Because WE were being idiots. Demands that were non-starters right out of the gate. Restricting Canada's right to negotiate trade deals as a sovereign nation? Really? Plus pushing on domestic policies that were none of our business? Yeah, I would have walked away from the table, too.

No. The French language thing was a lie Carney made up:

montrealgazette.com - US trade french labelling sources
U.S. targeted streaming rules in trade talks, not Quebec’s French label laws: sources
The French issue went on to become the latest flashpoint in Canada-U.S. relations.

The U.S. did not target Quebec’s French-language rules on products in the final stages of trade talks, coming in contradiction to what Premier Christine Fréchette told reporters, according to two Canadian government sources familiar with the negotiations.

The dispute was over rules requiring streaming platforms to give Canadian-made content more prominence in Canada, including French-language content, with the U.S. wanting those rules scaled back, the sources said. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, meanwhile, maintained Wednesday that French was not a dealbreaker for them and the U.S. did not seek final changes to the deal.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Mark Carney disclosed that among the handful of reasons he had pulled out of trade negotiations, U.S. demands threatened Canadian language and culture, including French.

Secondly, as far as restricting Canada's rights - have you noticed they've provided zero examples? Canada keeps dumping cheap steel and aluminum into the US market under the asupices of current trade deals and that's a big no-no. We don't want Chinese components being re-packaged as supposed "safe" Canadian goods and ending up in our critical supply chains. That's really and truly what this is all about.

Not "denying them their rights as a nation" or some other thing that Carney is trying to sell to his voting public: the United States wants a hardened supply chain that puts an end to dependence on China. Carney on the other hands, wants MORE deals with them.

That's the fundamental loggerhead here.

I'm pretty sure they do. I've cited specific examples to the contrary. They have zero clue how their energy and seafood sectors work, to name two.