Carney Says US-Canada Trade Negotiations at ‘Intense Phase’
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Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government is still deep in trade talks with the Trump administration despite recent comments from the U.S. president that suggested a deal with Canada wasn’t a priority.
Carney downplayed President Donald Trump’s claim last week that the U.S. is not focused on Canada and may not reach an agreement on tariffs.
“It’s a negotiation,” Carney told reporters July 28. “Take what’s said in the public domain as part of that context.”
Talks with the U.S. “are at an intense phase,” Carney said, and he reiterated his promise to sign a pact only if it’s “a good deal for Canada.”
Still, Carney again acknowledged that it remains unlikely Canada can completely negotiate away Trump’s tariffs. On July 27, the European Union struck a deal that includes a baseline tariff of 15% on most of its exports to the U.S. That echoed an earlier deal with Japan, which is also facing a baseline 15% tariff.
Gantry cranes and shipping containers at the Port of Montreal on July 12. (Andrej Ivanov/Bloomberg)
But Canada has a different trade situation than Europe does with the U.S., the prime minister said, pointing to the fact that Europe pledged to buy more American energy products, while Canada is a major energy exporter to its southern neighbor.
“There are many aspects to these negotiations,” Carney said, speaking in the Atlantic province of Prince Edward Island. “There is a landing zone that’s possible, but we have to get there, and we’ll see what happens.”
Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, is expected to spend much of the week in Washington ahead of Trump’s Aug. 1 deadline, the date on which the president promised to raise U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods to 35% from 25%.
LeBlanc and other senior Canadian officials were also in Washington last week, when they met with Republican lawmakers and highlighted the major investments Canadian pension funds make in the U.S. market.
For now, Trump has exempted most imported Canadian goods from tariffs when they’re shipped under the rules of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. White House officials have indicated that exemption would continue past Aug. 1, but the final decision rests with Trump.
Canada still faces steep U.S. tariffs and duties on autos, steel, aluminum and lumber, and Trump has threatened to impose new tariffs on copper imports as soon as Aug. 1.
Cut beams and raw logs at a sawmill near Sooke, British Columbia. (James MacDonald/Bloomberg News)
British Columbia Premier David Eby, whose province is Canada’s biggest lumber-producing region, said at a July 28 news conference that he sees potential ways to move talks forward.
“One of the opportunities that I can see, in terms of delivering a good deal for Canadians, is the softwood lumber issue,” he said. “There are proposals on the table that would bring stability to American and Canadian producers, increase profitability for American producers, provide stability for Canadians, and there’s a real chance of solving it.”
Earlier in July, Eby told Bloomberg News that Canadian officials were open to considering limits on lumber exports to the U.S., to break an impasse in a long-running dispute that’s hurting Canadian sawmills.
“I’m strongly encouraging the prime minister to see if he can take a piecemeal approach with the president and identify those wins, maybe create some momentum,” Eby said. “But who knows what’s on offer from the president?”
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