Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada will meet with President Trump at the White House on Tuesday amid suggestions by Canadian officials that the United States may ease some of the tariffs it has applied on its neighbor.
Mr. Carney’s second visit to the White House as Canada’s leader “will focus on shared priorities in a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the U.S.,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement on Friday.
Unlike other several other world leaders, Mr. Carney has been unable to reach a new trade deal with the United States since Mr. Trump since began building a tariff wall around the United States.
The United States has imposed a general 35 percent tariff on Canadian exports. But the effect has been softened because many Canadian products are exempt from levies as a result of a trade deal among Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Mr. Trump, however, has applied steep tariffs on steel, aluminum and auto exports from Canada, a move that could jeopardize thousands of jobs. The United States, this week, imposed a 10 percent tariff on Canadian softwood lumber, which is commonly used in home building. But because most Canadian softwood lumber was already affected by other tariffs, the new measure will bring the total tariff level to just over 45 percent.
Mr. Carney has made several concessions that were widely seen as a way to placate Mr. Trump. He canceled a tax on American technology companies that had led Mr. Trump to suspend trade talks between the two countries.
And Mr. Carney withdrew many of the retaliatory tariffs imposed by the previous Canadian government in response to Mr. Trump’s tariff campaign. The lack of an American response to those concessions has led to criticism from Mr. Carney’s political opponents that he has been ineffective at dealing with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Carney and his officials have generally downplayed the possibility of getting Mr. Trump to back off on tariffs and focused on expanding trade relations with other countries. Last month, Mr. Carney traveled to Mexico City to meet with President Claudia Sheinbaum.
On Thursday, Dominic LeBlanc, Mr. Carney’s cabinet minister who is handling trade relations with the United States, suggested to a committee of Canada’s Senate that there may be hope of amending the tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and autos.
He said that he is “not seeing a dead end” in talks on those tariffs with the United States and said that he hoped something could be worked out before Canada, the United States and Mexico begin a scheduled review of their free trade agreement.
“But time will tell us if my optimism is misplaced,” Mr. LeBlanc told the Senate foreign affairs and international trade committee.
Mr. Trump this week again brought up his desire to annex Canada during his speech to American military commanders while speaking about Canada’s potential participation in his “Golden Dome” missile defense shield.
“Canada called me a couple of weeks ago,” Mr. Trump said. “They want to be part of it. To which I said, well, why don’t you just join our country? Become 51, become the 51st state and you get it for free.”
It is unclear with whom Mr. Trump spoke in Canada. Mr. Carney’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Ian Austen reports on Canada for The Times. A Windsor, Ontario, native now based in Ottawa, he has reported on the country for two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].
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