Canada’s PM Carney to meet Trump in Washington on Tuesday over tariffs

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet President Donald Trump in Washington next week for talks on a trade war that is hammering Canada’s economy, Carney’s office said on Friday.

Canada has not yet reached a broad trade deal with the Trump administration, unlike other major US trading partners, including the European Union.

So far, Trump has maintained tariff exemptions on all goods compliant with an existing pact – the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) – agreed during Trump’s first term.

Carney’s office reiterated on Friday that the preservation of that deal means Canada “has the lowest average tariff rate of any American trading partner, with 85 per cent of Canada’s trade with the US being tariff-free”.

But the president’s global, sector-specific tariffs – primarily those targeting autos, steel and aluminium – have hit Canada hard.

Those sectors have faced job losses and forced Carney’s Liberal government to announce billions of dollars in support for the struggling industries.

  

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