Prime Minister Mark Carney has returned to Ottawa without securing a deal to lift U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, despite a high-profile Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump.
Carney met with Trump on Tuesday afternoon, marking their second face-to-face discussion in less than six months. Before the meeting, Trump told reporters Carney would leave “very happy,” but he showed no willingness to roll back the tariffs, and no breakthrough was announced.
Speaking at a press conference afterward, Canada–U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc struck a cautiously optimistic tone, saying “substantial progress” had been made. He emphasized that the talks had created “momentum to make deals that wasn’t there before Tuesday.” According to LeBlanc, both leaders directed their negotiating teams to focus on sector-specific agreements, starting with steel, aluminum, and energy.
While Carney headed back to Ottawa late Tuesday, LeBlanc and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand remained in Washington to continue discussions. Anand is expected to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as part of the next phase of negotiations.
The outcome underscores the challenges facing Canada in its ongoing trade standoff with Washington. Despite diplomatic efforts and Carney’s more conciliatory tone toward the White House in recent months, the U.S. tariffs remain in place, leaving Canada to push for incremental deals in hopes of easing trade tensions sector by sector.