Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc left a high-stakes meeting in Washington on Monday saying the work will continue toward a deal to avoid a punishing new round of American tariffs.
“Our job is not yet done,” LeBlanc said, ducking into a car and avoiding reporters’ questions about how the talks are going and whether a deal is possible before the tariffs are set to take effect just after midnight on Wednesday.
LeBlanc and Janice Charette, the chief trade negotiator, sat down with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Monday. Greer left the nearly two-hour meeting without comment.
LeBlanc and Charette have been in Washington since last week and are hoping to carve out a deal that would halt those tariffs and provide relief on existing tariffs targeting industries such as steel, aluminum and lumber.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he expects to speak with U.S. President Donald Trump before the Wednesday deadline.
Speaking to reporters in St. John’s, Carney declined to say what he thinks a good deal would look like, but said in French that the federal government has a plan that “will cover all eventualities” if the latest round of tariffs are imposed.
He added that the negotiations “are very intense and delicate.”
Carney said when he gets the president on the phone, he planned to tell him about a new deal between Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec that will see the provinces launch new hydro, wind and transmission projects worth some $50 billion, creating an estimated 23,000 jobs in the process.
It’s “the type of generational investment that gets everyone’s attention, even the president of the United States,” Carney said, adding he may even offer Trump a translation of the phrase “maîtres chez nous”—masters in our own home—calling it “a lesson.”
“And then we’ll have a good discussion about the opportunities together,” Carney said.
Talks between the two countries have intensified since Trump signed an executive order on July 20 to impose 50 percent levies on a range of Canadian goods worth around $28 billion, including exports of honey, hockey sticks, cement and wine.
The Canadian Beekeepers Federation said Monday the tariff would be devastating, and would likely cause prices to crash and force farms into bankruptcy. As much as 60 percent of Canadian honey exports go to the United States.
Trump’s latest tariffs are in response to Canada’s provincial bans on American alcohol, the supply-managed dairy system and quotas on some U.S. vehicles.
Those trade irritants have been raised repeatedly by the Americans during talks about the future of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade.
The bans on U.S. liquor—which remain in place in eight provinces—and vehicle quotas were put in place in retaliation for Trump’s early rounds of tariffs.
Dairy Farmers of Canada warned last week against any concessions on dairy, arguing that “a bad deal is not worth the cost.”
Several premiers have said they’re not interested in putting American alcohol back on the shelves. Last week, Ontario’s Doug Ford said he’d be willing to make that concession in return for a “fair deal” on sectors hit hard by Trump’s existing tariffs.
LeBlanc has met several times with Greer over the last week, including virtually for an hour on Sunday, a meeting LeBlanc’s spokesperson described as constructive.
Despite the intensified talks, Canadian officials who were briefed by LeBlanc after his meeting with Greer on Friday said it appeared the two sides were not close to a deal.
On Monday, Ford said his province is prepared for “any and every scenario.”
“This is why I have been pushing so hard for a united Team Canada response to this attack on Canadian workers, on Canadian sovereignty, Canadian communities. We need to stick together,” Ford said in an address to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario in Ottawa.
The Conservative critic for Canada-U.S. relations said his party is also firmly part of Team Canada on Monday.
In a statement, Shuvaloy Majumdar called the latest tariffs “unjustified and illegal” and said the Trump administration is “tough and often unpredictable.”
“We have grown tired of seeing our country used as a punching bag. Yet we share a common hope that Prime Minister (Mark) Carney will deliver a genuine win at the negotiating table,” Majumdar said.
