Dominic LeBlanc, minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, and Janice Charette, the country’s chief trade negotiator, speak during a press conference in Washington in June. The two have been in Washington pressing for a trade deal with the United States.Kelly Geraldine Malone/The Canadian Press
Canada is launching a full-court press for a U.S. trade deal, with Canada-U.S. trade inister Dominic LeBlanc, jetting to Washington on Tuesday to meet with Jamieson Greer, the Trump administration’s trade chief, for the third time in as many weeks.
Mr. LeBlanc will be joined by Janice Charette, Canada’s chief negotiator, who spent the weekend hunkered down at the Canadian embassy working with a small army of trade negotiators and experts. The trio and their entourages are expected to meet at 1:30 p.m. ET at the Winder Building, the U.S. Trade Representative’s offices near the White House.
The aim is to close a deal before Aug. 19, when the latest round of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs is set to take effect.
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As The Globe and Mail has previously reported, the two sides are aiming for an “interim” agreement in which Canada would agree to a long list of U.S. demands in exchange for some relief on Mr. Trump’s current tariffs. Canada is also hoping to avoid the coming tariffs.
The U.S. President has imposed tariffs of 50 per cent on steel and aluminum, 25 per cent on autos, 10 per cent on lumber and 25 per cent on wooden furniture under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
Last month, he unveiled plans to levy 50-per-cent tariffs on US$20-billion worth of other items, including alcohol, dairy products and electronics under Section 338 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. This lit a fire under negotiations, which had previously dragged for months, and activity has accelerated briskly since then.
In the current talks, the U.S. is demanding that Canada accept export quotas on steel and aluminum, remove retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products, such as autos, return American alcohol to store shelves, remove provincial procurement restrictions, and agreeing to Washington’s interpretation of how dairy quotas should be allocated.
In exchange, the two sides have discussed the U.S. lowering the 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum but leaving some level of tariff in place. Canada is also pushing for relief on the autos and forestry tariffs.
If an interim deal is reached, future negotiations are expected to seek agreements on defence and auto rules of origin, including other issues.
Sources with knowledge of the talks who spoke with The Globe have said that, although the contours of a deal have been taking shape, nothing has been agreed to and Mr. Trump has not signed off on anything.
The Globe is not identifying the sources as they were not authorized to speak publicly about the negotiations.
Mr. LeBlanc had been scheduled to return to the U.S. capital on Monday, but his plane couldn’t land in Washington because of turbulence from a thunderstorm, his office said. The plane returned to Montreal, where he had to stay overnight, before flying down on Tuesday morning.