Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke over the phone with Donald Trump on Monday afternoon ahead of the U.S. president’s tariff deadline.
While CTV News has confirmed the conversation took place, the Prime Minister’s Office would not provide further details, other than that the conversation was about “the ongoing trade negotiations.”
Thanks to an executive order from Trump, punishing 50 per cent tariffs are set to go into effect just after midnight on Wednesday, Aug. 19. Targeting US$20 billion worth of Canadian products, the tariffs would apply to a range of goods, including cement and hockey sticks.
‘Our job is not yet done’
On Monday, Carney described ongoing trade negotiations with the U.S. as “very intense and delicate.” Speaking in French, he added that Ottawa has plans to “cover all eventualities” if the new round of sweeping tariffs is imposed.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and chief trade negotiator Janice Charette also met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Washington on Monday.
“We’re going to continue working,” LeBlanc said after meetings on Monday. “Our job is not yet done.”
When announcing the latest tariffs, Trump claimed that Canada continues to discriminate against U.S. exports like autos, alcohol and cheese. Canada and China were also the only countries to impose retaliatory tariffs in the wake of U.S. levies last year.
“If a country retaliates against us, we’re obviously not going to tolerate that,” Greer told reporters on Friday in Iowa. “We’ll take action. My sense is the Canadians, they want to have a more conciliatory approach, but we’ll see.”
‘Tariffs would damage both economies’
The latest round of tariffs also comes as the U.S. renegotiates CUSMA, its continental trade pact with Canada and Mexico.
In a statement on Tuesday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged Canada and the United States to reach a deal that avoids new tariffs.
“As we approach this week’s deadline of potential new tariffs on Canadian goods, we encourage U.S. and Canadian officials to continue to engage in constructive dialogue designed to address areas of concern in the current trade relationship and to avoid the imposition of new tariffs,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce senior vice-president for the Americas Neil Herrington said.
“The introduction of higher tariffs would damage both economies, drive up costs for U.S. families, further disrupt critical supply chains, and risk the 13 million American jobs that depend on trade under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement.”
With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
