LeBlanc hopes agreement can put Canada in a ‘better position’ than now
by Brian Platt
Dominic LeBlanc, the Canadian cabinet minister leading US trade talks, will travel to Washington to meet with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick just days after Canada pledged to remove most of its retaliatory tariffs on US goods.
“We are looking, I hope, for an agreement that will put us in a better position than we are right now,” LeBlanc said Monday in a French-language radio interview on Canada’s public broadcaster.
LeBlanc said the two sides have discussed “circumstances that are very interesting for the American government,” without providing further details. But in exchange, Canada would need to see improvements in its trade situation with the US, he added.
The minister is flying to Washington on Tuesday and the meeting will take place in the coming days, his office said.
On Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Canada would remove its counter-tariffs on a long list of US goods that comply with the existing North American trade deal. That retaliation had been in place since March, imposed by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Lutnick had pressed the Canadian government to remove those counter-tariffs before further progress could be made on trade talks, Bloomberg News has reported.
Carney said in Berlin on Tuesday that the meeting between LeBlanc and Lutnick will focus on strategic sectors including autos, copper, steel and aluminum.
“There are many opportunities for cooperation between the United States and Canada in these, but also other areas as well,” he said. “We see the opportunity to forge a strategic agreement with the US.”
The talks provide “a possibility to create a level playing field, a balance between Canada and the US as far as most of these sectors are concerned,” Carney said, adding that the discussions would also be used to prepare for a potential renegotiation of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
Carney did not remove all of Canada’s retaliation. The country will still have 25% import taxes on US steel and aluminum products, as well as some tariffs on US cars and trucks. President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on all of those sectors.
LeBlanc believes dropping some of Canada’s retaliation will help open a path for a broader agreement on trade with the Trump administration, he told Bloomberg Television on Friday. The talks include laying the groundwork for revising the USMCA, which is due for a joint review next year.
However, Canada has so far received no indication Trump is ready to lower his tariffs on foreign-produced steel and aluminum, which are currently set at 50%, LeBlanc said.
Copyright Bloomberg News
