arney Says ‘Substantial Progress’ in U.S. Trade Talks as Trump Delays 50% Tariffs
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada and the United States have made “substantial progress” in intensive trade negotiations after President Donald Trump postponed threatened 50 per cent tariffs on approximately $20 billion worth of Canadian goods for three days.
The tariffs had been scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. on August 19 but have now been delayed until August 22 while officials work to finalize an agreement. Trump declared that Canada and the United States “have a deal,” subject to final documentation, while Carney adopted a more cautious tone, saying important work remains.
The temporary reprieve comes as a new Léger survey suggests a majority of Canadians want Ottawa to resist making further concessions to Washington, highlighting the domestic political challenge facing Carney as negotiations enter a critical stage.
What could be included in the deal
The emerging agreement is expected to address U.S. access to Canadian markets, dairy and alcohol restrictions, automotive trade, economic-security commitments and digital-trade rules. Neither government has released the complete terms.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has indicated that the agreement would include broader access for American goods as well as provisions covering economic security and digital trade.
The White House also says Canada has committed to addressing U.S. concerns involving American alcohol, dairy products and automobiles, although Ottawa has not publicly confirmed the precise concessions under discussion.
Canadian Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and chief negotiator Janice Charette have been in Washington for talks with Greer and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Automobiles remain one of the major areas under negotiation. Discussions have reportedly included reducing existing U.S. automotive tariffs from 25 per cent to 15 per cent, with the possibility of further reductions depending on the amount of American content in a vehicle.
Canada wants North American content, including Canadian and Mexican components, to count toward tariff reductions, while Washington has pushed for preferential treatment based specifically on U.S.-made content.
Trump has also raised the possibility of reviving the abandoned Keystone XL pipeline, although no formal proposal or timeline has been announced.
Three-day tariff reprieve
Had the latest tariffs taken effect, an additional 50 per cent duty would have applied to roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, including products such as wine, certain dairy-related goods, vehicles, hockey sticks and cement.
The duties would also have applied to covered products that otherwise qualify for preferential treatment under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
Energy, potash, critical minerals, fish and products already covered by U.S. Section 232 tariffs are among the exemptions.
Trump invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to threaten the new duties. The rarely used provision allows a president to impose tariffs of up to 50 per cent when another country is deemed to discriminate against American commerce.
Washington has cited several Canadian policies as justification for its actions. The White House says Canadian imports of U.S. motor vehicles fell by about 22 per cent, or $5.6 billion, between April 2025 and March 2026 compared with the corresponding period a year earlier. It also says imports of American alcoholic beverages dropped approximately 81 per cent, or $582 million, between March 2025 and February 2026.
Canada has disputed Washington’s broader approach to tariffs, arguing that several earlier U.S. measures violated CUSMA and maintaining that its retaliatory measures were legitimate responses. Ottawa has sought a broader settlement addressing automobiles, steel, aluminum and forestry rather than an agreement focused solely on individual products.
Poll finds Canadians want tougher approach
As negotiators work toward an agreement, a Léger poll conducted from August 15 to 17 suggests Carney has limited public room to make further concessions.
The survey found 56 per cent of Canadians want Ottawa to take a hard line and make no additional concessions to the United States. Another 31 per cent favour remaining flexible and making concessions when necessary, while 13 per cent were unsure.
Support for taking a harder approach reached 61 per cent in Quebec and 60 per cent among women. Alberta recorded the lowest support at 46 per cent.
Asked to assess Ottawa’s handling of the dispute, 38 per cent described the federal government’s approach as passive and said it had already made concessions. Thirty per cent considered the approach balanced, while 15 per cent believed Ottawa had been aggressive in defending Canadian interests.
Strong support for retaliatory measures
The survey also found substantial support for using Canadian energy and strategic resources as leverage against the United States.
Seventy-four per cent supported taxing electricity exports to the U.S., while 70 per cent backed taxes on Canadian oil and natural-gas exports. Another 70 per cent supported restricting U.S.-owned companies from Canadian government contracts.
Sixty-four per cent favoured banning all American liquor sales, 63 per cent supported taxing potash exports and 59 per cent backed tariffs on a broad range of U.S.-manufactured goods.
Notably, 58 per cent of Alberta respondents supported taxing oil and natural-gas exports despite opposition from the provincial government to using energy exports as a bargaining tool. The same percentage of respondents in Manitoba and Saskatchewan supported taxing potash exports.
By contrast, none of the proposed concessions to Washington attracted majority support.
Allowing American airlines into Canada’s domestic passenger market received the most support at 46 per cent. Thirty-eight per cent supported greater access for U.S. telecommunications companies, about one-third backed fully restoring American alcohol sales, 26 per cent supported reducing dairy supply management and 25 per cent favoured greater access for U.S. banks.
Political stakes for Carney
The poll also points to potential political consequences from any eventual agreement. Forty-seven per cent of respondents said a federal election should be held following a new Canada-U.S. trade agreement, compared with 35 per cent who opposed an election.
Support for an election was highest among Conservative voters at 67 per cent, followed by Green voters at 56 per cent, Bloc Québécois voters at 51 per cent, NDP voters at 45 per cent and Liberal voters at 34 per cent.
Meanwhile, 43 per cent of respondents said Canada should formally request the recall and replacement of U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra. Nineteen per cent opposed such a move and 38 per cent were unsure. At the time of the report, more than 220,000 people had signed a petition seeking Hoekstra’s removal.
Léger surveyed 1,622 Canadian adults online between August 15 and 17. Because participants were recruited through an online panel, the survey cannot formally be assigned a margin of error. Léger said an equivalent probability sample would carry a margin of error of approximately 2.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Importantly, the survey was completed before Trump announced the three-day tariff delay and before Canadians learned that the two governments had made what Carney described as “substantial progress.”
The reprieve therefore removes the immediate threat of new tariffs but leaves Carney confronting two pressures: securing meaningful tariff relief from Washington while convincing Canadians that Ottawa has not surrendered too much in return.
Until the final text is released and both governments confirm the same terms, the three-day pause represents a temporary breakthrough rather than a completed Canada-U.S. trade settlement.
