Carney says U.S. trade negotiations in ‘intense phase’ as deadline looms

The Prime Minister says negotiations with the Americans are in an “intense phase.”

Mark Carney called ongoing talks with the White House “complex,” as Canada and the United States look to strike a trade deal by the end of the week.

If Canada isn’t able to strike a deal by Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump says he will increase tariffs on goods traded outside of the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement to 35 per cent.

While at an unrelated announcement in Prince Edward Island today, Carney said negotiations remain complex, but there is a “landing zone” that’s possible. He also dismissed comments Trump made last week that a trade deal with Canada may be out of reach.

“The negotiations are at an intense phase,” the Carney said.

“It’s a complex negotiation. You see with the various trade deals that have been agreed to by other jurisdictions — the European Union yesterday, Japan before that, Indonesia, United Kingdom — that there are many elements to these negotiations. We’re engaged in them. But the assurance for Canadian businesses, for Canadians, is we will only sign the a deal that’s a good deal, the right deal for Canada.”

Carney’s comments come the day after Trump announced a trade deal with the European Union that includes a blanket 15 per cent tariff on all U.S. imports. It also includes $600-billion of E.U. investments in the U.S., particularly in energy and military equipment.

Premier Doug Ford also reiterated his approach of adding dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs when asked about the Friday deadline today.

“I’m never confident with President Trump,” Ford said.

“I’m confident with Prime Minister Carney. I know he’s going to do his very best to get a deal. But I don’t trust President Trump. He’ll say one thing one day and something else in the news the next day. We want fair a free trade, but if he wants to attack our steel industry and our aluminum industry, we need to hit him back.”

READ MORE: Donald Trump says he hasn’t ‘had a lot of luck’ negotiating trade deal with Canada