Canada PM Says US Tariff Deal ‘Possible’ By Next Week

Prime Minister Mark Carney says it’s “possible” that a trade deal will be reached with the US ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit next week. 

Speaking to reporters Tuesday morning, Carney said Canada is in “intensive negotiations” with the US and that he expects to see President Donald Trump at the summit in Gyeongju, South Korea.

“It’s possible, but we’ll see,” Carney said on the potential for a deal. Still, he emphasized the importance of his government’s talks with Asian nations, including China, as Canada looks to diversify its trade beyond the US.

Meanwhile, Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister responsible for US trade, tempered expectations on the timing of a deal.

“I think it’s a bit overoptimistic to claim that we’re a few days away from reaching a deal,” LeBlanc said. 

The minister said he doesn’t want to set an “artificial deadline” on the timing, but he also said there was positive momentum in the negotiations.

“We’re making progress, we’re into a level of detail that we hadn’t seen previously, but we still have work to do,” said LeBlanc, who returned from his latest trip to Washington on Friday. 

The comments followed a report in the Globe and Mail that an agreement may be struck by the APEC summit, which will be held Oct. 31 to Nov. 1.

Carney visited Trump earlier this month in the Oval Office in a bid to further trade talks. 

During their meeting, Trump said he expects the US and Canada can eventually reach a trade deal, but he remained vague about how and when an agreement might be achieved.

Negotiators have been focused on striking a deal that would offer Canada some relief from steel and aluminum tariffs while boosting sales of Canadian energy to the US, potentially through a revitalized Keystone XL pipeline.