Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney walked into his October White House meeting with US President Donald Trump already knowing that pipeline company South Bow Corp. was privately exploring a revival of the cancelled Keystone XL pipeline, a federal government source told Reuters on Tuesday.
Carney brought Keystone XL to the table at the White House in October 2025, offering it as a concession to unlock relief from US tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, then at 50%. Trump responded positively, sources with knowledge of the meeting said.
“He certainly was aware that there would be some private-sector interest,” the federal source told Reuters, speaking anonymously to discuss the matter candidly.
South Bow, the Calgary-based company that assumed ownership of Keystone XL assets after TC Energy spun off its oil pipeline operations, is evaluating an expansion project that would use existing infrastructure and already-permitted corridors to move more Canadian crude into the US. The original Keystone XL design called for transporting 830,000 barrels of oil per day along a nearly 2,000-kilometre route from Hardisty, Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska.
President Joe Biden cancelled the project in 2021, and Trump has pushed for its revival since returning to office.
South Bow confirmed it is assessing options that would leverage its existing pipeline corridor. “We will continue to explore opportunities that leverage our existing corridor with our customers and others in the industry,” the company said in a statement.
Despite Carney’s awareness of those plans, the federal source stressed that Ottawa played no direct role in coordinating them. The Canadian government has kept its distance from South Bow’s proposal, though the source noted that energy will feature prominently in Canada’s upcoming renegotiation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). Carney’s office declined to comment, directing questions to Natural Resources Canada.
“Canada is an energy superpower, and we have what the world wants,” said Charlotte Power, a spokesperson for Natural Resources Canada, in a written statement.
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