LeBlanc back in Washington to meet with Greer, continue deal finalization

OTTAWA – Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc returned to Washington on Thursday to meet again with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer as work continues to finalize a deal to avert a new round of U.S. tariffs.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he was pausing punishing new tariffs on Canada for three days pending the finalization of a new trade deal.

Details of the deal are scant but it is expected to address U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum, lumber, and autos, some U.S. concerns about limited access to Canada’s dairy market, as well as Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on autos and provincial bans on U.S. alcohol imports.

LeBlanc and Canada’s chief negotiator Janice Charette did not respond to reporter questions when they arrived for their meeting with Greer, but LeBlanc said “we brought some friends from Ottawa.”

Mark Wiseman, Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S., and Marc-Andre Blanchard, Carney’s chief of staff, joined LeBlanc and Charette.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is also in Washington and is to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House at 1:30 p.m. ET.

LeBlanc had been in Washington since Aug. 10 but returned briefly to Ottawa Wednesday to brief Prime Minister Mark Carney on the status of talks and take part in meetings Carney held with his cabinet, and later the country’s premiers.

Some premiers say they’re optimistic about Canada’s progress in reaching a trade deal to avoid punishing tariffs from the United States, while others say they’re waiting for more details about the agreement.

Quebec Premier Christine Frechette said in French she had a “long call” with Carney Thursday morning.

“‘I had several answers to questions I had asked. Now, we need to analyze those answers and evaluate the impact it represents on Quebec’s economy. Once that analysis will be done, I will come back to you with my position,” Frechette said in French during a press conference in Roberval, Que.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew told Winnipeg’s 680 CJOB Thursday it looks like there will a lower tariff on the Gerdau steel mill in Selkirk, Man., but it is still “way higher than it was two years ago.”

Kinew confirmed Carney asked the provinces to return American booze to the shelves, and told them they could blame him if they receive any backlash for the decision. 

“If we do end up putting the booze back on the shelves, like I’ve said, we still have to see some of the details here, we reserve the right to take it back off again, because we know that this guy is very erratic, the American president, and he may go back on his word, as he’s done countless times,” Kinew said in his radio interview.

The Manitoba premier also quoted famed investor Warren Buffett in saying “you can’t make a good deal with a bad person,” once again referring to Trump as “Jeffery Epstein’s best friend” and blaming the president for high gas prices brought on by the war in Iran.

Multiple news reports have said the deal will see the United States lower sectoral tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal both reported the duties would be reduced from the current 50 per cent levels to 25 per cent.

A source with knowledge of some terms of the agreement but who is not authorized to speak publicly about them told The Canadian Press that lower duties on steel and aluminum were part of the deal but could not say how the tariff rate would change.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose province faces significant impacts from the tariffs on steel and autos, has yet to comment.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet sent a letter to Carney Thursday morning demanding federal opposition leaders be consulted on a potential deal with the U.S. 

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday he has not received a briefing on the potential deal nor the negotiations. 

Carney has yet to speak publicly about the deal, but in a statement released Wednesday he said the new deal reinforces and builds on Canada’s existing trade advantages with the U.S.

Trump on Wednesday said it was a “good deal for everybody” and repeated claims that the agreement would drop tariffs on American farmers to zero. He said the Trump administration has a “very nice relationship with leadership right now.”

When asked whether the duties on Canadian steel and aluminum would be lowered, he responded that “we may bring some of the tariffs down to a level where other countries are because Canada was paying a higher tariff.”

In July, Trump said he would impose a new 50 per cent tariff on a wide range of Canadians goods, valued at about $28 billion, in retaliation for Canada’s booze bans, auto tariffs and quotas on tariff-free access for U.S. dairy.

They were set to come into effect just after midnight Wednesday, but that deadline was pushed back until Saturday to allow time to turn the agreed upon deal into a legal agreement.

“We certainly, I think, have eliminated some of the irritants that we’ve had over the past year,” Greer said Wednesday. “We also are taking a strong foot forward.”

Unlike other tariffs, the duties that are on pause would affect goods that are compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA, on trade. The tariffs would be placed on a wide variety of goods from hockey sticks to honey and concrete to plywood. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first publish Aug. 20, 2026.

— With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone in Washington and Catherine Morrison in Ottawa.