Talks between Canada and the United States to reduce sectoral tariffs have resumed “in a sense,” Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump suspended them last fall.
“We were in the process of advancing, we thought, in a positive way on the sectoral tariffs — that was the discussion that Mr. Trump suspended,” LeBlanc told reporters in Ottawa.
He then pointed to his meeting on March 6 in Washington with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, where the Canadian minister introduced Greer to chief U.S. trade negotiator Janice Charette and U.S. Ambassador Mark Wiseman — both of whom began their new roles last month.
LeBlanc said Charette also had her first meeting with her direct counterpart in Greer’s office at the same time.
“So in a sense, that would have been the resumption of those conversations,” LeBlanc said, adding more conversations have been held between himself, Wiseman and Charrette with their U.S. counterparts.
“We remain seized both with the challenge that the sectoral tariffs represent and the review of CUSMA (the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on free trade),” which is set to formally begin in July between all three countries.
The bottom line, LeBlanc said later, is that Canadian talks with U.S. counterparts “remain productive and we remain engaged. That is different than October.”
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Trump in October suspended talks aimed at reducing his tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos and other Canadian industries in anger over an Ontario government ad that quoted former U.S. president Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs.
Prime Minister Mark Carney apologized to Trump personally for the ad, but Trump said the trade talks remained on hold.
Before the suspension, LeBlanc said Canada and the U.S. had been discussing “a series of measures that we thought would have been beneficial to the economy of both countries, and we continue to have those discussions and look forward — we hope — to arriving at a conclusion.”
Greer has since suggested difficulties in talks with Canada and complained about ongoing trade barriers, including provinces refusing to sell American alcohol products.
He said this month after the meeting with LeBlanc that “Canada is behind” on bilateral talks leading up to this summer’s CUSMA review compared to Mexico, which has already begun formal negotiations with the U.S.
LeBlanc said Monday he expects Canada to begin its own negotiations with the U.S. “in due course” and that those will be separate from the trilateral talks expected later this year.
He said he has discussed the U.S. alcohol issue with premiers and provincial and territorial ministers, but wouldn’t speak for whether they are considering lifting the bans to help smooth things over with Washington.
“They can make the decisions they want,” he said.
“All the provinces and territories and the government of Canada have been working collaboratively to ensure that we protect the Canadian economy and Canadian workers. And we’re in a position to have those discussions with the Americans in a way that will benefit the Canadian economy and Canadian workers.”
Asked if Canada’s position on the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran has affected the talks in any way, LeBlanc said it hasn’t.
“The good news is in my conversations with U.S. officials, this has not been an impediment at all,” he said.
“I know in the prime minister’s discussion with the president a few weeks ago … to say that that was a barrier or an impediment, or even the idea of a ‘changing position,’ I wouldn’t share that view either.”
He added neither Charrette or Wiseman have raised Iran as an issue that’s come up in their conversations with the Americans either.
The sectoral tariffs remain in place despite the U.S. Supreme Court striking down Trump’s tariffs that were imposed under a different, emergency powers provision the court ruled Trump has misused.
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