The Minister responsible for negotiations with the White House, Dominic Leblanc, will come back empty-handed from Washington on Friday. By his own admission, talks for an agreement on customs prices could still stretch over several weeks.
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In an interview with LCN, Dominic Leblanc said that no advance had taken place today between the Canadian and American teams, despite the signing of a decree the day before, passing the customs prices outside Aceum from 25% to 35%.
“There was no conversation to my knowledge today,” said Minister responsible for Commerce Canada-United States.
His latest conversation with the US Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lunick took place “yesterday, at the end of the day”.
“I had several interviews with him this week,” said Leblanc. “We agreed yesterday that we were going to talk to each other on the phone next week to plan the next few weeks, August and September.”
Recall that the American president said yesterday that he refused to speak with Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Several weeks
For his part, Dominic Leblanc claims that Ottawa will only sign an agreement that is satisfactory for Canada.
But it may not occur in the short term, he said in response to a question by the animator. “Am I optimistic that we will arrive at an agreement?” Yes. Soon, that’s what makes me hesitate a little. We would have liked to have an agreement a month ago, ”said the minister.
“As Mr. Carney has said on several occasions, we are not going to accept any agreement. The agreement which, in his judgment, was in the interest of the Canadian economy was not on the table at the end of the day yesterday, “he said.
“But that does not mean that it cannot be negotiated in the coming weeks,” adds Leblanc.
More details will follow.
