Carney to meet Trump next week, potential movement on steel and aluminum tariffs expected

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Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to head to Washington early next week to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump – his second visit since becoming prime minister – with a source telling CTV News that potential movement is expected on steel and aluminum tariffs.

Carney will leave for Washington on Monday evening and will meet with Trump on Tuesday, in what the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is describing as a “working visit and meeting.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, Industry Minister Melanie Joly and Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc will accompany Carney.

“The Prime Minister’s working visit will focus on shared priorities in a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the U.S.,” according to the PMO.

This latest visit comes as Canadian and U.S. officials try to reach a deal on punishing American tariffs, and as a review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement gets underway.

Carney has also been facing pressure from the opposition to land a win, as Trump continues to inflict new tariffs impacting Canadian businesses. Earlier this week, Trump imposed a new 10 per cent levy on softwood lumber imports and a 25 per cent tariff on cabinets and furniture that are set to take effect Oct. 14.

The source, speaking on background to CTV News, said the Canadian team is “cautiously optimistic” there will be an agreement coming out of next week’s meeting, specifically on the reduction of steel and aluminum tariffs.

Over the summer, the U.S. hiked its tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 50 per cent, with Canada imposing a 25 per cent counter-tariff on U.S. steel and aluminum.

The source says next week’s meeting follows weeks of groundwork by LeBlanc, Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman and Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Sabia, with the team being aware the discussions could go sideways.

“You never know what Trump is going to do,” the source said to CTV News.

No ‘dead end’ in Canada-U.S. talks: minister

Speaking to the Senate’s Foreign Affairs and International Trade Committee on Thursday, LeBlanc pointed to Trump and his administration being “moved by massive private investments.”

“There is a very good story to tell there, and I am hopeful that over the coming weeks and months, that can be part of a very valid, a very real, a very significant public narrative in the United States,” LeBlanc said.

In his testimony on Thursday, LeBlanc also said he and other officials are in regular contact with their American counterparts, and that he doesn’t see a “dead end” in those conversations.

But while he told the committee “issues are resolvable,” he also conceded the relationship between the two countries may not “magically go back to what it may have been a year ago or 25 years ago.”

LeBlanc also said Canada would like to see an agreement on tariffs separate to the ongoing CUSMA renegotiation.

Trump first launched a trade war in February, when he implemented sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods. He’s since carved out an exemption for imports that are compliant with CUSMA, the free trade agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

But he’s also set out to fully transform America’s global trade regime, imposing significant sectoral tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos and copper. Those levies are stacked on top of any import taxes aimed at specific countries, such as Canada.

Canada and the U.S. have been in ongoing negotiations for a new economic and security deal for months. After campaigning during the federal election on a promise to stand up to Trump, Carney and his team have since insisted they’re prioritizing getting the “best deal” over a timely one.

The prime minister has also insisted Canada has the best trade deal because 85 per cent of exports to the U.S. remain tariff-free.

Late last month, Carney announced that Canada is dropping many of its counter-tariffs by exempting goods covered by CUSMA. Asked by reporters at the time whether Trump had assured him the move would help spur negotiations, the prime minister said “yes.”

Canada also rescinded its digital services tax back in June, which Trump publicly opposed, without securing a concession in return.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been criticizing Carney for not reaching a deal with the U.S. by his self-imposed July 21 deadline.

“I think Mr. Carney should keep his promise. He promised that he would negotiate a win with the United States by July 21. Where’s the win?” Poilievre said to reporters on Thursday.

Poilievre emphasized that point in a post to “X” on Friday, writing “No word on where the Prime Minister’s elbows have gone after he backed down again and again with nothing to show for it.”

Carney has said he has been in regular contact with Trump, even via text messaging, but not all conversations have been made public in official readouts.

Carney last went to Washington to meet with Trump back in May, just weeks after winning the federal election.

During that visit, both leaders agreed to disagree on Trump’s push for Canada to become the 51st state – a remark that the president revived earlier this week for the first time in several months.

With files from CTV News’ Spencer Van Dyk