US, Canada negotiators race to ink a deal as Trump’s tariff deadline looms

What the report says

Canada and the United States were in intensive late-stage trade talks in Washington, DC, on Friday as negotiators tried to reach an agreement before a new round of US tariffs was set to take effect on Saturday, according to Al Jazeera. The talks involved Canada’s chief trade negotiator, Dominic LeBlanc, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, after more than three hours of discussion on Thursday and a third straight day of meetings.

The immediate focus is a threatened 50 percent tariff on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, which President Donald Trump has said he would impose at 12:01am Eastern time if no deal is reached. Al Jazeera reported that the tariffs had already been paused earlier in the week, and that many experts expected at least another temporary breakthrough or extension. Even so, analysts quoted by the outlet said any agreement would likely not remove all US tariffs on Canadian products.

Reported areas of possible compromise include lower tariffs on Canadian-built vehicles, steel and aluminium, though the details remained uncertain. The article also noted that Prime Minister Mark Carney faces domestic political pressure in Canada, where public opinion appears wary of further concessions, and several provincial governments have interests that could be affected differently by any deal.

The broader context is a prolonged period of trade friction between the two countries that began after Trump reimposed tariffs in 2025 and prompted Canadian retaliation. Al Jazeera said the outcome matters not only for bilateral relations, but also for North American supply chains, consumer prices, and the wider US-Mexico-Canada trade framework.