Canadian Trade Minister: Negotiations With US Showing Progress

"We're doing the important work of answering some of the longstanding concerns that the United States has publicly spoken about in terms of non-tariff barriers," he said at an appearance in Toronto June 11.

He said when they met, they went over more than 20 precise issues Americans had asked to be addressed that have now been addressed. "Many of these are in Canada's economic interest to resolve quickly as well," LeBlanc said. He said some of the issues the U.S. has are provincial actions, which LeBlanc cannot control.

"We talked to them about things that Canada also wants to address because it's not a one-way street," he added.

He noted that he has been in the room when Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Donald Trump spoke about trade, and he said those conversations are focused on common economic interests and security interests, and are "very business-like."

"The president said in one meeting: 'We keep having to move down the field and put points on the board.'"

LeBlanc said he feels there is confusion about what it means if the U.S. doesn't agree to extend the trade deal on July 1.

"It's not a cliff that everybody goes hurtling off," he said. Rather, the pact continues for 10 years after that date and talks continue. He noted that a round of talks with the Mexican delegation is scheduled for later in July.

"The three countries can, at any point thereafter, agree to extend the treaty as well. So, I would expect that we'll have bilateral arrangements between Canada and the United States, between the United States and Mexico, sort of adjacent to the trilateral framework. If those agreements resolve issues that all three countries are trying to resolve, I'm hopeful that we might, at that point, have the extension."

Christopher Sands, leader of the Brookings Institution's USMCA initiative, asked LeBlanc during this Q&A how he manages the fact that Trump and Greer complain about the fact that Canada exports more in goods to the U.S. than vice versa.

He said he tries to arrive at a common understanding of the numbers, and reminded the audience that if you subtract petroleum product sales, it's the U.S. that exports more goods to Canada.

"The directional change over the last year has been in the United States' favor," he added.

But, he said, U.S. economic integration with Canada goes back to the 1980s, and if you try to change that formula, it will put certain sectors under pressure.

Sands asked LeBlanc about Canadians' anger over Trump's words and actions in the last year. That anger has led provincial governments to pull American wine, beer and liquor off liquor store shelves, which is now one of the irritants Greer wants to address.

"President Trump ran an election campaign to impose tariffs. He won convincingly, and he's implementing the agenda that he told Americans he would if he was elected. So I'm always surprised when people are shocked that politicians keep their promises," LeBlanc said. "So, our job is not to get destabilized by this. Our job is to work in Canada's economic interest, accepting, as Mr. Carney said, that President Trump is going to proceed in this direction."

He added, "American political leaders will prosecute their domestic American politics in the way they choose. Canada should not be emotionally vested in how American politicians speak to American voters."

However, LeBlanc also emphasized the close ties between Canada and the U.S. not just in economics. "There are decades of family relationships, business relationships. I don't think there's any Canadian who doesn't have a personal connection to the United States. I have five cousins that live in Massachusetts," he said, in addition to thousands of LeBlanc distant cousins in Louisiana.

Sands asked if the situation is sort of like when your car is stuck in the snow, and you have to keep rocking it back and forth until you can get free. LeBlanc said he liked that analogy, but that you have to make sure no one hits you while you're on the shoulder of the road.

He shared that a friend of his in New Brunswick says "that when you're going through turbulence, you don't take off your seat belt, run up and down the aisle, and kick in the cockpit door and start pulling the levers and pushing the buttons. So we're remaining firmly seated, and we're focused on getting through this inevitable turbulence."

He said under Trump there can never be trade certainty, but he hopes that soon there will be more predictability in the trade relationship. He said he believes he will be able to convince the administration that importing from Canada "is a different circumstance than importing something on a boat from Asia."

He said he's asking U.S. businesses and Canadian businesses that have customers and business partners in the U.S. to talk to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Greer and the president about how Canada serves their businesses.

"We're not waiting for that process as an idle spectator. We have put before the United States before President Trump some very specific offers that we think are in the interest of the United States economy and the Canadian economy. The prime minister has done that on a number of occasions in the last number of months. I did it in a more technical way with Ambassador Greer," LeBlanc said. "So, we'll continue to do that work."