Carney says a U.S. trade deal without some tariffs is unlikely

John Paul Tasker · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 15, 2025 10:27 AM EDT | Last Updated: 29 minutes ago

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday U.S. President Donald Trump seems wedded to tariffs and immoderate commercialized woody with the Americans whitethorn see accepting immoderate levies connected exports.

Speaking to reporters up of a furniture gathering connected Parliament Hill astir the commercialized war, Carney said successful French that each of Trump's commercialized agreements to this constituent person included immoderate tariffs.

He said "there's not a batch of grounds close now" that the U.S. is consenting to chopped a woody without immoderate tariffs included.

Indeed, Trump's commercialized statement with the U.K., a state with which the U.S. has a trading surplus, includes a 10 per cent baseline tariff.

WATCH | Carney says 'not a batch of evidence' for tariff-free deals with U.S.:

Carney did not accidental if he's consenting to judge tariffs. At past month's G7 acme aft a gathering with Trump, Carney said Canada volition motion an statement "that's successful Canada's champion interest, and lone that."

Carney said nether Trump's existent model Canada has "almost escaped trade" with the U.S. and that's thing helium wants to spot continue. That's a notation to the tariff exemptions granted to Canadian goods that are compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

At the outset of this commercialized war, the White House estimated immoderate 62 per cent of Canadian exports were not compliant with the commercialized woody — immoderate companies opted to wage precise debased duty rates alternatively than spell on with the paperwork required for escaped access. A recent RBC report suggests compliance has improved since Trump slapped connected tariffs and astir goods are sold into the U.S. tariff-free.

But Carney said Tuesday "there are evidently problems" with the U.S. sectoral tariffs that bash use universally to steel, aluminum, car exports and the threatened ones connected pharmaceuticals, lumber and copper. 

Those alleged Section 232 tariffs have been peculiarly damaging to the Canadian economy, starring to occupation losses and a driblet successful exports.

Those tariffs instrumentality their sanction from the conception of a U.S. commercialized instrumentality that allows the president to enforce levies connected definite goods that are said to endanger "national security."

"We request to stabilize the concern for Canada," Carney said.

"The authorities has consistently stood up for Canadian workers and businesses passim these negotiations. We'll proceed to bash so. I expect that discussions volition intensify betwixt present and the extremity of the period and we'll beryllium moving hard connected that."

Last week, Trump sent a missive to Carney saying he's moving to bump the existing 25 per cent border-related tariff complaint connected Canadian goods — the tariff that does not use if a bully is CUSMA-compliant — to 35 per cent by Aug. 1.

A White House authoritative told CBC News that the CUSMA compliance regularisation volition inactive use adjacent if the elevated tariff complaint is applied adjacent month.

Trump said it's a commercialized enactment designed to unit Canada to ace down connected fentanyl, adjacent arsenic U.S. authorities information suggests comparatively precise small of that cause is seized astatine the bluish border.

Push to dismantle cause trade

Still, the national authorities has budgeted much than $1 cardinal to amended constabulary the borderline for drugs and migrants and instrumentality enforcement crossed the state has been making seizures and arrests arsenic portion of a propulsion to dismantle the cause trade.

"If Canada works with maine to halt the travel of fentanyl, we will, perhaps, see an accommodation to this letter," Trump said.

Speaking to reporters connected Monday, Trump said that the letters he's sent to Carney and others are what helium sees arsenic the "deal" with the respective countries.

"I watched a amusement this greeting and they were talking about, 'Well when's helium going to marque the deal?' The deals are already made. The letters are the deals. The deals are made. There are nary deals to make," Trump said.