Canada's trade minister expresses confidence about a potential deal with the US

Despite imposition of new tariffs by the White House, Canada's trade minister, Dominic LeBlanc, showed optimism about the direction of bilateral negotiations. In an interview with CBS's "Face the Nation" program, LeBlanc said he expects a direct conversation between President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the next few days.

“We believe there’s a great deal of common ground between the United States and Canada in terms of building two strong economies that work well together,” the Canadian minister said. “That’s been the history of the 40-year Free Trade Agreement that goes back to President Reagan.”

The remarks come after President Trump imposed new tariffs on Canadian goods that are not covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) last Thursday. While much of the Canadian economy remains shielded from the measure, industries such as steel and aluminum were hit hard. Washington argues that the tariffs are aimed at bolstering domestic productive capacity.

"We understand and respect totally the President’s view in terms of the national security interest," LeBlanc explained. "In fact, we share it, and what we’ve said to our American counterparts is, how can we structure the right agreement, where we can both continue to supply one another in a reliable, cost-effective way that preserves jobs essential to the American economy, but the same thing is true, obviously in Canada as well.”

Still, the public discussion around a Canada-U.S. trade agreement transcends the economic debate. Via social media, Trump himself claimed that Prime Minister Carney's recent commitment to recognize a Palestinian state would make it "very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them.”

Despite the comment, LeBlanc, who spent much of the week in Washington in meetings with high-level officials, said he remains optimistic. He attributes that confidence to the strong economic integration between the two countries throughout history.

“One description which I thought was very apt: we don’t sell things to each other as much as we build things together,” he said. “And that’s why it’s difficult in this relationship when so much is integrated, but we remain very optimistic.”