{"id":175838,"date":"2026-08-20T17:19:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T17:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/175838\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T17:19:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T17:19:20","slug":"quebec-remains-cautious-on-canada-us-trade-deal-as-ottawa-pushes-to-restore-us-alcohol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/175838\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec remains cautious on Canada-US trade deal as Ottawa pushes to restore US alcohol"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO, ONT \u2013 Quebec Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette said Thursday that Prime Minister Mark Carney had answered many of her questions about an emerging Canada-U.S. trade agreement<\/a>, but she stopped short of endorsing the deal while the province assesses its potential impact.<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9chette had said a day earlier that negotiations were \u201cfar from over”<\/a> and that Quebec alone would decide whether U.S. alcohol returns to shelves at the SAQ, the Quebec government corporation that controls most wine and spirits sales in the province.<\/p>\n

Dominic LeBlanc<\/a>, the federal minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, returned to Washington on Thursday to meet again with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer as the two sides continued work to finalize an agreement.<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9chette said Carney provided answers to many of her questions during a lengthy call Thursday, though Quebec was still awaiting some information.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a number of the answers that I was looking for,\u201d Fr\u00e9chette said in French, adding that the province would analyze the potential economic impact before taking a position.<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9chette said Quebec could restore U.S. alcohol to SAQ shelves if its analysis finds the overall agreement is positive for the province.<\/p>\n

Canada and the United States moved closer to finalizing a trade agreement that would avert threatened 50% U.S. tariffs. U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> has called the emerging agreement \u201cvery fair\u201d to both sides and predicted U.S. farmers and manufacturers would benefit. Tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian imports have been postponed until 12:01 a.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n

Neither Canadian nor U.S. officials have released the full terms of the emerging agreement.<\/p>\n

Quebec does not have a veto over a Canada-U.S. trade agreement, but it controls provincial measures such as whether U.S. alcohol is sold through the SAQ.<\/p>\n

Carney asked provincial premiers during a briefing Wednesday to return U.S. alcohol to store shelves, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said, a step aimed at addressing one of the Trump administration\u2019s key trade complaints.<\/p>\n

The White House has said the emerging deal includes a Canadian commitment to address restrictions on U.S. alcohol. But Carney cannot order provinces to restore sales.<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9chette\u2019s Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec faces voters in an October provincial election, adding political pressure as she assesses changes that could affect Quebec’s dairy and forestry sectors. <\/p>\n

Houston and two other premiers voiced support for the direction of the talks, though Houston said whether Canadians would actually buy U.S. alcohol again \u201cis a whole other discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eight of Canada\u2019s 10 provinces restrict or ban U.S. alcohol \u2014 measures imposed in retaliation for Trump\u2019s previous tariffs on Canadian goods and amid anger over his repeated talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state.<\/p>\n

Ontario, Canada\u2019s most populous province, is especially important. Its government-run LCBO, one of the world\u2019s largest alcohol purchasers, sold nearly 1 billion Canadian dollars ($723 million) worth of U.S. products annually before pulling them from shelves last year.<\/p>\n

Ontario Premier Doug Ford<\/a>, who has clashed with Trump before, has not yet commented on the emerging deal.<\/p>\n

While details of the emerging agreement remain vague, Trump has claimed Canada agreed to end tariffs on U.S. agricultural products.<\/p>\n

Canada currently allows a set amount of dairy imports at low tariffs. Once imports exceed that limit, much higher tariffs apply. The U.S. says Canada\u2019s supply-management system makes it harder for American dairy producers to gain full access to the Canadian market.<\/p>\n

LeBlanc has said Canada\u2019s \u201cagriculture sector will be well protected and we have maintained our tough line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO, ONT \u2013 Quebec Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette said Thursday that Prime Minister Mark Carney had answered many of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[525,6770,7185,162,111,5761,3942,5996,218],"class_list":["post-175838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-business","tag-christine-frechette","tag-dominic-leblanc","tag-donald-trump","tag-mark-carney","tag-tim-houston","tag-u-s-news","tag-washington-news","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}