1 of 5 | U.S. President Donald Trump (R) meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (L) on Tuesday in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI | License Photo
U.S. President Donald Trump met Tuesday with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to resume trade discussions and provide tariff relief to Canada’s steel and lumber sectors.
It marked Carney’s second White House visit this year with the express aim of getting trade talks back on track after Trump imposed a 35% general tariff on all imports from Canada in punitive measures that went into effect Aug. 1.
“The people of Canada will love us again,” Trump said during his Oval Office meeting the with Canadian leader.
Canada is the only G7 country that has yet to secure a trade deal with the United States since Trump hiked tariffs early in his second term on scores of allied nations.
On Tuesday, Trump claimed a deal will “include everything.”
He called Carney a “world class leader” and a “good man,” adding the Liberal Party leader Carney “does a great job and he’s a tough negotiator.”
“We’re going to get the right deal,” the prime minister added.
While Canadian officials were optimistic about obtaining relief from the tariffs, trade experts aren’t confident Trump will prioritize the talks.
“If you look at all the different things that Trump is engaged in, is this right near the top? Probably not,” Colin Robertson, a former Canadian diplomat and expert on U.S.-Canadian relations at Carleton University, told the BBC.
Trump initially said the tariffs were in response to fentanyl being smuggled into the United States over its northern border. Statistics from the Canadian government show that fentanyl seizures by U.S. border officials at the northern border represented less than 0.1% of U.S. fentanyl seizures between 2022 and 2024.
“We’ve got to stamp it out,” Carney, successor to ex-Canadian Liberal Party chief and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said Tuesday in Washington.
Meanwhile, general tariffs were separate from the more specific tariffs he imposed earlier in this term — 50% on all steel and aluminum; 25% on non-USMCA-compliant autos and auto parts; and 50% on copper imports.
The tariffs have had significant effects on Canada’s economy, according to The New York Times. General Motors plans to lay off 2,000 employees at its factory in Oshawa, Ontario.
“That’s part of the reason why, I think, the prime minister is going down (to Washington), to say ‘give us your attention,'” added Robertson.
