Trump's trade czar says he sees no urgent need to get a trade deal with Canada

President Donald Trump’s trade czar said Friday he sees no urgent need to get a deal with Canada as the bilateral relationship continues to be rocked by escalating tariffs. “The reality is President Trump is comfortable where we are on Canada,” United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC. Trump’s trade war with Canada has intensified since negotiations ended in acrimony last month.

Both countries have accused each other of adding last-minute changes to the deal. Prime Minister Mark Carney has accused U.S. negotiators of attempting to restrict Canada’s ability to negotiate other trade deals and of attempting to curb Canada’s protections for language and culture.

Greer claimed the Trump administration handed Canada its best deal but said Ottawa tried to get tariff relief for heavy-duty trucks in the last hours of talks. In the hours after negotiations were frozen, the United States hit an array of Canadian goods with 50 per cent tariffs. Ottawa responded with its own tariffs a few weeks later.

Trump responded by signing an order to ban imports of certain Canadian goods later this month and directed some federal agencies to remove Canadian goods from procurement lists. The president also signed an executive order to change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America”. Canada is also being hit with 10 per cent tariffs which the Trump administration claims are connected to forced labour in supply chains.

Those duties do not apply to goods that comply with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known as CUSMA. And Canadian industries like steel, aluminum, automobiles and cabinetry are being slammed by Trump’s separate sectoral tariffs. Greer said despite the tit-for-tat escalation between Washington and Ottawa, there is still a lot of strong trade between the two countries.

Greer said the Canadians “call us now and then” and there are conversations about potential deals. “There’s no urgency on our side, I will say,” Greer said. Trump continued to target Canada in social media posts this week as Carney returned to the United States for the first time since trade talks fell apart.