Canadian trade minister sees ‘great deal of common ground’ with US

Canadian Minister for U.S.-Canada Trade Dominic LeBlanc expressed optimism Sunday about the prospects of a trade deal between the two countries — even as President Trump announced he would impose 35 percent tariffs on goods from the neighboring country.

“We were obviously, obviously disappointed by that decision. We believe there’s a great deal of common ground between the United States and Canada in terms of building two strong economies that work well together,” LeBlanc said in an interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”

LeBlanc spent last week in Washington trying to hammer out a trade deal. He left without a resolution, after Trump announced new tariffs on Canadian goods not covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that Trump negotiated in his first term.

But LeBlanc praised his counterparts, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, for their efforts, saying they “engaged with us in constructive, cordial conversations, so we’re prepared to stick around and do the work needed.”

“But we remain very optimistic,” he added.

LeBlanc said he expects Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to speak with Trump in the coming days.

“I would expect the Prime Minister will have a conversation with the president over the next number of days. That’s certainly my plan, again with Secretary Lutnick, recognizing that we think there is an option of striking a deal that will bring down some of these tariffs, provide greater certainty to investment,” he said in the interview.

LeBlanc noted Canada passed a similar bill to the U.S. president’s agenda-setting One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed into law one month ago. LeBlanc said the Canadian bill is projected to unlock up to $500 billion in investments in Canada, which would “offer huge opportunities to American businesses as well.”

“So, we think there’s a great deal — a great deal to work on together,” he added.

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