We have to ask this is coming across as
uh something of an olive branch to the
US but what is Canada getting in return
at this moment and then down the road
from this gesture.
So thank you for the question. Um, as
the president said today and as he said
to the prime minister in his uh what we
thought was a positive telephone
conversation yesterday, um, if if we're
preparing uh for a review of the USMCA,
of the trade agreement which is built
into the agreement in 2026, um, the
Americans had in their tariffs respected
uh, imports into the United States that
were compliant with with the USMCA
agreement. Um and we thought that it was
appropriate and proper for Canada to
assume a similar posture and therefore
adjust the retaliatory tariffs that we
had put in place um in February and
March to ensure that like the
administration the United States were
respecting uh those uh goods that are
compliant with the USMCA. We took down
those retaliatory tariffs and based on
my conversations with Secretary Lutnik,
the prime minister speaking with
President Trump, we're optimistic that
we can work with President Trump and his
administration um and come to an
agreement that can be beneficial for the
economy of both countries. There are so
many things that we can do
collaboratively. The economies are so
integrated in strategic sectors
important to the president. We think
there's a lot of positive things that we
can do and this was an important step in
terms of getting us to that
conversation.
Well, I do want to drill down on this
idea of strategic sectors and ask you
about how negotiations are going when it
comes to steel and aluminum tariffs
because 50% levy is of course a very
high rate. Have you gotten any
indications that that rate is going to
come down?
Um, no, not yet. We're we're we're
optimistic. We're uh continuing to talk
to Secretary Lutnik and others in the
Ambassador Greer, others in the
administration. But your your question
is a good one. Um the section 232
tariffs on the strategic sectors the
president has applied with very little
relief. Uh those tariffs globally,
including in agreements that he signed
with other trading partners as important
as the European Union or or the United
Kingdom. So other major trading partners
have not gotten much relief uh from
those 232 sectoral tariffs. The
difference with Canada is that those are
precisely the sectors in which our
economies are the most integrated. So um
if it's the automobile tariffs, the
aluminum tariffs, um softwood lumber is
another example. Um for decades we have
integrated supply chains, just in time
delivery. I've said before, Canada and
the United States don't as much as sell
things to each other, but build things
together and sell them around the world.
Um, we've taken very, very tough
measures, as has the United States, with
respect to dumping from countries like
China of steel and aluminum. So, we're
optimistic that we can continue to have
those conversations um with President
Trump's administration um and make the
case that there's an economic
opportunity for both countries um if we
reset some of those sectoral tariffs.
Minister LeBlanc, uh, a number of other
US trading partners, including Japan and
the European Union, have made investment
pledges in the US, uh, as a way of
perhaps lowering, uh, the tariff burden
that they might ultimately face from
Washington. Is Canada considering making
a similar commitment to invest in the US
uh, the way that other trading partners
have so far? Those have absolutely been
uh part of our conversations uh with
President Trump's administration at at
many levels. Um Canada is already the
second most important foreign direct
investor in the US economy. If you take
just the pension funds in Canada, just
take that one example. There's eight
large pension funds that uh invest
around the world. Um if you take the
enterprise value of those investments,
it's almost a a trillion dollars of
investment in the United States economy.
Um and that figure can grow hundred
billion dollars a year. like there's
there is to to answer your question very
directly there are numerous examples
where Canadian private sector uh and
quasi public sector in the case of
pension funds um can invest in very
important sectors to President Trump and
to the US economy you could think of
energy you can think of mineral projects
um but we can also invest in Canada and
do things jointly defense security um
just to be uh Just to offer two quick
examples again where Canada and the
United States have always and we are
increasing as a Canadian government um
our investments in those sectors. So
therein lie huge opportunities for
partnerships with the United States as
well.
Minister, in the final minutes that we
have with you, I want to ask you about
this idea that Canada was really one of
the only countries to retaliate against
President Trump's tariff plans. And when
you've seen the sort of more
preferential rates that our other
trading partners have been able to
secure, in retrospect, would you have
taken this same tact?
Um, sure. I think we would have. I think
as I say that the circumstance
uh of last February or March um is
different than the circumstance at the
end of August. Um the US administration
has been clear in terms of the 232
sectoral tariffs. We've seen to your
question examples of agreements they've
signed with those countries that haven't
provided uh much relief uh if any in the
in the 232 sectoral tariffs. But as we
said at the beginning, the fact that
President Trump in his executive uh
order at the end of July confirmed
uh the American uh exemption that
they're according to uh imports from
Canada that are compliant with the USMCA
with the free trade agreement means that
um Canada should mirror that exemption
and that's the decision that Prime
Minister Carney announced today. We
believe in the USMCA. We believe it's in
the interest of the Canadian and
American economies and the Mexican
economy as well. Um that we strengthen
and commit ourselves to that agreement.
Um President Trump did that with the
carve out that he provided Canada which
puts us at a marginal um advantage to
other countries. Uh but we want to uh we
want to respect that commitment and
ensure that we're also mirroring um that
decision that President Trump