Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Prime Minister Mark Carney has not briefed him on negotiations with Washington, despite U.S. President Donald Trump announcing that Canada and the United States have reached a tentative trade agreement.Speaking Wednesday in Charlottetown, Poilievre said a successful agreement must eliminate American tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, automobiles and lumber while securing a full exemption from Buy America restrictions.Trump postponed the introduction of 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian goods until the end of Friday, giving both governments three additional days to finalize documents.Carney has said “substantial progress” was made but cautioned that important work remains.Poilievre pointed to Carney’s earlier pledge to secure a stronger agreement than the one Canada had before the latest trade dispute.“Mr. Carney made that promise. He said, and I quote, ‘We will have a better deal than we had before,’” Poilievre said.“Well, before, we had basically no tariffs on goods coming from Canada to the United States. So a better deal would at least have to start with that.”“We need zero tariffs on aluminum, steel, autos, lumber, and a full exemption to Buy America.”.Poilievre said several of those conditions were either included in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement negotiated during Trump’s first presidency or secured by previous Conservative governments.“Mr. Carney has set that bar for himself,” he said. “We want him to keep his promise and get an even better deal for Canada than we had before.”Asked whether Carney had briefed him since Trump threatened to use Section 338 of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930 to impose the new tariffs, Poilievre gave a one-word answer.“No.”Poilievre said Conservatives have repeatedly offered to assist the government during the dispute.“Conservatives have offered to help the Prime Minister since the very beginning,” he said.Poilievre said he declined to criticize Carney while visiting the United States and later briefed the prime minister about his meetings with American governors and other officials.“Our MPs have reached out again and again to the government to offer any help we can,” he said.“But Mr. Carney has refused to have any help from anybody.”Poilievre said the offer remains open while the government works to complete the agreement.“We still want to make sure that he keeps his word and gets the great deal, the even better deal, that he promised Canadians.”Trump said Wednesday that the emerging agreement would be “great for our farmers” and described it as “a very good deal for both parties.”The president also claimed the agreement would remove Canadian tariffs on American goods and said U.S. tariffs on Canadian automobiles would be reduced “a little bit.”Neither government has released the complete terms of the proposed agreement.Existing American tariffs affecting Canadian steel, aluminum, automobiles and softwood lumber remain among the central questions as negotiators work toward Friday’s deadline.
