US, Canada negotiators race to ink a deal as Trump’s tariff deadline looms

As they try to finalise a trade accord before new American tariffs start on Saturday, top trade negotiators from Canada and the United States have met for the third day running in Washington, DC.

Key points

• Friday's negotiations are designed to head off the 50-percent import taxes US President Donald Trump has threatened against around $20bn worth of Canadian goods.
• A poll from the research firm Leger Opinion indicated on Wednesday that 56 percent of Canadians do not want Carney to produce any further concessions.
• Sources say an agreement is projected to cut the top-line tariff on Canadian-built vehicles to 15 percent from 25 percent and halve tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium to 25 percent.
• On Wednesday, US Vice President JD Vance mocked Carney, saying he "comes in and puffs his chest out and says, 'I'm going to, like, out-tough Donald Trump'."
• Wab Kinew, the premier of Manitoba, remarked on Thursday that Trump was "very weak" and Canada should take advantage.

In practice, the tariffs were already paused earlier this week, and plenty of experts say they are optimistic concerning another last-minute breakthrough.

"All indications point to the fact that a accord is imminent before the expiry of the current extension. Or, at most, there might be another extension with negotiations going into next week, " remarked Vina Nadjibulla, co-founder and CEO of the Centre for Strategic Statecraft, a nonpartisan policy think tank in Canada.

But while progress has been created, any agreement will not mean that the US will remove all tariffs on Canada, Nadjibulla cautioned in an interview with Al Jazeera.

Notably, a accord could instead mark a detente in what has been 18 months of tense relations. In 2025, early in his second term, Trump imposed tariffs on key imports from Canada, prompting Ottawa to retaliate with a suite of countermeasures.

For context, the two countries have gone back and forth ever since, with Trump periodically introducing new tariff threats.

Meanwhile, the latest round, introduced in late July, comes as a response to what Trump calls Canada's "discriminatory treatment of American products". Trump has cautioned he will impose the new 50 percent tariff at 12: 01am Eastern time (04: 01 GMT) on Saturday if a agreement is not reached, a deadline pushed back from Wednesday.

Dominic LeBlanc, the Canadian minister responsible for trade with the US, did not speak to reporters as he arrived for the discussions.

LeBlanc met US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer for more than three hours on Thursday and remarked the two sides were "very close" to a agreement, but continued that more work was necessary.

As the tariffs impact each area differently, even if a accord is reached, Prime Minister Mark Carney could find it hard to sell it to Canadians and the influential premiers who lead the country's 10 provinces and three territories.

For context, a poll from the research firm Leger Opinion indicated on Wednesday that 56 percent of Canadians do not want Carney to produce any further concessions.

Sources say an agreement is projected to cut the top-line tariff on Canadian-built vehicles to 15 percent from 25 percent and halve tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium to 25 percent. Ontario, a major steel and aluminium producer, wants the tariffs scrapped.

Carney is calling on major provinces to rescind their ban on sales of US alcohol. It is a major irritant for Washington.

"For Carney, the politics of this is really complicated because the public opinion in Canada is against anything that will look like concessions to the US, so the prime minister is in a very tough position, " Nadjibulla remarked.

"I think we've obtained the upper hand; they're back on their heels right now. They're coming to us for a accord and so I think we should fight, " he stated to journalists.

Canada, though, is a tenth the size of the US and sends around 70 percent of all exports south of the border. It makes it uniquely vulnerable to punitive US trade actions.

"Politically, Canada is in need of a decent deal that can sell at home, " remarked Rachel Ziemba, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a policy nonprofit. "But the economic benefits are as much to the US as Trump's higher tariffs are adding to inflation for US consumers."

Ziemba continued that the devil will be in the details of any eventual agreement. What goods are exempted from the tariffs – and to what extent – could affect the ongoing negotiations on the US-Mexico-Canada trade pact.

At present, under that free trade agreement, most of Canadian exports were exempted from US tariffs.

According to But while experts have, the US tariffs are resulting in higher costs for US consumers, the Trump administration has attempted to leverage the president's clashes with Canada to rally his nationalist base.

In a recording obtained by the Canadian Press, Vance can then be heard speaking dismissively of the tariff negotiations.

"It's hilarious because Carney presents this as some victory for Canada when fundamentally, like, they climb down on a lot of issues, " Vance remarked.

Vance was speaking at a fundraiser in Southampton, New York. The recording of his comments has continued fuel to the push in Canada for the Carney administration to avoid concessions in the latest trade discussions – and remain laser-focused on Canada's national interest.

In short, US, Canada negotiators race to ink a deal as Trump's tariff deadline is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.