Canada-U.S. trade talks have restarted. Here's what's at stake
For the first time since U.S. President Donald Trump called off negotiations last October — ostensibly over a TV ad — Prime Minister Mark Carney's point man on trade, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Domini...
For the first time since U.S. President Donald Trump called off negotiations last October — ostensibly over a TV ad — Prime Minister Mark Carney's point man on trade met face to face with his White House counterpart.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc was in Washington, D.C., on Friday to meet U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
When LeBlanc emerged from the meeting, CBC News asked him what happened in the talks, but his only comment before getting into a waiting vehicle was "Have a good weekend."
In a statement Friday afternoon, LeBlanc's office described the discussion as "constructive and substantive."
The meeting comes at a pivotal moment for the $1.3-trillion Cdn annual trading relationship between the two countries.
While Trump continues to impose punishing tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, automobiles, softwood lumber, copper products, kitchen cabinets and more, the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) is up for renegotiation. The timing means Canada's efforts to get rid of those tariffs targeting key industrial sectors will be wrapped into the CUSMA talks.
That gives the U.S. negotiating leverage for the many changes it wants made to the trade deal, including greater access to Canada's dairy market and an end to rules that force U.S. streaming platforms to run Canadian content and fund domestic production.
Hovering over the talks: U.S. threats to impose new tariffs to replace the ones struck down two weeks ago by the U.S. Supreme Court, to break up CUSMA into separate deals with Canada and Mexico, and to terminate the agreement — a move that could expose all Canadian exports to Trump's blanket tariffs.
Tariffs will be part of whatever trade deal is negotiated with Canada, Greer told the CBC's Katie Simpson last month on the night of Trump's state of the union address.
New talks a 'very positive sign'
Despite that, the fact that Greer and LeBlanc are now holding face-to-face talks is significant, said Eric Miller, a Canada-U.S. trade expert and president of Rideau Potomac Strategy Group, a Washington-based consulting firm.
