Trump suggests possibility of trade deal with Canada coming together 'fairly soon' | Carcasole-1600

Despite levelling up his trade war with Canada this week, U.S. President Donald Trump is floating the possibility of reaching an agreement with Canada in the near future. Canadian retaliatory tariffs went into effect this past Tuesday, ranging from 15 to 50 percent on a wide array of goods totaling nearly $30 billion. Canada has to treat our farmers better, and they can't charge our farmers tariffs. They were charging our farmers 400 percent tariffs and many other things. So when those things go away, they're willing to get rid of all of them. You'll probably see a deal with Canada fairly soon. Trump's unfounded claims about supply management quotas come after the U.S. President signed five separate proclamations, the first of which kicks in this coming Tuesday, imposing a new 50 percent tariff on everything from Canadian aluminum products to paper and wood items, as well as furniture and mattresses. The other major proclamation takes effect two weeks after that, on September 29th, when a full ban on U.S. imports of Canadian alcohol, some dairy products and motorcycles takes effect. The Prime Minister this week huddled with his Cabinet to map out a way forward before Parliament resumes later this month. And CBC's Marc Carcassol is following this story for us from Washington. Marc, great to see you in Washington. What more has Donald Trump been saying about this state of the trade dispute? Well, you heard the clip there, Deanna. The President hinting that perhaps there is some solution to this and a deal to come with Canada. But a lot of that hinting seems to be unfounded. We're not quite sure where it comes from. He makes it seem as though Canada has some wiggle room on supply management. Those are the things that he's talking about that have to go away, and then you could see a deal very soon. Even the idea of a deal occurring very soon seems kind of foreign right now, considering that there are no ongoing talks that we know of. No one at the White House at this point has commented on what the President said in Ireland today. Another thing that has some people concerned that he said in Ireland was he compared Canada to another foe that the U.S. has in another war, a very different kind of war, very different context. But he essentially compared Canada to Iran today. Have a listen. Canada wants to make a deal very badly, just like Iran wants to make a deal very badly. You know, I just don't think they're ready. But Canada wants to make a deal. I hope Canada appreciates being in the same sentence with Iran. It's a very interesting, Canada and Iran, both. But Canada wants to make a deal and Iran wants to make a deal. At the right time, both of those things could happen. Now, again, there have been no discussions. We've heard murmurs over the last week or so of Ottawa and Washington essentially staying in touch. And the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, Dominic LeBlanc, told reporters yesterday they have been in communication. It's not that they haven't been speaking at all. But he also says there are no plans at this point for any recommencement of trade talks. Mark, definitely that analogy between Canada and Iran, not something that I think will fall well on many Canadian ears. But how is Ottawa responding? Right now, they're not really saying much. We literally had a response from Dominic LeBlanc's office to our inquiries earlier today, which lasted all of a couple words. His press secretary emailed CBC News in response to us reaching out for comment, simply writing, we have nothing to share at this time. Again, at this point, there are no talks scheduled between Dominic LeBlanc, Jamison Greer, Howard Lutnick, anyone involved in any side of the negotiations. As far as we know, things still seem status quo. So still trying to figure out exactly where the president is getting the notion that a deal with Canada could come soon. Thank you so much, Mark. That's CBC's Marc Carcassol reporting for us in Washington.