ReutersOne of Canada’s provincial leaders has criticised a prospective trade deal with the US and pushed his country to hold out for favourable terms, showing Prime Minister Mark Carney faces a tough battle in getting buy-in on the agreement hours away from a US-set deadline.
Negotiators have until Friday night to finalise the deal or risk a fresh wave of additional US tariffs on a wide range of Canadian goods.
Still, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said Canada “should fight” and not rush to make concessions.
Carney needs Kinew and other premiers to restore sales of US alcohol on liquor store shelves, so that the US will reportedly agree to reduce some of its tariffs on Canadian metals and autos.
Hours before the deadline, President Donald Trump did not say whether a definitive deal had been agreed, but that it was “moving along”.
“We should be able to have a deal with Canada. We’re also starting on a new deal with Mexico. A much better deal for the United States. I only make good deals,” he told reporters on Friday.
Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc was set to meet his counterpart, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, again on Friday morning.
After a meeting with Greer that lasted more than three hours on Thursday, LeBlanc told reporters that the two sides were “very close”.
Details leaked to several media outlets suggest the US will agree to reduce tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium from 50% to 25%, and tariffs on Canadian automobiles from 25% to 15%.
In addition to restoring the sale of American booze, Canada is said to be considering allowing American dairy producers greater access to its market and removing its retaliatory tariffs on the US.
As negotiators have worked around the clock to hammer out a deal, some Canadians are expressing concern about what is – and what isn’t – on the table.
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 “Canada’s most important strategic sectors”.
Kinew said on Thursday that he believed Trump was a “bad person”, and questioned why Canada would give up some of its leverage by restoring US alcohol sales.
“Everybody knows the American president by now, he’s erratic, he’s irresponsible, and he’s not to be trusted,” Kinew said. “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 added that he would reluctantly restore the sale of US alcohol in his province if it was for the benefit of all of Canada, but he urged Canadians not to buy it.
“Let it sit on the shelf,” he said.
AFP via Getty ImagesQuebec Premier Christine Fréchette, whose province is home to a large dairy industry, said on Thursday that she was analysing what the deal will 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, has yet to comment publicly on the deal.
Meanwhile, other premiers, namely 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 the CBC that a deal that includes 25% tariffs on the sector “wouldn’t be something to celebrate”.
“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.”
But Carney has also faced pressure from businesses and stakeholders to reach a deal that would avert an additional 50% tariff that Trump has threatened on a range of Canadian goods, from hockey equipment to wine to cement.
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 is a glimpse of the task ahead for Prime Minister Carney after he campaigned on a tough “elbows-up” approach to dealing with Trump.
Polls suggest a majority of Canadians would be unhappy if the Carney government made significant concessions to the US, with 56% surveyed by polling firm 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 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.
