Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Friday that Canada is removing retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. products in a bid to reset trade discussions with the White House that have stalled in recent weeks.

He said Ottawa plans to remove tariffs on U.S. goods that comply with North American free-trade deal rules, mirroring a key carve-out U.S. President Donald Trump made for Canadian goods.

For now, Canadian tariffs will remain in place on U.S. steel, aluminum and automobiles, he said in a press conference in Ottawa.

Mr. Carney and Mr. Trump spoke by phone on Thursday, their first direct communication in months and the first high-profile contact between Ottawa and Washington since they failed to reach a trade agreement by Mr. Trump’s Aug. 1 deadline.

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Ottawa has been seeking some sort of deal that removes or lowers U.S. tariffs on a range of Canadian goods. Last month, Mr. Carney acknowledged Canada would probably not convince Mr. Trump to drop all tariffs.

Canada is one of only two countries that has retaliated against Mr. Trump’s efforts to remake the global trading system with the highest tariffs since the 1930s. The only other country to hit back with countertariffs is China.

Canada has imposed three rounds of retaliatory measures against the U.S. This includes a 25 per cent tariff on around $30-billion worth of U.S. goods, including orange juice and motorcycles; a second 25 per cent tariff on around $30-billion worth of U.S. metal products and other consumer goods; and a 25 per cent tariff on U.S. automobiles, with a carve-out for companies that maintain production in Canada.

Canada subsequently watered down these tariffs, granting a series of exemptions, including for U.S. industrial inputs that are used by Canadian manufacturers.

Ottawa has made other efforts to try to secure a deal with the protectionist U.S. President, including increasing spending on the military and border security and scrapping the Digital Services Tax that hit U.S. tech companies.

Over the past month, other large U.S. trading partners that held off retaliation, including the European Union, Japan and South Korea, have signed trade deals with the White House that avoided the threat of even higher tariffs but left 15 per cent baseline tariffs and sectoral tariffs in place, with some carve-outs.