Trump and Carney speak ahead of US tariff deadline

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has spoken with United States President Donald Trump, Carney’s office said, as Canada tries to hash out a last-minute deal to avert new 50 percent tariffs from taking effect at midnight on Wednesday.

The two leaders spoke by phone about the ongoing trade negotiations on Monday afternoon, Carney’s office said on Tuesday without sharing any further details.

″We are negotiating,” Carney told reporters on Monday. “The negotiations are very intense and delicate. This is not the time to talk about negotiations in public.”

The new US tariffs would cover about $20bn worth of imports and apply regardless of whether Canadian goods qualify for preferential treatment under the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which has shielded much of Canadian industry from earlier US tariffs.

Spokespersons for the White House and the Office of the US Trade Representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The two countries have wrangled for decades over trade, poking each other over sore spots like Canadian softwood lumber imports and US access to Canada’s protected dairy market. Even so, they managed to remain friendly.

That has changed in the second term of Trump’s presidency as he has used tariffs as a major tool of his economic agenda, including to bring back manufacturing to the US.

Among the sticking points are existing US auto tariffs, the Reuters news agency reported, citing two unnamed sources.