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Tariffs and “nasty” talk
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said trade talks with the United States had turned “nasty” after President Donald Trump criticized Canada and its leadership while threatening to widen tariffs.
“Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that trade negotiations with the United States had turned “nasty””
Trump told a crowd in Las Vegas, “Canada’s nasty. They are. They’re nasty,” and Carney responded by laughing and saying, “This is a tough negotiation. You can say ‘nasty.’ But this is a question of Canadian jobs.”
The dispute centers on U.S. tariffs already on Canadian steel, aluminium and automobiles, and Trump’s threat of 50 per cent tariffs on more Canadian goods from Aug. 19.
Carney said Canada was “in the middle of a tariff war with the Americans,” and he pointed to the impact of existing U.S. tariffs on aluminium, saying they contributed to a 58 per cent rise in aluminium prices in the United States.
In Washington, Dominic LeBlanc and Janice Charette met U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and LeBlanc said the meeting was “constructive and detailed” as both sides focused on a comprehensive deal addressing sectoral tariffs.
What Canada may concede
As talks intensified ahead of another threatened American levy, the Globe and Mail said Ottawa was discussing a prospective deal in which it would agree to a long list of Trump administration trade demands in exchange for some relief on sectoral tariffs.
The Globe and Mail described a swap in which Canada would concede on issues including “the return of American alcohol to shelves” and “removing provincial procurement restrictions,” while the U.S. would lower sectoral levies known as Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum.
The CBC reported that Canada was preparing to meet some U.S. demands, including ending bans on American alcohol sales, as trade talks heat up ahead of the latest tariff deadline.
The CBC said Trump threatened a new 50 per cent levy on hundreds of Canadian imports by Aug. 19, citing complaints about provincial booze bans, dairy import quotas and the auto tariffs.
Both outlets tied the negotiations to the Aug. 19 cliff, with the CBC saying both sides agreed to hold daily meetings at various levels up until that deadline.
Deadline pressure and next steps
Canada’s negotiating position is framed around whether a deal can be reached before Aug. 19, with Carney saying, “Will we get all of that by the 19th of August? We’ll see. But we want to have pathways in order to get that.”
“an agreement along these lines would represent only the first phase of trade talks”
The Globe and Mail said an agreement along the lines under discussion would be described as an “interim deal,” and that deeper discussions could extend into 2027, including structural changes to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
It also said security issues could come later, including Canada’s long-delayed plan to buy $19-billion worth of U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets, which Carney put on hold last year amid Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats.
The Globe and Mail reported that LeBlanc and Janice Charette met Greer on Thursday for their second meeting in as many weeks, and it said the office of Dominic LeBlanc did not immediately provide comment on Friday morning.
In parallel, the CBC said American negotiators have “flatly indicated those levies won’t be removed entirely,” even as Canada pushes for relief from the sectoral tariffs on industries such as steel and aluminum and a joint announcement that talks on CUSMA will resume in the fall.
