‘We’ll see where things land,’ Carney says amid ‘intense phase’ of ongoing U.S. negotiations and looming tariff deadline
Published: July 28, 2025
The American administration reached a trade deal with the European Union, but negotiations with Canada continue. CTV National's Colton Praill has the latest.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says negotiations with the U.S. are at an “intense phase,” as U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline to increase tariffs on Canadian goods to 35 per cent fast approaches.
“It’s a complex negotiation,” Carney told reporters on Monday, when asked what message he’s sending to the industries that are anxious about the U.S. threatening higher levies. “You see with the various trade deals that have been agreed by other jurisdictions — European Union yesterday, Japan before, Indonesia, etc., the United Kingdom — that there are many aspects to these negotiations.”
“We’re engaged in them, but the assurance for Canadian business, for Canadians, is we will only sign a deal that’s the right deal, that’s a good deal for Canada,” Carney also said, echoing statements he made last week that his government is prioritizing “the best deal” over a timely one.
Carney made the comments on P.E.I. Monday following an announcement the federal government is cutting the toll to use the Confederation Bridge.
Still looming, meanwhile, is Trump’s threat to increase tariffs to 35 per cent on Friday, the date by which Carney has said the Canadian government is aiming to hash out a new economic deal with the United States.
The new levies will not apply to goods that are covered by the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), the White House has confirmed. Still in place, however, are steep tariffs on steel and aluminum, and autos, with Trump also signalling he plans to impose higher duties on copper as of Friday.
While the protracted trade war and the status of negotiations have dominated discussions among Canadian lawmakers — namely during last week’s meetings between Carney and the premiers, and as Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc met with several U.S. senators both in Ottawa and Washington last week — Trump on Friday said his administration hasn’t “been focused” on Canada.
“Aug. 1 is going to come, and we will have most of our deals finished, if not all,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We haven’t really had a lot of luck with Canada. I think Canada could be one where they’ll just pay tariffs. It’s not really a negotiation.”
Today, the prime minister dismissed the president’s comments as a negotiating tactic.
Still, LeBlanc has said Canada is still working toward an Aug. 1 target date to reach a deal, and to that end he is set to return to Washington this week.
Asked Monday whether he should have kept the controversial digital services tax (DST) to earn the revenue from it, Carney said that’s “a hypothetical on a hypothetical.”
Carney dropped the tax late last month after Trump said he’d end negotiations with Canada “effective immediately” over the issue, with the president calling it “a direct and blatant attack” on the U.S. and its technology companies.
“We’ll see where things land in terms of negotiation,” Carney said Monday. “There are pros and cons of that tax, as there are with any tax.”
“It may seem like it’s a long way from a trade discussion at the end of this week,” Carney also said, pointing to other efforts his government has made to reduce the impact of the trade war on Canadians. “What we’re really spending the vast, vast part of our time on is what we can control, and building the country together, bringing the country together, and then building out the country.”
Spencer Van Dyk
Writer & Producer, Ottawa News Bureau, CTV News
The American administration reached a trade deal with the European Union, but negotiations with Canada continue. CTV National's Colton Praill has the latest.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says negotiations with the U.S. are at an “intense phase,” as U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline to increase tariffs on Canadian goods to 35 per cent fast approaches.
“It’s a complex negotiation,” Carney told reporters on Monday, when asked what message he’s sending to the industries that are anxious about the U.S. threatening higher levies. “You see with the various trade deals that have been agreed by other jurisdictions — European Union yesterday, Japan before, Indonesia, etc., the United Kingdom — that there are many aspects to these negotiations.”
“We’re engaged in them, but the assurance for Canadian business, for Canadians, is we will only sign a deal that’s the right deal, that’s a good deal for Canada,” Carney also said, echoing statements he made last week that his government is prioritizing “the best deal” over a timely one.
Carney made the comments on P.E.I. Monday following an announcement the federal government is cutting the toll to use the Confederation Bridge.
Still looming, meanwhile, is Trump’s threat to increase tariffs to 35 per cent on Friday, the date by which Carney has said the Canadian government is aiming to hash out a new economic deal with the United States.
The new levies will not apply to goods that are covered by the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), the White House has confirmed. Still in place, however, are steep tariffs on steel and aluminum, and autos, with Trump also signalling he plans to impose higher duties on copper as of Friday.
While the protracted trade war and the status of negotiations have dominated discussions among Canadian lawmakers — namely during last week’s meetings between Carney and the premiers, and as Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc met with several U.S. senators both in Ottawa and Washington last week — Trump on Friday said his administration hasn’t “been focused” on Canada.
“Aug. 1 is going to come, and we will have most of our deals finished, if not all,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We haven’t really had a lot of luck with Canada. I think Canada could be one where they’ll just pay tariffs. It’s not really a negotiation.”
Today, the prime minister dismissed the president’s comments as a negotiating tactic.
Still, LeBlanc has said Canada is still working toward an Aug. 1 target date to reach a deal, and to that end he is set to return to Washington this week.
Asked Monday whether he should have kept the controversial digital services tax (DST) to earn the revenue from it, Carney said that’s “a hypothetical on a hypothetical.”
Carney dropped the tax late last month after Trump said he’d end negotiations with Canada “effective immediately” over the issue, with the president calling it “a direct and blatant attack” on the U.S. and its technology companies.
“We’ll see where things land in terms of negotiation,” Carney said Monday. “There are pros and cons of that tax, as there are with any tax.”
“It may seem like it’s a long way from a trade discussion at the end of this week,” Carney also said, pointing to other efforts his government has made to reduce the impact of the trade war on Canadians. “What we’re really spending the vast, vast part of our time on is what we can control, and building the country together, bringing the country together, and then building out the country.”
Spencer Van Dyk
Writer & Producer, Ottawa News Bureau, CTV News
Harper says Carney team sought his trade advice, advises looking outside U.S.
By The Canadian Press
Updated: July 28, 2025
By The Canadian Press
Updated: July 28, 2025
Former prime minister Stephen Harper speaks ahead of the King delivering speech from the throne in the Senate in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Blair Gable-Pool
Former prime minister Stephen Harper said Monday he’s urging Ottawa to find new trading partners outside the United States.
“I think it’s fair to say I’m probably the most pro-American prime minister in Canadian history,” Harper told Canadian and American legislators gathered for the annual Midwestern Legislative Conference meeting in Saskatoon.
“We’ve got to get something short-term worked out with the Trump administration. But this really is a wake-up call for this country to truly diversify its trade export markets.
“Just because we have that geographic proximity does not justify the degree of dependence that we have on a single market.”
Harper said he was approached by the government two weeks ago for advice on dealing with U.S. trade policy.
The Canadian Press has asked Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office whether it approached the former Conservative prime minister for advice but has not yet received a response.
Harper told the conference that Canada should no longer rely on Washington for its security.
“While the border is a shared responsibility, let’s make sure we spend a lot more on defence so that we can be independently responsible for our own land, seas and skies, independent of the United States,” he said.
Harper said that anyone who had asked for his trade advice a year ago would have been urged to deepen economic and security ties with Canada’s southern neighbour.
“However, when the government did actually ask me a few weeks ago, my advice was the opposite,” he said.
Harper said that while Washington is using a failed economic policy of pursuing economic growth through tariffs, the U.S. still needs trading partners.
“We just cannot be in a position in the future where we can be threatened in this way and not have that leverage,” he said.
“The current government does, you know, get it better than their predecessors.”
He said he hopes Americans recognize that they can’t take their international allies and trading partners for granted.
“I really do hope that a realization seeps into the United States,” he told the crowd of American lawmakers.
“Canadians are a combination of just angry and bewildered by what is happening here. And that is very real. And it is very deep and it is across the country, and it is across the political spectrum.”
Harper also said China is undermining global trade through its use of World Trade Organization mechanisms. He said the Pacific Rim trading bloc created through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership allows Canada to undertake trade with other countries that respect global rules.
He also revealed that he told American officials during his time as prime minister that a military response would be needed to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb.
“I have been saying for 15 years at least that the single biggest threat of nuclear war was Iran ever getting a nuclear weapon,” he said. “And I had told American administrations confidentially for years it was my conclusion (that) the only way to ever stop that would be military action.”
By Dylan Robertson.
With files from Jeremy Simes in Saskatoon.
Former prime minister Stephen Harper said Monday he’s urging Ottawa to find new trading partners outside the United States.
“I think it’s fair to say I’m probably the most pro-American prime minister in Canadian history,” Harper told Canadian and American legislators gathered for the annual Midwestern Legislative Conference meeting in Saskatoon.
“We’ve got to get something short-term worked out with the Trump administration. But this really is a wake-up call for this country to truly diversify its trade export markets.
“Just because we have that geographic proximity does not justify the degree of dependence that we have on a single market.”
Harper said he was approached by the government two weeks ago for advice on dealing with U.S. trade policy.
The Canadian Press has asked Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office whether it approached the former Conservative prime minister for advice but has not yet received a response.
Harper told the conference that Canada should no longer rely on Washington for its security.
“While the border is a shared responsibility, let’s make sure we spend a lot more on defence so that we can be independently responsible for our own land, seas and skies, independent of the United States,” he said.
Harper said that anyone who had asked for his trade advice a year ago would have been urged to deepen economic and security ties with Canada’s southern neighbour.
“However, when the government did actually ask me a few weeks ago, my advice was the opposite,” he said.
Harper said that while Washington is using a failed economic policy of pursuing economic growth through tariffs, the U.S. still needs trading partners.
“We just cannot be in a position in the future where we can be threatened in this way and not have that leverage,” he said.
“The current government does, you know, get it better than their predecessors.”
He said he hopes Americans recognize that they can’t take their international allies and trading partners for granted.
“I really do hope that a realization seeps into the United States,” he told the crowd of American lawmakers.
“Canadians are a combination of just angry and bewildered by what is happening here. And that is very real. And it is very deep and it is across the country, and it is across the political spectrum.”
Harper also said China is undermining global trade through its use of World Trade Organization mechanisms. He said the Pacific Rim trading bloc created through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership allows Canada to undertake trade with other countries that respect global rules.
He also revealed that he told American officials during his time as prime minister that a military response would be needed to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb.
“I have been saying for 15 years at least that the single biggest threat of nuclear war was Iran ever getting a nuclear weapon,” he said. “And I had told American administrations confidentially for years it was my conclusion (that) the only way to ever stop that would be military action.”
By Dylan Robertson.
With files from Jeremy Simes in Saskatoon.
By Luca Caruso-
Updated: July 25, 2025
Just days before the presumed Aug. 1 agreement deadline, U.S. President Donald Trump said “we haven’t been focused” on reaching a trade deal with Canada.
“We don’t have a deal with Canada,” he told reporters Friday morning during a windy outdoor scrum.
“Aug. 1 is going to come, and we will have most of our deals finished, if not all. We haven’t really had a lot of luck with Canada. I think Canada could be one where they’ll just pay tariffs. It’s not really a negotiation.”
In contrast, Trump said the administration is likely to reach a deal with the EU and that he had solidified the confines of an accord with China. He also celebrated a breakthrough with Australia, which recently relaxed import restrictions that will allow the U.S. to sell it “so much” beef.
His comment comes a day after Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister for trade with the U.S., said he was encouraged following a meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and a bipartisan group of senators. LeBlanc said the closed-door negotiations with the Americans are “complex” and suggested they may not resolve by Aug. 1.
On that day, Trump promised, the U.S. will impose a 35 per cent tariff on Canadian goods crossing the border. Those fees could go even higher if Canada further retaliates. However, they’re limited to the minority of goods not covered under the two countries’ existing free trade deal, which Trump signed in his first term and vowed to renegotiate next year.
Canada is also bearing the weight of Trump’s tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles, and will be affected by copper duties that are also expected to kick in on Aug. 1.
Trump’s deals
Trump has published several letters addressed to world leaders revealing the tariffs he intends to impose on their imports.
“When those letters go out – they’re a page and a half – that means they have a deal,” he said. “That is a contract, essentially.”
One reporter had asked Trump if he thought the letters would bring some market certainty, but the president suggested negotiations have continued even after the documents were sent.
Japan and the EU got letters, “and they came back and negotiated a deal.”
Canada got one that revealed Trump’s 35 per cent levy planned for Aug. 1, but Ottawa’s negotiators haven’t yet found common ground with their U.S. counterparts.
Following Thursday’s visit, LeBlanc said Ottawa is still working towards the Aug. 1 deadline, but that negotiators are willing to miss it if it means inking a better deal later on.
CTV News reached out to the Office of the Prime Minister, which said it would not be commenting on Trump’s statement at this time. LeBlanc is expected to return to Washington next week.
With files from CTVNews.ca’s Spencer Van Dyk
Luca Caruso-
CTVNews.ca Breaking Digital Assignment Editor
Trump has published several letters addressed to world leaders revealing the tariffs he intends to impose on their imports.
“When those letters go out – they’re a page and a half – that means they have a deal,” he said. “That is a contract, essentially.”
One reporter had asked Trump if he thought the letters would bring some market certainty, but the president suggested negotiations have continued even after the documents were sent.
Japan and the EU got letters, “and they came back and negotiated a deal.”
Canada got one that revealed Trump’s 35 per cent levy planned for Aug. 1, but Ottawa’s negotiators haven’t yet found common ground with their U.S. counterparts.
Following Thursday’s visit, LeBlanc said Ottawa is still working towards the Aug. 1 deadline, but that negotiators are willing to miss it if it means inking a better deal later on.
CTV News reached out to the Office of the Prime Minister, which said it would not be commenting on Trump’s statement at this time. LeBlanc is expected to return to Washington next week.
With files from CTVNews.ca’s Spencer Van Dyk
Luca Caruso-
CTVNews.ca Breaking Digital Assignment Editor
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