Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc dismissed the idea that Canada could apologize to the U.S. in the coming weeks as the trade war stretches on, as President Donald Trump has said he expects.
Trump made the comments from the Oval Office on Monday while speaking to reporters after being asked how recent trade developments between Canada and the U.S. will end, and after multiple rounds of U.S. tariffs and Canada’s counter-tariff measures.
“They’re going to come in and they’re going to say, ‘sir we are sorry,’” Trump said in response.
The comments also came hours before a U.S. import ban went into effect Tuesday, which blocked all Canadian alcohol, as well as some dairy products and motorcycles from entering the U.S.
LeBlanc spoke at an event in New Brunswick Tuesday hours after that ban went into effect, and was asked by reporters if Canada would indeed apologize to the U.S., as Trump suggested.
“I’m not thinking that the government of Canada is going to apologize for standing up for Canadian workers, Canadian businesses, defending our economy,” LeBlanc said.
“The American government decided to apply a series of tariffs that violated a free-trade agreement that this administration signed six years ago.”
The U.S. import ban on some Canadian goods is the latest escalation in Trump’s trade war with Canada.
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It follows a wave of updated 50 per cent U.S. tariffs on hundreds of Canadian goods on Sept. 15, which were in response to Canada’s counter-tariff measures enacted on Sept. 8. Those counter-tariffs were Canada’s “dollar-for-dollar” response to Trump’s first round of 50 per cent tariffs launched on Aug. 22.
Those escalations came after Prime Minister Mark Carney pulled his trade negotiators out of Washington, and said that Canada was “walking away from a bad deal.”
There have been no formal trade negotiations since, but LeBlanc said Tuesday that “we are having conversations with our American counterparts.”
“We’re not negotiating detailed text as we were five, six weeks ago, but we remain in contact with them,” said LeBlanc.
“If the prime minister concludes at some point that there’s a deal possible that protects the sovereignty of our country, that would be in the economic interests of the country, then obviously we would be in a position to have that conversation.”
“But for the moment, we’re focusing on what we can control in Canada.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump’s senior council for trade and manufacturing, Peter Navarro, said his message for Canadian lobbyists in the United States is: “get the h— out of our country!”
The comments were made at a conference appearance, when Navarro criticized Canada’s attempts to lobby in the Washington – an expression sometimes referred to as “K Street.”
“Canada, economically, is like a row boat. We’re an aircraft carrier, how’s that going to end? Any Canadians here? Please, if you’re on K Street, get the h— out of our country,” said Navarro.
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