United States President Donald Trump
called a trade agreement with Canada “achievable,” but says he still favours maintaining
tariffs on Canada
as negotiators from both countries discussed a potential agreement ahead of the first full day of meetings between leaders of the
Group of Seven
nations in Kananaskis, Alta., on Monday.
Trump called trade with Canada a “primary focus” as he headed into a closed-door meeting with Prime Minister
Mark Carney
, but said the two men have “different concepts” for a potential agreement on trade.
“I have a tariff concept, Mark has a different concept, which is something that some people like, but we’re going to see if we can get to the bottom of it today,” he told reporters ahead of the highly anticipated bilateral between the two countries.
“I’m a tariff person. I’ve always been a tariff (person). It’s simple, it’s easy, it’s precise and it just goes very quickly. Mark has a more complex idea, but also very good. So we’re going to look at both and we’re going to come out with something ultimately.”
Asked about the timeline for a potential agreement, Trump only said that a deal was “achievable,” but that both parties would have to agree, as officials including U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra, Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman and
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc
joined the two leaders heading into the meeting.
The mood at the outset of the bilateral meeting appeared upbeat, with key members of the U.S. delegation, including Trump, sporting lapel pins featuring either a Canadian flag or a maple leaf.
Ottawa has been eager to strike an agreement to lift U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, including those on steel, aluminum and the auto industry, with the two sides reportedly swapping proposals in recent days to set out details of a potential deal.
The Carney government elected not to increase counter-tariffs on U.S. goods after Trump hiked tariffs on imports of foreign steel and aluminum to 50 per cent, but the prime minister has warned that further retaliation is possible.
At Monday’s joint press conference, Carney said the summit marks the 50th anniversary of the G7 and that the forum was “nothing without U.S. leadership.”
In a tacit acknowledgement of the fraught nature of G7 gatherings in Trump’s first term — including a now-notorious episode from the 2018 summit in La Malbaie, Que., when he refused to support the joint communiqué — Canada’s organizers have elected to take a different approach and the summit will forgo the traditional joint statement in favour of a potential series of short ones.
Aside from expected conversations about the unfolding crisis in the Middle East that drove
crude oil prices
higher following attacks by
Israel
and
Iran
over the weekend, the unofficial priority for many G7 leaders will be advancing discussions with the U.S. over tariffs.
Canada will be pushing for all U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports to be withdrawn, which Carney has said undermine the
Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement
, which Trump signed in 2020.
Despite Canada’s cross-border trade with the U.S. escaping Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs announced in early April, the lingering uncertainty about trade has dealt a blow to Canada’s economic outlook.
The country already has had rising
unemployment
, plummeting consumer confidence and persistent hesitancy around business investment since the spring, according to a recent note by RBC Economics.
Still, Canada may be feeling more optimistic than some other G7 members.
The average effective tariff on U.S. imports from Canada was 2.3 per cent per cent in April, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, up significantly from effectively zero in January, but still the lowest of any major U.S. trading partner.
• Email: mpotkins@postmedia.com
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Trump says he still favours tariffs against Canada as negotiators sit down at G7
2025-06-16 18:01:16
