Canada suspends trade talks with US: Prime Minister Carney

Canada has decided to suspend its trade negotiations with the US, Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement late Friday, citing insufficient progress in talks.

Carney said Ottawa had worked to “strike a fair deal that would provide the best access to the U.S. market and greater certainty to Canadian businesses and workers.”

“We made important progress toward improving Canada’s position as having the best deal in the world with the U.S.,” he said.

“However, that progress has not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians,” Carney said.

“As a result, this evening, I have decided to suspend trade negotiations with the U.S. and have directed Canada’s negotiators to return to Ottawa,” he added.

Carney said Canadian negotiators had worked “hard, in good faith” to defend the country’s interests until the “very last minute.”

“However, last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal,” he said.

Carney said the US intended to impose a 50% tariff on roughly $28 billion of Canadian goods at midnight.

“Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses,” he said.

Trade negotiations in Washington resumed Friday morning ahead of a midnight deadline for a 50% tariff on CAN$30 billion (US$22 billion) of Canadian goods to take effect.

Both sides had said they were close to an agreement, with US President Donald Trump saying Wednesday that a “very fair” agreement had been reached.