U.S. President Donald Trump said Canada and the United States are “very close” to a trade deal, while Prime Minister Mark Carney said he had a “good conversation” with him about future negotiations.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Canada and the United States have “the concept of a very good deal” and that the two countries were “very close” to reaching an agreement.
Trump made the comments to reporters in Iowa on Sunday, saying, “We’ve been losing money for many years with Canada,” and that he has a deal that “is going to be great for our farmers, great for our country and it’ll be fine for Canada too.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney said on social media Sunday that he had a “good conversation” with Trump on the future of trade between the two countries. A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office said the conversation took place on Saturday.
Carney said the discussion builds on previous talks about what a mutually beneficial trade deal should look like, adding that such an agreement would create jobs, improve affordability for families, and respect Canada’s languages, culture and sovereignty. He said, “Our teams will now be working in the coming weeks to deliver that outcome.”
Trump told reporters on Sunday that the Keystone XL pipeline project was part of the negotiations, and he said Canada would pay for “all of it.” He said, “We’re going to give them the route, and it’s largely been determined but they’ll build the Keystone pipeline.”
Keystone XL, which could bring more than 800,000 barrels of additional oil from Alberta to the United States, was proposed nearly 20 years ago. After years of challenges from U.S. landowners, Indigenous leaders in both countries and environmental groups, former U.S. president Joe Biden killed the project in 2021 by revoking a key U.S. permit.
The Prime Minister’s Office said Carney raised the prospect of reviving the project with Trump almost a year ago as part of a broader pitch linking energy co-operation with support for Canada’s steel and aluminum sectors. Trump signed an executive order in April approving a new pipeline that would use existing portions of the abandoned Keystone project.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre urged Carney to “get a great deal,” saying Canadians can’t afford to wait for a U.S. trade agreement. He said Carney had broken a promise to secure an even better deal than the one Canadians previously had.
The trade talks come amid Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections, where some candidates have treated the Canada-U.S. trade dispute as a key issue. The broader bilateral relationship has been tense since Trump’s second term, including the use of tariffs and other measures, and discussions about executive powers and congressional control are expected to shape the political backdrop for negotiations.
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