US Trade Rep Says ‘No Urgency’ on American Side to Reach Deal With Canada

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says Canada periodically contacts Washington about trade negotiations, but there is “no urgency” on the U.S. side to reach a deal.

Greer made the remarks during a Sept. 25 interview on CNBC when asked about progress in trade negotiations with Canada and Canada’s efforts to expand trade with other countries.

“The Canadians again, periodically they come, and they want to have a deal. When they do, we talk,” he said.

“As we saw before, we gave them a deal. They left. They call us now and then, and we have good conversations about potential deals. But it’s not—there’s no urgency on our side, I would say.”

Trade talks between the two countries collapsed on Aug. 21. Greer has previously said Canada walked away from an agreement that the U.S. believed had been reached, while Canadian officials have disputed that characterization.

Greer said on Sept. 25 that the United States is “comfortable” with the status quo, as it continues to receive “what we need” from Canada, including oil, gas and potash, while agricultural products move in both directions across the border.

Greer added that U.S. President Donald Trump is also “comfortable” with the current state of trade with Canada and emphasized that U.S. trade policy is “a global policy” that applies to “all kinds of countries.”

The U.S. Trade Representative also argued that U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles are succeeding at bringing more manufacturing back to the United States.

Trade Dispute

Greer’s comments come in the wake of the collapse of Canada-U.S. trade negotiations on Aug. 21 and Washington’s imposition of previously announced 50 percent tariffs on $27.6 billion of Canadian goods, effective Aug. 22.

Canada responded on Sept. 8 with 15, 25, and 50 percent counter-tariffs on U.S. goods covering roughly $27.6 billion in imports.

Greer said at the time of the breakdown in talks that Ottawa had put forward “new demands and walk-backs of other commitments.”

For his part, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the U.S. introduced “new terms that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits to Canada,” particularly on lumber, automobiles, and provisions that he said would erode French language protections.

In addition to the tariffs, the Trump administration has announced import prohibitions on certain Canadian alcoholic beverages, dairy-related products and motor-vehicle products, including certain motorcycles, effective Sept. 29. Washington has also directed officials to take steps to remove or make unavailable Canadian-origin goods from the U.S. federal civil procurement system where permitted by law.

Prior to Greer’s latest remarks, Trump said on Sept. 12 that a trade deal with Canada could happen “fairly soon” and said Canada wanted to reach an agreement “very badly.” He also said Canada needed to address U.S. concerns about agricultural trade.

Carney said on Sept. 15 that Canada was “ready to sit down and negotiate” a mutually advantageous agreement.