Prime Minister
Mark Carney
said his government is still in deep trade talks with the Trump administration despite recent comments from the United States 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 on Monday. “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 pledged to only sign a pact “that’s a good deal for Canada.”
Still, Carney acknowledged that it remains unlikely Canada can completely negotiate away Trump’s
tariffs
. On Sunday, the European Union
struck a deal
that includes a baseline tariff of 15 per cent on most of its exports to the U.S. That echoed an earlier deal with Japan, which is also facing a baseline 15 per cent U.S. tariff.
But Canada has a different trade situation than Europe does with the U.S., Carney said, pointing to the fact that Europe pledged to buy more American energy products, while Canada is a major energy exporter to its southern neighbour.
“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
, Canada’s U.S. trade minister, is expected to spend much of the week in Washington ahead of Trump’s Aug. 1 deadline, the date when the president promised to raise U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports to 35 per cent, up from 25 per cent.
LeBlanc and other senior Canadian officials were also in the U.S. capital 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
Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement
(CUSMA). White House officials have indicated that exemption would continue past Aug. 1, but said 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 Friday.
Bloomberg.com
Carney says U.S.-Canada trade negotiations at 'intense phase'
2025-07-28 15:53:40
