Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office says he and U.S. President Donald Trump directed their teams to conclude work on making “material progress” on steel, aluminum and energy trade in “the coming weeks” after their meeting in Washington.
Wednesday’s readout of Carney’s visit to the U.S. capital came after Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who accompanied Carney and is leading the U.S. trade negotiations, told reporters Tuesday that the goal was to “quickly land deals” on those sectors that have been hit by tariffs.
“The Prime Minister and the President welcomed the progress achieved to date in building a new economic and security relationship between their nations,” the readout from Carney’s office said.
“The leaders identified opportunities for material progress in trade in steel, aluminum, and energy, and directed their teams to conclude this work in the coming weeks.”
A government source told Global News that Carney raised the possibility of revisiting the cross-border Keystone XL pipeline in the context of potential energy co-operation during his closed-door meeting with Trump, in exchange for progress on steel and aluminum tariffs.
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The readout added Carney and Trump also discussed “opportunities to cooperate in defence and focused on their shared efforts to bolster Arctic security.”
Carney travelled to Washington for Tuesday’s White House meeting under increasing pressure to reach a deal with Trump.
His office and LeBlanc had played down the possibility of leaving D.C. with a deal in hand, noting they were seeking agreements on sectors including steel, aluminum, autos and lumber that are facing steep tariffs under U.S. national security provisions.
LeBlanc said after the meeting that he and his U.S. counterparts had been directed to “quickly” secure deals on steel, aluminum and energy, with more sectors to follow.
He did not set a timeline for those deals but said further talks were expected as soon as Tuesday evening.
“The conversation between the two leaders left us very much with the sense that there’s a desire to see how we can — starting with the steel and aluminum sectors — structure something that would be in the economic and security interests of both countries,” he said.
“People understandably want to see the results, and believe me, so do we. We’re going to continue that work.”
Carney also met with the top Republican and Democrat senators on the U.S. Senate foreign relations committee while in Washington, and had dinner with U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, the PMO readout said.
“As senators from states who share a border with Canada, we welcome renewed bilateral dialogue in the best interests of the Canadian and American people,” a joint statement from Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire said.
Carney said Canada is focused on creating “new opportunities” for shared collaboration with the U.S. while understanding “there are areas where our nations can compete,” according to his office.
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Carney says ‘material progress’ on U.S. trade set to conclude in ‘weeks’
