Carney says any trade deal with U.S. will likely include tariffs

Edmonton Journal

4 days ago

OTTAWA — A trade deal with the United States will likely include some tariffs, Prime Minister Mark Carney indicated on Tuesday ahead of a meeting with his cabinet.
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Carney told reporters he expects the trade talks with the U.S. to 'intensify' ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline to secure a new agreement, but then in French he said the evidence suggests U.S.President Donald Trump will not make any tariff-free deals.
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'We need to recognize that the commercial landscape globally has changed. It's changed in a fundamental manner,' Carney said. 'We will continue to focus on what we can most control, which is building a strong Canadian economy, and that's part of what we'll be discussing in cabinet today.'
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Carney scheduled the cabinet meeting last week after Trump sent a letter laying out his plan to levy 35 per cent tariffs on Canada on Aug. 1. It was held virtually.
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Industry Minister Melanie Joly, who was in Halifax giving a speech, told reporters following the meeting that cabinet had 'good and thorough' conversations on Canada-U.S. relations following the cabinet meeting at a press conference in Halifax.
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'The goal is to ensure at the end of the day that we are protecting Canadian workers and we are making sure that Canada and Canadian's interest are protected,' Joly said.
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Joly did not take questions from reporters before she entered another meeting.
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The prime minister is also set to meet with Canada's premiers next week.
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Jean Simard, CEO of the Aluminum Association of Canada, said in an interview with The Canadian Press that it seems 'more and more evident' that countries will have to pay some sort of tariff to deal with the U.S.
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'I think the hope for Canada is because we have a very strong and well-established agreement with the U.S. called the USMCA, that at the end of the day USMCA compliance access will remain,' Simard said in reference to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade.
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Trump outlined his 35 per cent tariff plan to Carney in a letter sent on July 10. A White House official later said that new tariff won't apply to goods that are compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade. Canada typically refers to that agreement as CUSMA, while the U.S. tends to call it the USMCA.