OTTAWA — With just hours left before Donald Trump’s Aug. 1 deadline, Canada remains without a trade deal with the U.S.
At a White House event on Thursday, Trump offered little insight into the state of negotiations and even less reassurance to Ottawa. He said Prime Minister Mark Carney’s intention to recognize the Palestinian state is not a deal-breaker.
“I didn’t like what they said, but … that’s their opinion,” he said in response to a reporter’s question.
Earlier in the day, the president suggested on Truth Social it could be a problem.
Trump’s late afternoon comments only heightened the suspense about what will happen if the deadline passes.
“We haven’t spoken to Canada today,” Trump said. “He’s called and … we’ll see.”
Trump didn’t name Carney, nor did he clarify what had transpired.
The prime minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Canada had yet to strike a trade deal with Trump — unlike major allies such as the U.K., the European Union, Japan and South Korea — to ward off a much higher 35 percent levy that the president has threatened.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said earlier Thursday if countries haven’t struck a deal with Trump by the end of Thursday, they’ll be hearing from him by letter or executive order by midnight.
Since Tuesday, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc has been in Washington with Carney's new chief of staff, Marc-André Blanchard, and Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s U.S. envoy and chief negotiator, for the homestretch of talks.
LeBlanc’s office declined comment on the status of talks in Washington this week.
Earlier Thursday in an appearance on Fox Business Network, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick repeated past grievances about the state of the talks, including the lack of progress on access to Canada’s supply managed dairy industry.
“Mark Carney came down, had a really nice lunch with the president when he first got elected. You know if he makes that call, and if he starts turning on the charm, and if he takes off his retaliation … and stops the silliness, maybe the president will let it down a bit,” Lutnick said.
“But right now, 35 percent — that letter he sent — is surely in the cards,” he added.
Trump also criticized Canada’s dairy sector and defense spending, and repeated his criticism that the country treats the U.S. unfairly.
"They want a lot of things from our country. And for years, we did it," he said.
“We like Canada. I love Canada. I have so many friends in Canada. But they’ve been very poorly led,” the president said, showing his first public sign of enmity toward Carney.
When Carney first took office, Trump praised the new prime minister, giving him a friendly welcome at the Oval Office, even referring to him as “Mark.” Trump has acknowledged he didn’t like Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, whom he repeatedly referred to as “governor” of America's “51st state.”
Carney has tempered his responses to Trump’s verbal outbursts and social media posts. “It's a negotiation,” he said on Prince Edward Island earlier in the week. “Take what's said in the public domain as part of that context.”
On Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he advised Carney to “hit that guy back as hard as we possibly can.”
And he extended props to the prime minister for dealing with Trump. “This guy will say something one day, and he’ll wake up and the cheese slips off the cracker — and then all of a sudden he goes the other way,” Ford said.
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