Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is offering Prime Minister Mark Carney his support ahead of meetings this week with U.S. President Donald Trump but is also pressing the Liberal leader to return with results for Canadians.
Carney is travelling to Washington on Monday ahead of planned meetings with Trump on Tuesday, where the pair are expected to talk trade and security as an ongoing tariff dispute shows few public signs of progress.
The Canadian Press received a copy of a letter the Conservatives plan to send to Carney on Monday morning. In it, Poilievre accuses the prime minister of failing to live up to promises to negotiate a deal with Trump to remove tariffs from key Canadian exports.
“We restate our standing offer to help you keep your promise to ‘negotiate a win’ on tariffs with the U.S. We only ask that you keep your promise in this meeting with the president,” Poilievre wrote.
The bulk of Canadian goods continue to enter the United States tariff-free thanks to an exemption under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement. Canadian officials say lately they're focusing on finding relief for steep sectoral tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, copper and autos, as well as duties on softwood lumber.
Poilievre is calling on Carney to get those tariffs removed and secure an end to Buy American policies that discourage U.S. firms from doing business with Canadian producers.
Canada got nothing in return for its moves over the summer including dropping the digital services tax in response to U.S. pressure and ending counter tariffs on American goods, Poilievre claimed in the letter.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc last week took exception with Conservative critics labelling those moves as “concessions.” He positioned those moves as part of broader negotiations.
Carney previously said Trump told him the move to drop counter-tariffs would help kick-start trade negotiations with the U.S. administration.
Poilievre said Carney has resorted to “globe-trotting photo ops” rather than delivering on the promises he made during the spring election campaign.
“If you only return with excuses, broken promises and photo ops, you will have failed our workers, our businesses and our country,” Poilievre said.
The Conservative leader nonetheless wished Carney well on his trip to Washington and reconfirmed his support for the prime minister in securing a deal for the good of Canadian workers and industry.
“I am always happy to help because we all must put Canada ahead of our parties,” Poilievre wrote.
Carney has maintained that Canada has among the best trade deals in the world with the United States, thanks largely to the CUSMA exemptions. That trade pact is up for renewal next year.
While some members of Trump’s cabinet have publicly shown some willingness to negotiate on sector-specific tariffs – particularly those key to the auto industry – the president himself has continued to state that the U.S. needs nothing from Canada.
Trump, while speaking to military generals about plans last week for a North American "Golden Dome" missile defence system, brought back his idea of making Canada the "51st state" — rhetoric Carney has rebuffed in previous meetings with the president.
Joining Carney on his second official visit to Washington since taking office earlier this year are LeBlanc, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand.
LeBlanc told a parliamentary committee last week that his discussions with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are "encouraging" and he remains "optimistic."
“I have lost the illusion we should predict, in precise time, when we may get to an agreement,” he said.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
