Liberals fail to secure steel tariffs relief after Washington visit

Minister of Internal Trade Dominic LeBlanc said he wants to “see results” just as much as Canadians with tariff negotiations after the trade delegation wrapped up its latest meeting in Washington.

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Minister of Internal Trade Dominic LeBlanc said he wants to “see results” just as much as Canadians with tariff negotiations after the trade delegation wrapped up its latest meeting in Washington without getting any concessions regarding U.S. tariffs on steel.

LeBlanc, who also serves as Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, answered questions during a press conference in the U.S. capital following a meeting between the Carney government and the Trump administration.

He was asked how the Liberals could return home from Washington calling the latest round of negotiations “a win,” given that no ground was gained on steel tariffs.

“The Canadian delegation was hoping for relief on steel tariffs. It was widely reported and never denied by anybody in the government,” said CTV News journalist Mike Lacatouture.

“You’re not getting that leaving here and I’m trying to figure out how you can still say that ‘you’re happy.’ How can you still tell Canadians that you’ve come away from this with a ‘win’ at all?”

LeBlanc responded by saying that the Carney-led delegation “didn’t have an expectation of a detailed deal” going into their meeting on Tuesday.

“So because some, unnamed sources speculated… doesn’t change our state of mind when we got here,” said LeBlanc.

“We hope to make progress. We hope to find the president and his secretaries fully engaged in finding solutions on priority sectors quickly — steel, aluminum and energy. We talked about strengthening the energy partnership with the United States.”

In March, Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on Canadian steel, to which the Canadian government almost immediately responded with its own 25 percent tariff on American steel.

However, Trump then increased the tariff rate to 50 percent, where it currently remains.

LeBlanc went on to say that their “work was positive” and in his view, was “effective.”

“People understandably want to see the results, and believe me, so do we,” he added.

“We’re going to continue that work and we hope to have meetings perhaps as soon as later this evening and tomorrow in that regard as well.”

Last month, the Carney government pledged half a billion dollars in federal and provincial loans to Ontario’s Algoma Steel Inc. to alleviate the financial damage caused by U.S. tariffs on the Canadian steel manufacturer.

The federal government will provide Algoma with a $400 million loan, while the Ontario government has agreed to put up $100 million under the same terms.