining tariffs as an unjustified violation of the trade deal, and would therefore still retaliate.
asserted
Ottawa → turn → deal
This, according to both officials, is what offended the Americans — and nobody more so than Lutnick.
uncertain
what → accord → Lutnick
One of the officials said Lutnick sounded shocked and angry, expressing fury that Canada had the gall to strike back when the U.S. was softening its position.
asserted
U.S. → say → position
The second official described Lutnick as “losing his s — t,” and said his tone became “bananas” over the course of the call.
asserted
tone → describe → call
“He’s a guy whose basic instinct is to revert to anger,” they said.
asserted
they → ’ → anger
That perception of Lutnick has hardened since Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended trade talks with the Trump administration in August, declaring the U.S. had “attacked” Canada with last-minute demands that would have eroded the country’s independence.
asserted
that → harden → independence
Sources have told the Star and other media that Lutnick was a factor in the collapse of negotiations, particularly over the exclusion of trucks made in Oshawa and Oakville from American tariff relief that was on the table, while the commerce secretary and other American officials blamed the Canadian side for unreasonably pushing too hard and walking away from the best deal in Trump’s new world of tariffs and trade transactions.
asserted
secretary → tell → tariffs
The latest U.S. tariffs on more than 700 Canadian products took effect last month.
asserted
tariffs → take → effect
The latest U.S. tariffs on more than 700 Canadian products took effect last month.
asserted
tariffs → take → effect
Regardless of what happened, observers — including some with direct knowledge of Lutnick as an American interlocutor — see in the commerce secretary the embodiment of the Trump administration’s transactional negotiating approach.
asserted
observers → happen → approach
Brash, slick-haired, cocksure, the erstwhile Manhattan financier was a key player in jockeying over the Gordie Howe International Bridge, which saw the U.S. extract further concessions from Canada allowing the opening of the $6.4-billion structure, which was financed entirely by Ottawa.
asserted
which → jockey → Ottawa
Last year, behind closed doors at a conference in Toronto, Lutnick declared Canada should find something else to build in Ontario’s car-making heartland, since the U.S. planned to dominate the auto sector and “there is nothing Canada can do about it.”
asserted
Canada → declare → it
Portraying Lutnick as the villain in the relationship would be simplistic, however.
asserted
Portraying → portray → relationship
He can be charming and pleasant to deal with, said one Canadian official, adding that Lutnick’s bluster can also be read as a performance, and a tactic to accomplish his goals.
asserted
bluster → deal → goals
But the official said it’s also true that Lutnick can turn on a dime, and show the edge and intensity of a ruthless New York dealmaker.
asserted
Lutnick → say → dealmaker
“He’ll stab you in the stomach while smiling in your face,” the official said.
asserted
official → stab → face
Lutnick’s office did not respond to requests for comment from the Star.
asserted
office → respond → Star
It’s getting harder to believe that the president is a symptom rather than the cause of what’s gone off the rails in the U.S., Susan Delacourt writes.
asserted
Delacourt → get → U.S.
It’s getting harder to believe that the president is a symptom rather than the cause of what’s gone off the rails in the U.S., Susan Delacourt writes.
asserted
Delacourt → get → U.S.
‘The most Trumpian member of Trump’s cabinet’
Lutnick, 65, came to politics after a long career in the New York financial world.
asserted
member → come → world
He helped raise money for Trump’s 2024 presidential run, and co-chaired his transition back to the White House as Trump met with petitioners at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
asserted
Trump → help → Florida
A profile in The New Yorker described him as “the most Trumpian member of Trump’s cabinet,” and Lutnick has seemed to embrace the president’s style and mercantilist world view.
asserted
Lutnick → describe → style
On a podcast in 2025, he echoed Trump’s notion of a halcyon era of high tariffs in the U.S., when taxes on imports filled government coffers in the absence of personal income tax.
asserted
taxes → echo → tax
Accounts of Lutnick’s past describe his ascent in the 1980s and 1990s at the New York investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald.
asserted
Accounts → describe → firm
By his mid-thirties he had control of the firm following a bitter succession battle with the widow of the company’s founder, in which Lutnick was accused in the New York Times of staging a “palace coup.”
asserted
Lutnick → have → coup
One Canadian official said that Carney’s lead cabinet minister on U.S. trade, Dominic LeBlanc, established a solid relationship with Lutnick in early 2025.
asserted
minister → say → 2025
The pair texted often and got along well, the official said, even as the trade war heated up.
asserted
war → texte → ?
But Canadians have observed Lutnick’s forcefulness in trade talks.
asserted
Canadians → observe → talks
He has been seen as trying to assert dominance through his oversight of sectoral tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and autos — import duties the Trump administration justifies on “national security” grounds.
asserted
administration → see → grounds
“He’s outrageous.
asserted
He → ’ → ?
He yells.
asserted
He → yell → ?
The way he talks in public is like he talks in private.
asserted
he → talk → public
He can be extremely aggressive, unlike Trump, who in private is never really aggressive,” one former official said.
asserted
official → say → private
“I think he is driven by the desire to be the top dog, be admired by the president, to always come out on top.”
asserted
he → think → top
…and 30 more, not listed.
The Aporia
