LeBlanc to meet with U.S. trade chief as tariff deadline nears

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s top trade emissaries are set to meet on Thursday afternoon with Donald Trump’s trade chief for the second time this week as they scramble to reach a deal before the U.S. President’s latest threatened tariffs take effect in six days.

Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, and Janice Charette, Canada’s chief negotiator, will sit down with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at the latter’s Winder Building office near the White House.

The two countries traded written negotiating positions at a previous hour-long meeting on Tuesday and Mr. LeBlanc and Ms. Charette have since been hunkered down with their officials at the Canadian embassy.

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As The Globe and Mail has previously reported, Ottawa is seeking relief from Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Canada. The U.S. is asking for a long list of trade concessions in exchange.

Canada wants reductions in Mr. Trump’s tariffs, imposed last year under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The U.S. has imposed tariffs of 50 per cent on steel and aluminum, 25 per cent on autos and between 10 to 25 per cent on various forest products.

Canada also wants Mr. Trump to stand down from his threat to levy 50 per cent tariffs on US$20-billion more Canadian exports, including electronic equipment, dairy and alcohol, under Section 338 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930.

Ms. Charette told Mr. Greer last week that, if the new tariffs come into effect on Aug. 19, negotiations would halt and Canada would be forced to retaliate.

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The negotiations have centred on the U.S. lowering, but not eliminating, its tariffs, with Canada agreeing to various Washington demands. These include ending retaliatory tariffs on U.S. autos, getting provincial premiers to put American alcohol back on store shelves and halt Buy Canadian programs, and changing how licences are allocated under the supply-managed dairy system.

Talks had been sluggish until Mr. Trump threatened the new 338 tariffs last month and set a deadline for them to take effect. This lit a fire under the talks, with Mr. LeBlanc and Ms. Charette meeting Mr. Greer in Washington every week for the past three. Ms. Charette has been encamped semi-permanently in the U.S. capital with her team.

Mr. Greer has said he wants “interim” trade deals with both Canada and Mexico before moving onto a larger overhaul of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which would include renegotiating automotive content rules, among other thorny topics.

Canadian negotiators have privately presented the current talks as a first deal before moving onto future rounds of bargaining that would include various trade and defence topics.