Canada will keep trying to persuade the Trump administration to drop its tariff plans, in part by reaching out to U.S. states that have significant trading relationships with their northern neighbour, trade minister Mary Ng said.
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“These are states that do business that have strong relationships with Canada,” she said Saturday in an interview during a visit to Brussels. “And we’ve done that work because it’s important to be in touch with those trading partners at the state level, at the local level.”
She added, “It’s really important for the Americans to themselves arrive at a conclusion that tariffs are actually going to make life more expensive for Americans.”
Ng was in Brussels to meet European Union trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic to discuss business promotion efforts and to push for progress on ratifying the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, known as CETA.
She said that she briefed Sefcovic on Canada’s negotiations with President Donald Trump over his Feb. 1 order to impose 25% tariffs on much of the country’s trade with the U.S.. Canada was able to secure a 30-day suspension of those penalties, in part by promising a border security plan aimed at addressing the illegal drug trade.
“Going forward, we should spend the time to find those things that we could be doing to actually meet what the president is looking for in terms, sort of, of the golden age of America,” she said. “But at the same time, it also has to work for Canada.”
On Friday, Trump said he aims to move ahead with reciprocal tariffs against “everyone” as early as next week, although he didn’t offer any specifics.
Ng didn’t address Trump’s latest remarks, saying her conversations in Brussels were focused mostly on where Canada and the EU could bolster their own trading relationships, particularly when it comes to critical minerals and renewable energy.
“If you think about Canada being a superpower for energy, for example, in the areas of hydrogen or renewable energy, that has been something that we have been working with our trading partners, and certainly the Europeans,” she said.
She also said she is encouraged that more EU member states are pushing to complete ratification procedures on CETA, which she credits with boosting trade between Canada and the EU by 65% since 2018, soon after it provisionally came into force.
“I am seeing movement,” she said.
Seventeen of 27 EU member states, plus the U.K., have ratified the deal. Others, including France, have struggled to take that final step.