Canadian and U.S. trade officials spoke Wednesday morning ahead of a Canadian visit to Washington in “a couple weeks,” according to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Greer made the comment on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” program. He said he spoke with his counterpart — likely referring to Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc — who shared that Canada has “a few ideas” on the future of a deal.
“We’re obviously open to that,” said Greer, adding that the U.S. is focused on domestic manufacturing.
“We don’t necessarily want to be dependent on China, Canada, or anybody else for things like cars and that kind of thing,” Greer also said. “But we’re open to talk, and we’ll see what they have to say.”
A spokesperson for LeBlanc’s office would not confirm whether Wednesday morning’s call took place, but told CTV News the two officials have had “a number of brief, informal exchanges in recent days about a potential in-person meeting.”
On Tuesday, however, LeBlanc told the Senate he spoke with Greer following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling and that he hopes to see him “towards the end of next week.”
U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade regime took a massive blow late last week when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down swaths of tariffs he had imposed on imports from most countries. Those included Trump’s reciprocal tariff regime — of which Canada was exempt — and his so-called fentanyl and border tariffs on Canada.
The Supreme Court ruled the president was unjustified in implementing those tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, commonly referred to as IEEPA.
In response, the president signed executive orders to enact a 10 per cent global tariff using Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act. Most Canadian imports remain exempt from those tariffs by way of the countries’ trilateral free-trade pact, CUSMA, which also includes Mexico.
The measure may be a temporary one — it can only stay in place for 150 days unless it gets congressional approval.
Trump later said he would be increasing the duty to 15 per cent, though no official efforts have been made to do so. On Wednesday, Greer said the global levy would increase “for some.”
“And then it may go higher for others,” he said, also saying the U.S. expects “continuity.”
Asked specifically about Canada and Mexico, Greer reiterated the U.S. administration is “trying to have continuity with the program that we’ve had over the past year.”
Greer also reiterated what Trump threatened last week, that Washington has a number of other means to reconstruct its tariff program, and that doing so remains a priority for his staff.
Greer’s comments also come as two American news outlets — Bloomberg and the New York Times — have reported Trump is mulling walking away from CUSMA entirely.
A deal with Canada coming?
Asked when he expects to reach a deal with Canada, Greer said: “We’ll see.”
He added that his team is focused on the review of CUSMA, which is set for later this year.
In a social media post last week, LeBlanc said the U.S. Supreme Court decision reinforces Canada’s position that Trump’s tariffs on Canada are unjustified. He also said work remains to support workers and businesses affected by the so-called Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum, and autos.
Those tariffs are imposed using Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act. Citing national security, Trump has also imposed tariffs on copper, lumber, furniture and semiconductors.
In a review of Canada’s manufacturing sector through 2025, Statistics Canada noted tariffs contributed to partial shutdowns and shifts in production at Canadian auto plants, as well as slowdowns and mill closure announcements in the wood sector. Market uncertainty plagued the petroleum and coal product subsector leading to slumping sales, dragging overall sales across sectors down to $641.1 billion.
Is a tariff-free deal likely?
Prime Minister Mark Carney, meanwhile, has pledged to diversify export markets to help insulate the Canadian economy from an overreliance on the United States.
To that end, he’s leaving this week on a nine-day trip to India, Australia and Japan.
In an interview on CTV Power Play with Vassy Kapelos airing Wednesday, New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt — who is set to join the prime minister for the Indian leg of the trip — said Canada has an “incredible team” negotiating with the United States.
Referencing Greer’s comments in the media since Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, Holt said if the U.S. administration wants to “signal what some of their cards are now,” then Canadian officials can “peek over their shoulder.”
“I think that may be what (Greer is) signalling as a starting position for the U.S.,” Holt said, when asked about Greer’s comments to CBC News that any deal with Canada on CUSMA will include some base level of tariff.
“Those negotiations happen behind closed doors, and we don’t signal to our partners what we might be willing to accept or not,” Holt added. “I think (Canada’s) focus is on getting the best deal for Canada, and the best deal for Canada is a no-tariff deal.”
Holt said she is “an optimist at heart,” when asked whether she believes a new agreement without any baseline tariffs is possible. She added that the uncertainty around the future of the deal has been “one of the more frustrating pieces.”
With files from CTV News’ Rachel Aiello and Mike Le Couteur
