Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as officials race against the clock to secure a new trade deal before new 50 per cent tariffs go into effect Wednesday.
The Prime Minister’s Office said Monday that Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by phone about the ongoing negotiations. Neither side has disclosed details of the discussion.
LeBlanc was accompanied by Canada’s chief negotiator Janice Charette at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C., on Monday afternoon, LeBlanc’s office said.
This was the sixth meeting between LeBlanc and Greer in the last three weeks, as officials hope to present a draft deal to Carney and Trump for their approval before Wednesday’s tariff deadline.
Trump has vowed to hit Canada with new sweeping 50 per cent tariffs on a wide range of goods in response to what the U.S. calls “discriminatory” measures, including boycotts by Canadian provinces of American alcohol in response to the U.S. trade war launched in early 2025.
Trump signed three executive orders last month, each one using a different justification for the new tariff: the provincial and territorial boycotts on American alcohol products, Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S.-made vehicles and auto parts, and quotas on American dairy imports under Canada’s supply management system.
In early 2025, numerous Canadian provinces removed U.S. alcohol from their shelves in response to Trump’s trade war and threats to make Canada the “51st state.”
Carney was in St. John’s on Monday for a joint press conference with Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Tony Wakeham and Quebec Premier Christine Frechette.
He was asked whether he expects to speak with Trump over the phone before Wednesday.
“The short answer is, yes,” Carney said.
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“We’ll have opportunities over the next 48 hours to discuss in more detail as the negotiations go forward,” he added.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford called for a “united Team Canada approach” in navigating the U.S. trade war.
“Workers and businesses across Ontario continue to be threatened by U.S. tariffs, including President Trump’s latest threat of new tariffs of up to 50 per cent. Ontario will be prepared for any and every scenario,” Ford said during a speech at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) annual conference in Ottawa on Monday.
Canadians “have grown tired of seeing our country used as a punching bag,” Conservative critic for Canada-U.S. relations Shuv Majumdar said in a statement.
“Yet we share a common hope that Prime Minister Carney will deliver a genuine win at the negotiating table. Canada confronts a tough and often unpredictable administration in Washington,” Majumdar said.
“Our negotiators have our full support in securing an agreement that lifts the tariffs and duties now weighing on our steel, aluminum, lumber and automotive industries,” he added.
LeBlanc and Charette worked through the weekend with American officials, including during a virtual meeting with Greer on Sunday.
Canadian officials “seek to reach a comprehensive deal that delivers for businesses, workers, farmers and families on both sides of the border,” LeBlanc’s office said.
Ottawa and Washington are “not close to signing a trade deal” and a “big gap” remains between the two sides, officials told Global News on Friday.
Global News has agreed not to identify the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the trade talks.
Relief for Canada’s softwood lumber industry has emerged as a sticking point in the talks. Two sources said the Americans are not interested in reducing softwood lumber tariffs, which currently sit close to 45 per cent.
Earlier on Sunday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre argued that tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber must be removed in any trade deal.
“It is unacceptable for there to be U.S. tariffs on Canadian lumber,” he said during a news conference Sunday. “It’s time for Mark Carney to keep his promise that he would negotiate a win and get the tariffs off Canadian softwood lumber. No more concessions while getting nothing in return.”
The approaching tariff deadline “adds uncertainty” for the Canadian economy and threatens “significant consequences for some affected industries and regions,” Royal Bank of Canada economists Abbey Xu and Nathan Janzen said in a note Monday morning.
The tariff uncertainty will continue to weigh on the Bank of Canada as well, said National Bank economists Matthieu Arseneau and Alexandra Ducharme.
“While the economy and the labour market have certainly improved recently, the outlook remains a cause for concern unless trade tensions with the United States ease,” the note from National Bank said Monday.
— with files from Global’s Mackenzie Gray and Reggie Cecchini
Poilievre is down our way, down east. We don’t want him here. Can’t he get a real job?
The Trump/USA boot lickers are out in full force again. Supporting party over country.
That lutnik guy is scary
There’s the liberal boot licker again. Sometimes he’s Ben, sometimes Benoit, or Beneyim or another new one yesterday. He obviously has an identity crisis.
Benoît
August 18, 2026 at 9:16 am
The Poilievre conservatives are out bashing Team Canada while we are in the midst of an unprecedented threat from the USA. They, like their leader, put politics above country. Are they really Canadian?
Heck yea bud Elbows up! Or is it Canada Makes America Great Again?
The Poilievre conservatives are out bashing Team Canada while we are in the midst of an unprecedented threat from the USA. They, like their leader, put politics above country. Are they really Canadian?
@Pat – I assume you are an Elbows Up Carney bootlicker.
We need to stop applying tariffs to their US dairy imports! We are part of this problem!
So more incompetemce from Carney then
Wonder if the media will cover his ass for as long as they did Trudeau
You would think they would want to repair the damage to their reputations not make it worse
Carney can’t even get a meeting with Trump. Carney has zero credibility. Carney badmouths the USA and the MAGA movement.
Strange how Csrney went to Italy on vacation and isn’t going to Washington to negotiate directly. We made a personal promise to Canadians that he would have a deal by July 31, 2025. Promise not kept.
I cannot decide who is more ridiculous, Yankee Doodle or the Canadian writers who hate liberals.
Heh! I just decided that Yankee Doodle will be my target; YD you are a Trump loving moron; Don’t waste your time responding, I cannot be bothered scrolling through the rest of the comments tomorrow.
Canada deserves no mercy. Trump doing the right thing for the USA
Carney to busy talk about platitudes. This is probably the largest fumble by a Canadian PM in over 50 years. Total failure
Wow, how prefound
Never happen before right??
@ Jon. Canada collapses with no acess to the USA . Just so you know.
Withdraw from CUSMA. You can’t strike a meaningful trade agreement with an administration that won’t honour them. They are distasteful, distrustful, dishonest, and doomed.
Leblanc only cares when the dinner bell rings. No confidence in a true Liberal hack that has provided no value his entire time as an MP.
@Joe. You missed the memo. Both Smith and Moe have said Oil / Gas / Potash not on the table. Carney said energy isn’t also. You post is so lame.
Canada can’t exist unless the have acess to the US market. Elbows up Canadians must have rocks for brains.
@Joe. Alberta will not put its Industrial base in threat for Ottawa. Minimal tariffs with Oil and Gas. Also, Trump is adding tariffs on things he wants Americans to buy at home instead. You don’t seem to know what you are talking about.
OUR HERO PUPETT LEBLANC, GONNA GET TOUGH WITH ELBOWS UPL, PANTS DOWN, BENT OVER. READY TO TAKE SOME USA CO KS UP THE ASS
Hey Joe! Oh it would be great to cut off all the exports to the States wouldn’t it. That will teach them a lesson. Oh Wait! What about all the people that work in those industries? How do you convince them that losing their job is good for Canada. What about the billions in lost revenue for Canada? As for ‘Diversification” thus far we only have talk and a few handshakes. Not much of a replacement for the US.
Trudeau’s baby sitter was la blanc
I hope Ontarios auto industry total collapses without a deal.
Elbows Up Canadians are the biggest cry babies and losers in the world. Canada can’t exist without acess to the US market.
Must be trumps kids on here bashing Canada, the rest of Americans are too busy figuring out how to pay rent , groceries or buy fuel . All those tariffs are passed on to you America . It hurts you all more than it does any other country. Only stupid or the ultra rich would support trumps tariffs on another country.
Looks like LeBlanc is still shooting le blanks…
No deal is better than a bad deal . Start by cutting off potash immediately, then every three weeks , something else like fertilizers, then oil , then gas , then critical minerals, then lumber, then electricity. Canada will show how nasty we can be right before the midterms.
I’m sure the Quebecer smugness and arrogance will work wonders. 🙄
So they took time away from sucking his orange cork
Trump is doing right for the USAs best interests. He isn’t the president of Canada I hope Trump put maximum tariffs on Canada. Elbows Up USA!
Nice to see all those brain dead lefturd libby inbreds get shat on by Trumpmeister and his men
Know what would be nice? To see these USA fascist hillbilly pigs go down real hard. Complete with being beaten and humiliated. Out of all them, save Trump and Vance and Hegseth, these two are the most vilest and need a real good drubbing. Then they can rot in jail.
I have no confidence in Leblanc. He was found guilty of serious ethical misconduct when he awarded a lucrative surf clam licence to a close family friend.
Why was Carney in Italy the past week and NFLD today. He should be in Washington getting the deal done. He has been such a disappointment so far. All talk and no action.
I laugh at these comments blaming Carney… seriously people!
You can’t trust Trump on any deal, period.
All this conservative hate is boring. Your PM failed. Time to admit it. Elbozos
Gee. Sure would have been nice if the negotiations had been started in earnest back on 2025. Hey? Liberal Party of Canada: measured. Managed. Decline
@Elizabeth. I wish Carney would keep his promises to Canadians. It is up for Carney to ask for “help” if he requires it. Seems he doesn’t as he was vacationing in Italy the past week.
Wish Poilievre would support Canada and Carney against the USA. The Carney government has reached out multiple times to the Poilievre conservatives about working together. But the conservatives just want to play partisan games.
Leblank got jizzwiz leaking out his mouth
Ima on my knees gobbling
It would be easier to negotiate if the Poilievre conservatives didn’t have such a close relationship with the Trump administration. MP’s from the conservatives are flying out all the time to meet their Trumpian friends.
@ Brad Colton – Trump has no credibility outside of MAGA
@ RobS – the softwood protectionism in the US is driven by Georgia Pacific (Charles Koch).
Of course the MAGA Poilievre conservatives think there will be no compromises, even though every other country has had to compromise.
There’s been a dispute between the US and Canada over softwood lumber since 1982. Most of that time there has been US tariffs or other “anti-dumping” mechanisms in place. That’s a lot of years of both Liberal and Conservative rule. Anyone, including Poilievre who actually thinks this can be fixed over a week-end negotiating with the most belligerent counter-party the US has ever been is out to lunch or just trying to stir up nonsense.
Carney and his Liberals have no credibility with Trump or MAGA.
More talk but no action from Carney
Perhaps Carney should go. We told everyone he was a “Master Negotiator “ and knew how things like this work. No confidence in Leblanc.