Prime Minister Mark Carney has been under pressure to achieve relief from U.S. tariffs, especially those on steel, aluminum, lumber and autos.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney says that intense negotiations continue at the highest levels of the Trump administration for tariff relief on key Canadian sectors, and that those talks include reviving the Keystone XL pipeline.
The Globe reported Thursday that Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for U.S. trade, has remained in Washington since Tuesday’s meeting between the Prime Minister and President Donald Trump.
Mr. LeBlanc and Kristen Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. and Ottawa’s chief negotiator, have been meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Privy Council Clerk Michael Sabia, Canada’s top public servant, had also been part of the Washington talks but returned to Ottawa late Thursday.
Mr. LeBlanc returned to Ottawa Friday and said on X that Canadian officials will continue talks with U.S. officials over the coming days.
Top Carney minister and officials remain in Washington for trade talks
At a news conference in Ottawa on Friday, Mr. Carney acknowledged that the U.S. talks are at a critical stage.
“Intensive negotiations are in train right now for the sectors of steel and aluminum and in parallel conversations on forest products and automobiles,” he told reporters.
The goal of the talks is to reach an agreement so that those industries are not punished again when the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement comes up for renewal next year. That deal allows about 85 per cent of Canadian goods and products to flow duty-free into the U.S. economy.
“We are negotiating specific sectoral deals with them, which would likely persist with a revised USMCA,” the Prime Minister said. “It means that this is not one simple trade deal which will resolve all the issues, which is why we are focused on retaining the huge advantage that we have relative to the rest of the world.”
He added that both sides are also “bearing down on a few projects within the energy sector,” including reviving the Keystone oil pipeline to Texas from Alberta, which was cancelled by former president Joe Biden.
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Members of Mr. Carney’s government have held talks with possible proponents of Keystone, but he did not get into details of which companies have been approached.
The Prime Minister said the government has also not ruled out lifting a tanker ban on the Pacific coast – if conditions such as a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through carbon capture and storage can be achieved.
He also did not rule out a second oil pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast, providing there is a viable private corporate sponsor, Indigenous buy-in and measures in place to protect the climate.
Mr. Carney, who ran for prime minister on a promise to defend the Canadian economy against U.S. protectionism, has been under pressure to achieve relief from punitive U.S. tariffs, especially those on steel, aluminum, lumber and autos from Canada and other countries.
Trade talks faltered after no deal was reached by an August deadline imposed by Mr. Trump. But the relationship between the two administrations appeared to strengthen in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s visit, which was Mr. Carney’s second as Prime Minister after a trip in May.
After the meeting this week, Mr. Carney and Mr. Trump instructed their ministers to work quickly to try to iron out a deal on the sector-specific tariffs.