President Trump, Prime Minister Carney Fail To Reach Trade Deal During In-Person Meeting

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney traveled to Washington, D.C. last week to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump. While both parties suggested the discussion was positive, the two countries still have not reached agreement on the outlines of the bilateral trade agreement they have been pursuing over the last several months.

While the topic was discussed, the two leaders also did not agree to a path toward ending Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs that the U.S. government has imposed on its trading partners.

Some news did come out of the day, however. In comments to reporters before the meeting with Prime Minister Carney began, President Trump suggested he is willing to abandon the United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement (USMCA), which he successfully negotiated during his first term. “We could renegotiate it, and that would be good, or we can just do different deals,” President Trump said. For his country’s part, after the meeting Prime Minister Carney disagreed, telling attendees at the BMO Eurasia US-Canada Summit in Toronto, “There’s going to be, in my view, some bilateral deals — there already are — alongside USMCA, it’s not an either-or necessarily, and that’s one of the realities of the negotiations.”

The two leaders also discussed energy policy. Specifically, as The Associated Press reported, Prime Minister Carney “raised the prospect of reviving” construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, construction of which was halted by the investor company four years ago after then-President Joe Biden canceled the federal permit for the project. The pipeline, which had by then already been subject to years of delays, would have transported crude oil from the sand fields of western Canada to Steele City, Neb.

President Trump reportedly was “receptive” to the idea.