President Donald Trump kept dairy as a non-negotiable in any new North American trade arrangement after a two-and-a-half-hour White House meeting on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Mark Carney leaving Washington without a deal and Canada’s delegation characterizing talks as positive but inconclusive.
Trump’s position was explicit: he “doesn’t care” if there will be a new CUSMA agreement, but if there is, “it will include dairy.” That stance leaves Ottawa facing the same core condition that has defined the negotiations for months and underscores why the session ended without terms to announce.
Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc called the session “successful, positive, and effective,” while acknowledging there were no “tangible outcomes” and “no expectation of a detailed deal today.” He said the Canadian side is leaving with the sense that the Trump administration is ready to “structure something” on steel and aluminum that serves both countries’ economic and security interests, with follow-on meetings possible.
The unresolved dairy demand sits atop a broader trade confrontation that began in February, when the US imposed sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods (later narrowed to items not covered by CUSMA) and then layered on sectoral measures covering steel and aluminum, copper, and autos. Additional tariffs on lumber and medium- and heavy-duty trucks are also on the way.”
Ottawa has already moved on several US priorities ahead of this meeting. In late August, Canada exempted CUSMA-covered goods from many of its own countertariffs, reducing friction in protected categories. The government also axed the digital services tax opposed by Washington, tabled a $1.3-billion border plan, appointed a fentanyl czar, and accelerated the timeline to meet NATO defence-spending commitments, all intended to narrow the list of outstanding US asks outside dairy.
Inside the Oval Office, both sides emphasized rapport even as the central policy gap stayed open. Trump, calling Carney a “great prime minister” and “world-class leader,” still re-upped his hard line and at one point again touted a Canada-US “merger”. Carney, for his part, described Trump as a “transformative president,” while continuing to pursue sectoral relief and a broader framework.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the tariffs a “shame” and pressed for a deal to support US aerospace, defence, manufacturing and homebuilding supply chains reliant on Canadian aluminum, steel and lumber. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre publicly demanded Carney “negotiate a win,” citing a missed mid-summer target for an agreement and the persistence of tariffs.
In an Angus Reid Institute survey, half of Canadians want Carney to stand firm on supply management and refuse to budge on the country’s dairy protection system even if it triggers US retaliation. This came after Trump warned that all Canadian goods not shielded by the CUSMA will face a 35% tariff, tying the penalty to what he called Canada’s “failure to stop the flow of fentanyl” and the “extraordinary tariff” on US dairy.
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