Leaked terms would cut some tariffs but restore US alcohol sales
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said on Thursday that he questioned why Canada would give up leverage by restoring US alcohol sales, and described President Trump in strongly negative terms. Kinew characterised the US president as someone Canadians should not trust and urged the federal government to resist making additional concessions. “And this is the person that we were supposed to make a deal with, and we’re going to make additional concessions for it,” Kinew said.
Kinew said he would reluctantly restore the sale of US alcohol in his province if it was for the benefit of all of Canada, but urged Canadians not to buy it. “Let it sit on the shelf,” he said.
Canada’s Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc met with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer for more than three hours on Thursday and told reporters the two sides were “very close” to a deal. LeBlanc and Greer were scheduled to meet again on Friday morning.
Details leaked to several media outlets suggest the US would agree to reduce tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium from 50 percent to 25 percent, and tariffs on Canadian automobiles from 25 percent to 15 percent. In addition to restoring the sale of American alcohol, Canada is said to be considering allowing American dairy producers greater access to its market and removing its retaliatory tariffs on the US.
President Donald Trump has hailed the possible deal as good for American farmers and manufacturers, while Carney has said the two sides are closing in on an agreement addressing key strategic sectors of the Canadian economy.
Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette, whose province is home to a large dairy industry, said on Thursday that she was analysing what the deal would mean for Quebec farmers before deciding on whether to restore US alcohol sales. Doug Ford, the traditionally outspoken premier of Canada’s largest province Ontario, had not commented publicly on the deal as of Thursday. The premiers of Nova Scotia and the Yukon territory said they were prepared to restore US alcohol sales.
The mayor of an Ontario city that is home to the country’s second-largest steel producer told CBC that a deal that includes 25 percent tariffs on the sector would be unwelcome for his community. “I am worried with the news that’s coming out that we are not seeing a deal that will benefit our community at the very least,” Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said.
Leader of the Conservative opposition Pierre Poilievre also criticised what is known about the deal so far, saying that “one-sided tariffs on Canadian industry would be a bad deal.”
Carney has faced pressure from businesses and stakeholders to reach a deal that would avert the additional 50 percent tariff Trump has threatened. Canada could lose 90,000 jobs if the new tariffs were implemented, according to estimates in an analysis published on Thursday by Trevor Tombe, a Calgary-based economist.
The mixed reaction so far signals the scale of the task ahead for Carney after he campaigned on a tough “elbows-up” approach to dealing with Trump. Polling suggests a majority of Canadians would be unhappy if the Carney government made significant concessions to the US, with 56 percent surveyed by Leger saying they wanted Canada to take a hardline approach.
In a leaked audio recording reported by the Canadian Press, US Vice-President JD Vance reportedly told attendees at a private fundraiser on Wednesday that Carney has tried to “out-tough Donald Trump” in trade talks. “It’s hilarious because Carney presents this as some victory for Canada when fundamentally, like, they climb down on a lot of issues,” Vance reportedly told the room.