Talks with Trump’s team constructive before boosted tariff announced, ambassador says

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WASHINGTON — Canada’s ambassador to the United States said much progress has been made with her American counterparts on trade — despite President Donald Trump’s decision to boost tariffs on Canada to 35 per cent on Friday.

Kirsten Hillman, who also serves as Canada’s top negotiator with the U.S., said there have been professional and constructive conversations with Trump’s team over the last three weeks. Ultimately, Hillman said, the right deal for Canada wasn’t on the table.

“We’re just not there yet,” Hillman told The Canadian Press. “We made progress and we’re just not there yet.”

While Trump’s latest tariffs appear staggering, Hillman said it’s important to recognize that there is a carveout for goods compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, also called CUSMA.

She said that with the possible exception of Mexico, she doesn’t think “there is a country that wouldn’t change places with us.” Trump on Thursday gave Mexico a 90-day extension on trade talks, delaying his deadline to impose a 30 per cent tariff on Mexico’s non-CUSMA-compliant goods.

Officials in Canada and the United States have been largely tight-lipped about the state of negotiations.

Hillman said those talks have included conversations about vital sectors of the economy that are essential for economic and national security in both countries, as well as how a strong Canada helps Trump achieve some of his domestic goals.

“We have, I think, unique positions of working with the U.S. in ways that are quite compatible to protect ourselves against threats from unfairly traded, maybe subsidized, maybe dumped products that make it harder for our sectors to survive because they create an unfair playing field,” Hillman said.

Canadian and U.S. officials have also been talking about irritants on both sides of the border linked to regulatory policies, Hillman said.

Trump has long complained about Canada, misrepresenting the agriculture and dairy sectors and criticizing its spending on defence. When asked about the holdup in Canadian negotiations on Thursday, Trump said “they have to pay a fair rate.”

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A White House official on background said Canada has demonstrated a lack of seriousness in trade discussions as it relates to removing trade barriers.

Hillman said she’s not discouraged but more work needs to be done, particularly on Trump’s sectoral tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles.

“The job now is to keep those discussions going and continue the progress,” she said.

Canadian officials have been pushing to have those sectoral duties dropped in any agreement, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested Thursday that there’s negotiating room on aluminum tariffs.

Bessent told CNBC that Ford trucks use a lot of aluminum and “we will be negotiating with Canada on those.”

The United States relies heavily on aluminum imports and doesn’t have the capacity domestically to make up what it buys from Canada. Hillman said prices for aluminum in the United States are now 50 per cent higher than they are in the rest of the world thanks to Trump’s tariffs.

“There’s a very active discussion in the United States between U.S. aluminum consumers, that is to say the companies that are using that product, and their own government,” she said.

Carney and Trump are in fairly regular contact, Hillman said, but the prime minister has made clear that he will only take the right deal for Canada.

“We’ll do our best to move this along and get to a place of stability sooner rather than later, but ultimately the main job is to get the best deal for Canada,” she said.