Canadian trade minister says "we're prepared to stick around and do the work needed" after U.S. imposed 35% tariff on goods

CBS News

7 days ago

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Sunday that "we're prepared to stick around and do the work needed" despite having left Washington without a new trade deal amid increased tariffs from President Trump.
"We believe there's a great deal of common ground between the United States and Canada in terms of building two strong economies that work well together," LeBlanc said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."
The White House announced last week that duties would jump from 25% to 35% on Canadian goods not covered under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, claiming that the U.S.' second-largest trading partner hasn't done enough to address immigration and the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. LeBlanc said that while "we were obviously disappointed by that decision," negotiators would "continue to do the work."
LeBlanc said his team left with "a better understanding of the American concerns in the trading relationship" and characterizing the meetings with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as "constructive, cordial conversations."
"We're encouraged by the conversations with Secretary Lutnick and Ambassador Greer, but we're not yet where we need to go to get the deal that's in the best interest of the two economies," LeBlanc said.
Mr. Trump announced higher tariffs against more than 60 U.S. trading partners late last week. But Canada is the largest American trading partner included, being the world's largest buyer of American goods and the third-largest seller of goods to the U.S. last year, according to Census Bureau data. The country bought some $350 billion worth of American goods and sold $412 billion to the U.S. market in 2024.
In an interview for "Face the Nation" on Friday, Greer cited Canada's retaliatory tariffs imposed earlier this year under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the increase, saying, "if the president's going to take an action and the Canadians retaliate, the United States needs to maintain the integrity of our action, the effectiveness, so we have to go up too."
"Our view is the president is trying to fix the terms of trade with Canada, and if there's a way to a deal, we'll find it," Greer said. "And if it's not, we'll have the tariff levels that we have."
In a statement released Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was "disappointed" by Mr. Trump's actions. He noted that "Canada accounts for only 1% of U.S. fentanyl imports and has been working intensively to further reduce these volumes."
On Sunday, LeBlanc said he expects Carney will have a conversation with Mr. Trump "over the next number of days," while noting that the Canadian prime minister has "built a very business-like, respectful relationship with President Trump."
"We understand and respect totally the president's view in terms of the national security interests. In fact, we share it," LeBlanc said. "And what we've said to our American counterparts is, how can we structure the right agreement where we can both continue to supply one another in a reliable, cost effective way that preserves jobs essential to the American economy? But the same thing is true, obviously in Canada as well."
The U.S.-Canada relationship has been strained since Mr. Trump came into office in January and repeatedly suggested that Canada could become the "51st state." Carney emphatically denied this in an Oval Office meeting with Mr. Trump in May, saying Canada is "not for sale."