A top Canadian official said the U.S. might not make French language and cultural provisions a sticking point in trade talks, a potential sign of de-escalation between the nations.
Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Thursday he was “pleased” to see Trump administration officials say those issues would not be a problem in trade measures by the American side.
“We look forward to further constructive U.S. clarifications on their other positions which would create the possibility of a mutually beneficial trade agreement that respects Canadian sovereignty,” Mr. LeBlanc said on social media.
Over the weekend, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the U.S. wanted to water down rules that require streaming services to promote Canadian and French language content.
“It was unacceptable right from the start, but the Americans kept trying and trying, and we said no,” Mr. Carney said at a press conference.
Canada walked away from trade negotiations, so President Trump carried out his threat to impose 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods.
Mr. Trump says the tariffs, which are duties on foreign products brought to U.S. markets, are necessary to rebalance trade after Canada treated U.S. producers unfairly.
Canada says Mr. Trump is being unnecessarily punitive. It announced “dollar for dollar” tariffs that target U.S. sectors.
However, the Canadians recently said they would remove seafood from the list of targeted products after consulting with affected industries.
Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican, cheered their decision to drop the seafood tariffs.
“These tariffs would have caused tremendous harm to Maine’s lobstermen, disrupting one of their most important markets during the fall fishing season,” she said. “I urge the U.S. to respond to this show of good faith from our Canadian friends by returning to the negotiating table and working to amicably resolve this trade dispute.”
Mr. LeBlanc signaled progress after U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the American side wanted to highlight concerns about French language rules, but not make them a dealbreaker.
Speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Mr. Greer said the Trump administration recognizes the importance of the French language in Canada, particularly in Quebec and the Maritime provinces.
“We know that this is quite sensitive and quite important. There is no way we would let a good deal go by for something like this,” Mr. Greer said. “It’s like the farthest thing from a red line.”
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