U.S., Canada fail to reach tariff pact
Carney said the important progress made ‘has not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians.’
Carney said the important progress made ‘has not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians.’
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Hefty US tariffs on some Canadian products took effect on Saturday after days of negotiations that went down to the wire failed to produce an agreement.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed that his country will match the US tariffs “dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses,” as officials said late Friday that Washington and Ottawa had not managed to strike a deal.
The lack of a final agreement means that new 50-percent duties impacting some $20 billion worth of goods, or 5.5 percent of Canadian exports to its neighbor, cameinto force
Impacted products range from hockey sticks to cement.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Friday that “tonight, Canada declined to finalize the trade deal under the terms agreed earlier this week.”
That came despite Washington’s offers for tariff reductions in sectors like steel and aluminum, he added in a statement.
A senior US official said there are no further scheduled meetings for now.
The surprise announcement came after Trump said that the US “should be able to have a deal with Canada,” citing his “good relationship” with Carney.
After hours of trade talks on Friday, however, Canada’s top negotiator Dominic LeBlanc told reporters that officials still “have more work to do.”
LeBlanc and Greer also met for around three hours on Thursday.
Greer said that the Trump administration put on the table “significant tariff reductions on steel, aluminum, autos and lumber” in exchange for concessions from Canada.
He said that Canada was also maintaining its “prolonged retaliation” against the US, including prohibitions on certain American goods and services.
Canada’s regional leaders said previously that the US was particularly irritated by one retaliatory measure: the removal of US alcohol and wine from liquor stores.
But Carney added in a separate statement that “last-minute changes in the US proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.”
While Washington and Ottawa made “important progress” in recent weeks, Carney said, this “has not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians.”
The senior US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Canada had sought additional concessions that the US was unable to provide.
