Former Canadian ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman said she doesn’t believe Canada and the United States will resume formal negotiations soon.Blair Gable/Reuters
Canada’s former envoy to the United States said Wednesday that it could take months for Ottawa and Washington to resume formal trade talks, as politicians in both countries sought ways of tamping down tensions after a week of escalation.
Kirsten Hillman served as ambassador and acting ambassador to the U.S. for more than six years and five months, ending in February.
In an interview, she said it’s not uncommon in difficult negotiations for people to leave the negotiating table “for a while” after an intense period of discussions.
“In any trade negotiation, there comes a point when countries articulate their red lines and hold firm to them. Canada has reached that point in these discussions, and the conditions - in my experience, because I’m not at the table - for resuming productive and fruitful talks will require the United States to have a full understanding, appreciation and respect for those red lines.”
She said the U.S. needs to accept this before formal talks can resume.
“The main message that people in the United States need to understand is Canada will not accept a deal that tanks our steel industry, or tanks our auto sector, and nor should we,” the former envoy said. Ms. Hillman said the erosion of these industries would also lead to a loss of jobs in the United States because sectors in both countries are so interconnected.
Editorial: Building walls around the auto industry won’t build prosperity
Ms. Hillman said she doesn’t believe Canada and the United States will resume formal negotiations soon. “It may be months.”
The former envoy said U.S. President Donald Trump continues to believe in the hefty tariffs he imposed on Canadian steel and aluminum and automobiles.
“Despite the fact that they are raising costs in the U.S. at a time when the cost of living is a top issue for Americans, the President continues to demonstrate a strong commitment to the steel, aluminum and auto tariffs. Getting them reduced or removed is very, very difficult,” she said.
The level of U.S. protectionism isn’t unprecedented, Ms. Hillman said, but the difficulties Canada is encountering now are greater than any time since both countries signed the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement 38 years ago. “We haven’t seen anything like this since Canada and the United States made the decision back then to strengthen our relationship, partnership, and move toward more integrated supply chains and businesses,” she said.
Mr. Trump on Wednesday insisted that Canada wants to return to the bargaining table, despite Prime Minister Mark Carney saying he will only do so if the U.S. changes its attitude. The President also appeared to suggest he might stop his attempts to rename Lake Ontario if a deal is reached.
“Lake Ontario, we’re going to call that now ‘Lake America,’ you know that. Although, maybe it’s going to work out. Canada very much wants to make a deal, they’re dying to make a deal,” Mr. Trump told a Republican convention in Dallas in an evening speech. “But it’s going to be called ‘Lake America.’”
He made one other reference to the country later in his address, after promising to give every American US$5,000 if Republicans maintain control of both houses of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections — but only on the condition that the funds be spent in the U.S. “We don’t want you going to Canada to spend the money,” he said.
The Office of U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer meanwhile promoted an interview he did last week in which he downplayed the importance of the Trump administration’s tariffs on Canada and described Ottawa’s reaction as “unhinged.”
“It’s like a rounding error,” he told a Financial Times podcast of the latest round of U.S. tariffs, which took effect last month. “And so, to kind of have it whipped up into this giant thing where we’re talking about war and economic attacks and all these things, it’s a little unhinged.”
Canadian alcohol producers face a U.S. ban, but some shipments can still cross the border
Those tariffs hit $28-billion worth of Canadian exports, including alcohol, dairy products and electronic equipment. These represent about 5 per cent of Canadian exports to the U.S.
In the interview, Mr. Greer said he had received “some outreach” from Canadian officials in the form of text messages since talks ended.
On Wednesday, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Canadian and U.S. officials are in contact and there will be more discussions between the two countries on trade “at the right time.”
Mr. Champagne said he didn’t want to speculate on whether Canada may take any further action.
“When there are actions that are taken, we always have to make sure that our response is proportionate. We don’t want to escalate, but we, at the same time, want to make sure we have a level playing field,” he said.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday he will travel to New York to champion “tariff-free trade with the United States.” In a statement he said he would attend a Sept. 11 memorial and conduct interviews with media. “America’s real rivals and risks are overseas. Working with Canada to confront them is one of the best ways to protect the American people and their livelihoods,” he said.
Poilievre calls for more transparency from Carney ahead of countertariffs
Separately, Maine Senator Susan Collins is calling on the Trump administration to dial back its trade war against Canada.
One of the few remaining moderate Republicans in the Senate, Ms. Collins took to X to thank the administration for lifting tariffs on Canadian cement and road salt. They were among a handful of products that received a reprieve on Tuesday while an import ban on many other products – most Canadian alcohol and motorcycles, and some dairy products – was announced.
Ms. Collins said that she had lobbied Mr. Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for the cement and road salt exemptions. Those tariffs were hammering cement companies in the state and jeopardizing the budgets of small towns that need to salt their roads in the winter, she said.
But Ms. Collins hit back at the administration’s tariffs that remain in effect, singling out in particular its 50-per-cent levy on Canadian paper. “Significant tariffs – including those on forest products – remain in effect and will lead to higher costs for Maine families and uncertainty for businesses. I urge the Administration to continue to work to deescalate this conflict and reach a trade resolution with our Canadian partners,” she wrote.
Ms. Collins is up for re-election this fall in a blue state that Democrats are targeting in their bid to take control of the upper chamber. She is one of four GOP senators who voted last year to end some of Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, is calling on his state’s Republican members of Congress to put pressure on Mr. Trump to end his “reckless and erratic” trade war with Canada, warning that it is damaging the local economy.
Analysis: Why Trump’s new trade barriers are more bark than bite
In an open letter to Senator Ron Johnson and the six Republican members of the state’s House delegation, Mr. Evers on Wednesday accused them of sitting on their hands as Mr. Trump has imposed “illegal” tariffs on the country’s trading partners over the past year-and-a-half.
“This latest trade war only adds insult to injury for the Wisconsin businesses and consumers across our state who are already struggling to make ends meet due to President Trump’s disastrous economic policies and tariff taxes,” Mr. Evers wrote.
In the letter, he pointed out that Canada is Wisconsin’s “closest trading partner,” importing US$7.5-billion worth of goods from the state last year, more than any other foreign country. He said Wisconsin businesses have paid an estimated US$5.4-billion in Mr. Trump’s tariffs, while households in the state have had to spend an average of US$2,035 more because of tariffs and rising gas prices.
Canada’s retaliation, meanwhile, will damage Wisconsin’s cheese producers and paper-making industry, he warned.
Wisconsin is a key swing state that helped deliver Mr. Trump the presidency in 2016 and 2024. The battle to succeed Mr. Evers in November’s election is a knife-edge contest between Democratic nominee David Crowley and Tom Tiffany, currently a Republican member of Congress and one of the letter’s recipients.
With a report from Bill Curry