Canada still working toward Aug. 1 trade deal deadline, LeBlanc says, as U.S. senator casts doubt
WASHINGTON — Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Thursday he's feeling "encouraged" after meeting with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and American lawmakers in Washington, D.C., ahead of next week's tariff deadline.
LeBlanc, however, indicated a new economic and security arrangement may not materialize by U.S. President Donald Trump's latest deadline.
"Canadians expect us to take the time necessary to get the best deal we can in the interest of Canadian workers," LeBlanc said outside the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
"So we are only going to be in a position to accept a deal when the prime minister decides that it is the best deal we can get in the interest of Canadian workers and the Canadian economy."
U.S. President Donald Trump has sent letters to multiple nations, including Canada, saying that if no deal is made by Aug. 1, he will impose high tariffs on imports to the United States.
Trump's letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney threatened Canada with 35 per cent tariffs but the White House has said the levies will not be applied to imports compliant with the Canada-U.S-Mexico Agreement on trade.
Canada is also being hit with Trump's tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles, and will be impacted by copper duties that are also expected to kick in on Aug. 1.
Only a handful of frameworks of trade deals have been announced since Trump first threatened his so-called "Liberation Day" tariffs in April. The president this week said his administration made deals with Japan and the Philippines, adding to previous agreements with Indonesia, Vietnam and the United Kingdom.
Many details within the agreements remain vague but all include some level of a tariff, and it's unclear whether the deals would shield countries from Trump's plan to implement further sectoral duties on things like semiconductors and lumber.
LeBlanc said "complex negotiations" are continuing between Canada and the United States and he will be returning to Washington next week.
LeBlanc described his meeting with Lutnick as productive and cordial. The minister, who was joined by Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman, also had meetings with Republican senators Kevin Cramer, Roger Marshall, Shelley Moore Capito, Todd Young and Tim Scott.
LeBlanc said they discussed border security and defence issues and the American lawmakers shared a "desire to see more stability and predictability in the relationship with the United States."
"My conversations have focused on how we share so many priorities of President Trump's administration that we should be able to figure out together a deal that's in the best interest of Canadian workers, and obviously they are going to do their side of the table in terms of the American economy and American workers," LeBlanc said.
Federal officials have remained tightlipped about what Trump's team has said it wants from Canada.
After this week's trade deals were announced, Trump boasted on social media, saying he will only consider lowering tariff rates if countries open their markets to the United States. The president also said Japan would invest $550 billion in the U.S. 'at my direction."
When Trump first browbeat Canada over tariffs, saying it was linked to the flow of deadly fentanyl, Ottawa responded with a boosted border plan and named a "Fentanyl Czar."
Last month, Ottawa walked back its digital services tax after Trump threatened to halt all trade talks. Carney last week announced measures to stop Chinese steel dumping in Canada.
Hillman said those efforts help Canada in its ongoing negotiations.
"In our discussion with the American senators this week, the American administration, the measures that Canada has taken on steel in particular... are some of the strongest in the world," she said. "And that has been recognized and very much appreciated. So we are making some positive progress."
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski joined a bipartisan group of American lawmakers in Ottawa last week. The Republican said on Thursday that "we would all like to get to a better place with our trade relationship with Canada" but remained skeptical it would happen ahead of Aug. 1.
Canada cannot be treated "as yet one more country that we need to reconcile tariffs on" because of shared economic and national security issues, she said.
"I wish that I could say, 'It feels good,' that this is all going to be taken care of before the first of August, but I'm not sensing that," she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2025.
Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press
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