Overview
- Canada’s trade minister Dominic LeBlanc and chief negotiator Janice Charette held a third face‑to‑face meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday as talks accelerate to avert tariffs scheduled for Aug. 19.
- The Trump administration plans to impose 50 percent duties on roughly US$20 billion of Canadian goods, a list that includes alcohol, dairy, lumber, cement and sporting equipment and covers about 5 percent of U.S. imports from Canada.
- Negotiators have discussed concrete tradeoffs such as export quotas on steel and aluminum, rolling back Canadian retaliatory tariffs, and restoring U.S. alcohol to provincial shelves in exchange for partial tariff relief, but no deal has been signed or approved by President Trump.
- Industry analyses warn that a breakdown of CUSMA or a broader escalation could cost roughly 100,000 Canadian jobs and more than 200,000 U.S. jobs while further hurting steel, aluminum, auto, forestry and dairy sectors.
- Public and political pressure in Canada remains strong for Ottawa to hold firm with polls showing broad voter support, and markets and the loonie have already reacted to the heightened trade risk.