OTTAWA — Amid reporting by CTV News that trade talks between Canada and the U.S. are gaining momentum, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the Trump administration is “coming closer to our position.”
Carney made the comments during a question-and-answer period with reporters after a meeting between First Nation leaders and First Ministers in Ottawa on Monday.
Carney also said, however, he can’t guarantee U.S. President Donald Trump will respect anything they sign.
When talks broke down completely in August, Carney said during a speech referring to the U.S. administration that “sometimes its signature was written in pencil.”
Asked about those comments by CTV News deputy bureau chief Marieke Walsh on Monday, and specifically how he knows the U.S president will sign in pen, Carney said: “I don’t know that.”
“Canada’s ready to sign an agreement that is in the interests of Canadians, all Canadians, with very clear bottom lines, red lines, which meant that we were not willing to sign what was offered in in August,” Carney also said, when asked by Walsh whether he trusts the president.
“To the extent to which the U.S. is moving towards accepting those aspects, then there’s a greater prospect of a deal,” he added. “But we’ll judge it and if there is something, we’ll judge it as a whole.”
CTV News reported on Sunday based on multiple government and industry sources that there is considerable appetite from the White House to ink a deal with Canada, in part because of Trump’s political vulnerabilities ahead of next week’s midterm elections.
One of the sources told CTV News the Americans appear to have shown more interest in reaching an agreement than they have “in all the weeks prior.”
With files from CTV News’ Marieke Walsh, Vassy Kapelos, Graham Richardson and Mike Le Couteur
