Leblanc has a “constructive” meeting with an American counterpart while commercial discussions continue

The Minister of Trade Canada-US, Dominic Leblanc, had a “constructive (and) long” meeting with the US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lungick in Washington on Tuesday morning, the Minister’s office said.

The meeting comes when the two countries have not yet concluded a kind of trade agreement since US President Donald Trump began his pricing campaign after returning to the White House in January.

A Canadian source told CBC News that Tuesday’s meeting between the two was supposed to last an hour, but lasted 90 minutes. The source said there was a feeling of optimism on the Canadian side after the meeting.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced last Friday that Canada would abandon certain reprisals on American products to match American tariff exemptions for goods covered by the Canadian-American trade agreement, called CUSMA.

Canada’s counter-triggers on steel, aluminum and cars will remain.

Trump has increased rates on Canadian goods that do not comply with CUSME at 35% earlier this month. But the president has struck certain Canadian products such as soft wood, steel, aluminum and certain automotive parts with other import samples, whether or not they are the umbrella of the trade agreement.

Marc-André Blanchard, chief of staff of the Prime Minister, and Michael Sabia, the clerk of the private council, are also in Washington with Leblanc this week.

Leblanc said the reprisal prices were a major collision point in negotiations before the decision of US President Donald Trump to stimulate Canada functions at 35% earlier this month.

Asked on US trade negotiations on Tuesday on a trip to Riga, in Latvia, Carney said that the government focuses on the sectoral prices that the United States has implemented – namely steel, tender wood, aluminum and cars.

“These are the areas on which we focus on improving the results if we can. And to do this … we will have to look at other areas where we can have a win-win cooperation,” the Prime Minister told journalists.

Carney is expected to visit Mexico next month when countries are trying to sail in trade relations with the United States. Mexico and Canada have been the subject of Trump prices and pricing threats since its re -elected last fall.

Look | Carney says that trade discussions focused on American sectoral prices have implemented:

Carney says that trade negotiations focuses on the sectoral prices that the United States has implemented

Prime Minister Mark Carney, addressing journalists in Latvia on Tuesday, said that Canada has to look at other areas where we may have winning-win cooperation ”, during negotiations with the United States, the Minister of Trade Dominic Leblanc and the US Secretary of Trade Howard Lutnick met on Tuesday in Washington.

While Trump increased prices on goods not in accordance with Canada CUSM earlier this month, he has exempted Mexico for the moment.

Since his elections, Carney has said that he wanted to extend relations with other countries to avoid depending on the United States

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand and the Minister of Finance François-Philippe Champagne declared that they “started” a bilateral economic relationship with Mexico during a visit to the country’s capital earlier this month

Carney’s visit also occurs while a CUSMA review approaches quickly. The trade agreement – which was signed in 2018 and entered into force in 2020 – is reviewed next year.