Greer says 'no open channels right now' with Canada on trade talks

OTTAWA – United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says there are “no open channels right now” with Canada on trade talks, adding that it remains unclear for him when negotiations can resume.

“The Canadians, you know, put out a press release saying they were suspending the talks,” said Greer, during an interview with CBC News on Wednesday. “The Canadian side is proceeding with additional retaliation and a variety of things like that, so it’s not clear to me on that front.”

The collapse of negotiations between Canada and the U.S. last Friday has led to a tit-for-tat escalation in the trade conflict between the two countries.

The U.S. has applied 50-per-cent tariffs under the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act on nearly $28 billion worth of Canadian goods. In return, Canada has applied retaliatory tariffs ranging from 15 to 50 per cent on $27.6 billion worth of U.S. imports, effective Sept. 8. Canada has also doubled tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum.

U.S. President Donald Trump has also threatened to double tariffs to 50 per cent on Canadian autos and trucks and put a levy on auto parts, effective Jan. 1.

After weeks of negotiations for an interim agreement, Prime Minister Mark Carney said ultimately several last-minute demands from the U.S. side led to his government having to walk away from the agreement that was offered.

Greer said Wednesday that Canada also made additional requests between Tuesday evening when a tentative deal was announced by Trump and Friday when the two sides were finalizing the deal.

“Minister LeBlanc went back to Ottawa and they spoke with premiers, spoke with the prime minister, and when they came back, they had some additional views, they had some additional requests,” Greer told CBC News. “They had some additional things that were too much, too much for the United States.”

Carney said the last-minute U.S. demands included Canadian trucks not receiving the same tariff relief treatment as Canadian autos, language in the deal around restricting Canada’s ability to make trade deals with other countries, and “efforts to restrict our protections of our language, our culture, and in effect, our sovereignty.”

Greer disputed this on Wednesday, saying the French language was not a “red line” for the American side in negotiations.

“We know that this is important to Quebec,” said Greer. “It’s been presented in the Canadian press like some big thing that we held the line on; this is not true at all.”

On Wednesday, Canada’s former chief trade negotiator Steve Verheul said the war of words between the two sides could have far-reaching consequences.

Verheul said he doesn’t expect formal negotiations on the review of the Canada-United States-Mexico-Agreement (CUSMA) between Canada and the U.S. to happen anytime soon, following the collapse of trade talks between the two countries last week.

“I think that the discussions between Canada and the U.S. on the CUSMA review have now been put into some question,” said Verheul, who now serves as a principal at GT and Company, during a webcast hosted by BMO Capital Markets on Wednesday.