LeBlanc has ’constructive’ meeting with U.S. counterpart as trade talks continue

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc had a constructive [and] lengthy meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Washington on Tuesday morning, the minister’s office said.

The meeting comes as the two countries have yet to reach some sort of trade agreement since U.S. President Donald Trump began his tariff campaign after returning to the White House in January.

Tuesday’s meeting between the two was meant to last an hour, but went for 90 minutes, sources told CBC News.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced last Friday that Canada will drop some retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products to match American tariff exemptions for goods covered under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, called CUSMA.

Canada’s counter-tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles will remain.

Trump upped tariffs on Canadian non-CUSMA-compliant goods to 35 per cent earlier this month. But the president has hit certain Canadian goods such as softwood lumber, steel, aluminum and some auto parts with further import levies, whether they fall under the trade agreement’s umbrella or not.

Marc-André Blanchard, the prime minister’s chief of staff, and Michael Sabia, the clerk of the Privy Council, are also in Washington with LeBlanc this week.

LeBlanc has said the retaliatory tariffs were a major sticking point in negotiations ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to boost duties on Canada to 35 per cent earlier this month.

Asked Tuesday about U.S. trade talks while on a trip to Riga, Latvia, Carney said the government is focused on the sectoral tariffs the U.S. has implemented — namely on steel, softwood, aluminum and autos.

Those are the areas we are focused on improving the outcomes if we can. And in order to do that … we’ll have to look at other areas where we can have win-win co-operation, the prime minister told reporters.

Carney is set to visit Mexico next month as the countries try to navigate trade relations with the United States. Both Mexico and Canada have been subject to tariffs and tariff threats from Trump since he was re-elected last fall.

While Trump upped tariffs on non-CUSMA-compliant goods from Canada earlier this month, he exempted Mexico for now.

Since his election, Carney has said he wants to expand relations with other countries to avoid being reliant on the U.S.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said they were kickstarting a bilateral economic relationship with Mexico during a visit to the country’s capital earlier this month

Carney’s visit also comes as a CUSMA review is rapidly approaching. The trade deal — which was signed in 2018 and came into effect in 2020 — is up for review next year.

This article is republished from RCI.