US ambassador says ‘win-win' trade deal with Canada is within reach
'We have got two guys that are negotiating for each of our countries,' Pete Hoekstra told an audience during an Independence Day party in Ottawa. 'When they get done, I'm confident that they can both go back to their people and their citizens and say, 'I got a great deal for Canada' – and I think we will have a president who will say, 'I have a great deal for the USA.''
'That means we have a great win-win.'
The US, Canada and Mexico have an existing trade pact that Trump signed during his first term. But the president has sidestepped it and placed import taxes of 50 per cent on foreign steel and aluminium, along with levies on cars and trucks. Canada is a significant exporter of all of those products.
The Canadian government has put counter-tariffs on tens of billions of US dollars of US-manufactured items, including vehicles and other consumer products. But Carney, who became Canada's prime minister in March, opted not to retaliate when Trump increased the tariffs on steel and aluminium weeks ago.
The two leaders have agreed on a Jul 21 deadline to reach an agreement.
'We are going to get through this,' said Hoekstra, a former member of the US House of Representatives from Michigan, a state that's highly dependent on trade with Canada. 'When we are done, we are going to be stronger and better than what we were when we began.' BLOOMBERG
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