With days left before the August 19 levies land, negotiators remain far apart on a deal
Canadian and American negotiators have not bridged the gap on a trade deal with less than a week to go before Washington imposes 50 percent tariffs on hundreds of Canadian goods.
Ottawa is not satisfied with the latest offer from the United States, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks cited by CBC News, and the two sides have not reached a point where an agreement is within reach.
The Americans tabled a new proposal on Tuesday that would trim some sectoral tariffs, though not as far as the Canadian side wants, CBC reported.
The tariffs take effect on August 19.
They would hit nearly US$20bn of Canadian imports, or about 5.2 percent of the US$383bn in goods the United States bought from Canada in 2025, Reuters reported, citing the US Trade Representative's office and US Census Bureau data.
Goods normally shielded under the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) would not be exempt this time.
Janice Charette, Canada's chief trade negotiator, warned her American counterparts that the deadline could put further talks at risk, comments the Globe and Mail first reported on Wednesday.
Industry sources told CTV News that Charette gave no ultimatum to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, but that he grasped the stakes.
One source said Ottawa cannot press the provinces to return American alcohol to store shelves without meaningful tariff relief for industries such as steel and aluminum.
For Canadian businesses, the pressure is already visible.
US President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs could threaten a fragile economic recovery, Reuters reported.
A survey of 275 manufacturers conducted by Angus Reid for KPMG found that 29 percent had shifted some or all of their production to the United States since the trade war began, with another 13 percent weighing the move, according to The New York Times.
The polling ran in May, before Trump announced the latest 50 percent tariffs.
Some Canadian manufacturers may start relocating to the US if tariff uncertainty drags on and the government leaves the sector's structural problems unaddressed, Anamika Gadia, KPMG's national leader for industrial markets in Canada, told the Times.
The move would come from necessity rather than preference, she said.
At Northern Cable in Brockville, Ontario, machinery now runs around the clock to stock US warehouses before the tariffs land.
The company, which employs 320 people and sends about half its output to American customers, is weighing a move south.
"We have too many jobs at stake here to just do nothing," Shelley Bacon, the company's chief executive, told the Times.
Todd Stafford, its president, estimated the US warehouses would empty within two to three weeks.
Not every manufacturer plans to relocate.
Jack Shiner, who runs the Ottawa door maker Ambico, will keep production in Canada despite drawing about two-thirds of his business from the United States, he told the Times.
The trouble is that the administration could change course "tomorrow afternoon or next month," and "nobody knows," he said.
On the table are Canadian concessions on several irritants Trump has raised, sources told CBC News, including ending provincial bans on American alcohol, lifting counter-tariffs on US autos, and adjusting how dairy quotas are managed.
In return, Ottawa is seeking relief on the sectoral tariffs Washington has placed on Canadian steel, aluminum, lumber, and autos.
The Americans want preferential access to Canadian critical minerals along with cooperation on security and energy, the sources said.
Under Section 232, the United States has levied tariffs of 15 to 50 percent on steel, aluminum, and copper products, 25 percent on autos and trucks, and 10 percent on softwood timber and lumber, according to CTV News.
Canada also hopes the talks will renew CUSMA, which the Trump administration declined to extend last month.
Canada's trade minister, Dominic LeBlanc, met Greer in Washington on Tuesday for the third time in three weeks, Reuters and CBC News reported. "We remain committed at the negotiating table and continue to work diligently to advance and staunchly defend Canadian interests," LeBlanc said in a social media post afterward.
The two sides aim to present Trump with a path to a possible deal as early as Monday, CBC reported, before the August 19 deadline, and have agreed to meet daily until then.
The talks have drawn political pressure at home.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote to Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday urging him to show "backbone" and hold out for zero tariffs on softwood lumber, an end to steel and aluminum tariffs, a tariff-free auto pact, and a full exemption from Buy America rules, according to CBC News.
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner argued Tuesday that Carney, in office for more than a year, has yet to secure an agreement.
"The person who needs to be held to account in the domestic capacity in Canada is Mark Carney," she said in Ottawa.
For businesses, the uncertainty itself is the immediate cost.
Nothing hurts business decisions more than uncertainty, said Ian McLean, president and chief executive of the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce.
"There is nothing worse," he told CBC News, pointing to investment and hiring choices in particular.
Greg Durocher, who leads the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, said the threat has left some owners "panicky," though only a small share of local exports would face the new rate.
Some firms, he added, have found Canadian suppliers and buyers as they scramble to adapt.
