US President Trump And Canadian PM Carney May Hold Talks In The Next Few Days

JAKARTA - United States President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney are likely to speak "in the next few days", after the US imposes a 35 percent tariff on goods not covered by the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, a Canadian official said Sunday.

Dominic LeBlanc, the federal cabinet minister in charge of US-Canada trade, also told a "Face the Nation" event on CBS News he was "insisted" by recent discussions and believed that a deal to lower tariffs was still an option.

"We were pushed by talks with Minister Lutnick and Ambassadorung, but we haven't reached the stage we need to get a deal that suits the interests of the two countries," LeBlanc said, referring to US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson total.

The Commerce Minister said he expected PM Carney and President Trump to speak "in the next few days."

"We think there is an option to reach an agreement that will lower some of these rates and provide greater certainty for investment," LeBlanc said.

Washington linked the announcement of the tariff on Friday to what it said was Canada's failure to stop fentanyl smuggling.

This is the latest blow in the months-long tariff war Trump initiated shortly after returning to power this year.

PM Carney said Canada only accounts for 1 percent of US fentanyl imports and has worked intensively to reduce the volume of imports.