Canada will continue its efforts to reduce economic dependence on the United States regardless of the Republican Party's "crushing" midterm election defeat, an official stated on Wednesday.
Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for US-Canada trade, stressed that Ottawa’s focus on repositioning the economy "hasn’t changed." While US Democratic Party leaders have criticized President Donald Trump’s trade war and called for the reversal of sweeping tariffs, LeBlanc told reporters that Canada remains committed to "diversifying our trading relationships."
LeBlanc noted that while the government "obviously took note of the election results in the United States," trade negotiations will still be conducted with Trump’s White House rather than an incoming Democratic-controlled Congress. He stated, "That was our focus yesterday. That is actually our focus today and will be the focus tomorrow in the budget."
Prime Minister Mark Carney has maintained that trade with the US, a cornerstone of the Canadian economy, will not return to a pre-Trump normal. Carney previously walked away from trade talks in August, accusing Washington of seeking to impose terms that infringed on Canadian sovereignty.
However, Carney has expressed a more optimistic tone recently. Speaking in Antigua and Barbuda on Tuesday during a Commonwealth summit, Carney told reporters, "We’ve made progress, but we haven’t finished." He added that Trump’s team had backed away from certain Canadian "red lines," though he did not provide specifics.
The Canadian economy has been hit hard by Trump’s tariffs, while his repeated remarks that Canada could become the 51st US state have resulted in boycotts of American products. Although Trump stated late last month that he expected a new trade agreement with Canada to be reached "pretty soon," previous assurances regarding an impending deal have not materialised.
