RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Canada-US trade minister Dominic LeBlanc said negotiators "have more work to do" as he left a meeting with US counterparts ahead of a midnight deadline to finalise a tentative trade deal with the Trump administration.
"We're going to continue working up until the last minute," he told reporters in Washington on Friday evening. "Our job is not finished."
Negotiators have until Friday night to hammer out the details of the deal or risk a fresh wave of additional US tariffs on a wide range of Canadian goods.
LeBlanc spent some eight hours in meetings with US trade representative Jamieson Greer and other negotiators - one of the longest sessions so far as talks go down to the wire.
Trump pauses new tariffs on Canada for three days, saying deal close
"We should be able to have a deal with Canada. We're also starting on a new deal with Mexico. A much better deal for the United States. I only make good deals," he told reporters on Friday.
The full framework of the deal has yet to be made public, but details leaked to several media outlets suggest the US will agree to reduce tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium from 50% to 25%, and tariffs on Canadian automobiles from 25% to 15%.
In addition to restoring the sale of American alcohol, Canada is said to be considering allowing American dairy producers greater access to its market and removing its retaliatory tariffs on the US.
Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre said that any agreement that includes "one-sided" tariffs on Canadian industry is "a bad deal".
"I am concerned with the de-industrialisation of our economy if our key industries pay one-sided tariffs," Poilievre told reporters on Friday.
One of Canada's provincial leaders has criticised a prospective trade deal with the US and pushed his country to hold out for favourable terms, showing Prime Minister Mark Carney faces a tough battle in getting buy-in on the agreement hours away from a US-set deadline.
Still, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said Canada "should fight" and not rush to make concessions.
Carney needs Kinew and other premiers to restore sales of US alcohol on liquor store shelves, so that the US will reportedly agree to reduce some of its tariffs on Canadian metals and autos.
Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette, whose province is home to a large dairy industry, said on Thursday that she was analysing what the deal will mean for Quebec farmers before deciding on whether to restore US alcohol sales.
Doug Ford, the traditionally outspoken premier of Canada's largest province Ontario, has yet to comment publicly on the deal.
Meanwhile, other premiers, namely of Nova Scotia and the Yukon territory, said they were prepared to restore US alcohol sales.
The mayor of an Ontario city that is home to the country's second-largest steel producer told the CBC that a deal that includes 25% tariffs on the sector "wouldn't be something to celebrate".
"I am worried with the news that's coming out that we are not seeing a deal that will benefit our community at the very least," Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said.
But Carney has also faced pressure from businesses and stakeholders to reach a deal that would avert an additional 50% tariff that Trump has threatened on a range of Canadian goods, from hockey equipment to wine to cement.
Canada could lose 90,000 jobs if the new tariffs were implemented, according to estimates in an analysis published on Thursday , external by Trevor Tombe, a Calgary-based economist.
The mixed reaction so far is a glimpse of the task ahead for Prime Minister Carney after he campaigned on a tough "elbows-up" approach to dealing with Trump.
Polls suggest a majority of Canadians would be unhappy if the Carney government made significant concessions to the US, with 56% surveyed by polling firm Leger , external saying they wanted Canada to take a hardline approach.
In a leaked audio recording reported by the Canadian Press, US Vice-President JD Vance told attendees at a private fundraiser on Wednesday that Carney has tried to "out-tough Donald Trump" in trade talks.
"It's hilarious because Carney presents this as some victory for Canada when fundamentally, like, they climb down on a lot of issues," Vance reportedly told the room.
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