The United States and Canada failed to reach an agreement to avert new tariffs, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer reported on Friday night. According to Greer, the Canadian delegation refused to close the deal despite Washington offering tariff reductions on steel and aluminium.
"Canada declined to finalise the trade agreement under the terms reached early this week," Greer told reporters after days of negotiations. The official maintained that the United States had presented "the best deal among all major exporters" to the U.S. market.
Canadian negotiator Dominic LeBlanc confirmed that the agreement was not finalised before midnight, when new tariffs came into force. LeBlanc arrived at Greer's office after midday on Friday and left around 19:30 local time.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that last-minute changes to the terms proposed by the United States were "unfair, uneconomic and cast doubt on the reliability of any agreement." Carney announced that Canada would match "dollar for dollar" U.S. tariffs.
After months of trade tension, Trump had threatened to impose 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian products but suspended the measure for three days. Canada had requested relief from Trump's tariffs in the automotive, steel and aluminium sectors.
