Facts can still fight U.S. trade tariffs, finance minister says
Canada's finance minister says there's still hope Ottawa can use a facts-based argument to convince the U.S. to repeal tariffs of steel and aluminum.
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on imports of the two Canadian metals. In response, the federal government later announced it would hit back with tariffs of their own, coming into effect July 1.
Bill Morneau had meetings Friday at the G7 summit in Charlevoix with Larry Kudlow, the Director of the National Economic Council and a key advisor to Donald Trump.
He described the talks as friendly, but there was no resolution to the trade feud over tariffs.
"I think there's a good level of understanding of where we're at," he told The House.
Though facts seemed to have little impact on Trump's trade decisions up to this point — with the president admitting he made numbers up in a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — Morneau was optimistic facts could counter the growing protectionist narrative from the U.S.
"I think the next step is linking that trade can be a benefit," he said, though he admitted that's a hard message to land with the U.S. administration.
"Tariffs are basically a tax on citizens, it's not helpful."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump also discussed accelerating NAFTA talks during a bilateral meeting at the G7 summit on Friday.
"The prime minister and the president had a very positive, productive meeting and it lasted longer than originally scheduled," a senior government official, speaking on background, told reporters assembled at the G7 summit Friday.
"They did discuss NAFTA at length and they discussed the future of NAFTA, and I would say they also talked about accelerating the talks."
But two sources with direct knowledge of the situation told CBC News that Canada has heard this kind of positive rhetoric from Trump before — without seeing results at the NAFTA negotiating table.
One source described Friday's meeting as a "frank" airing of grievances in a "non-emotional setting," adding that Trump appeared surprised that Canada had responded so vehemently to the U.S. tariffs.