The U.S. president says they “haven’t been focused on” reaching a trade deal with Canada.
Donald Trump made the comments while speaking with reporters on Friday morning.
“We don’t have a deal with Canada. We haven’t been focused on them,” said the president.
Trump has threatened a 35 per cent tariff on many Canadian goods if there is no deal in place by Aug. 1.
However, that tariff would not apply to goods that are compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, also known as CUSMA.
“We haven’t really had a lot of luck with Canada. I think Canada could be one where they’ll just pay tariffs, not really a negotiation.”
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc was in Washington, D.C., this week, where he had “productive” meetings with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and several U.S. senators.
LeBlanc said after the meetings that the federal government is working to get the “best deal” for Canada.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his government will not accept a “bad deal” with the U.S.
