A senior Canadian cabinet minister said on Wednesday that the US midterm results would not change Ottawa stance towards trade talks with the United States, adding that he would speak soon to his American counterparts. Dominic LeBlanc, the minister in charge of US trade ties, told reporters that to a certain extent last night results are interesting, but they will not have any significant impact in terms of our government focus and work. He said he planned to speak to US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer over the next few days.
Why it matters
The caution is deliberate. A Democratic Congress creates more opportunities for Canada to lobby for a resolution to trade tensions, and it may increase oversight of the president trade programme, but it does not change the fact that the president retains wide authority over tariffs and that no deal is yet in hand. Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday that Washington had dropped some demands, including those touching language, culture and Canada right to negotiate trade with other markets, and that the two sides were getting closer. He also cautioned that work remained to be done.
Carney described the shift in the American position in plain terms, telling reporters that US negotiators are asking less and offering more. That assessment, made before the polls closed, has been echoed by Canadian officials who expect a Democratic controlled Congress to constrain the president ability to impose arbitrary tariffs on North American supply chains. At the same time, Ottawa has been careful not to claim that the election solved the dispute. A softer tone is not a signed agreement, and tariff uncertainty has already cost Canadian exporters investment and jobs.
What happens next
The stakes are concrete. Carney called off formal talks in August as a new round of US tariffs was imposed on nearly 28 billion dollars in Canadian goods, and analysis cited in Canadian reporting estimates roughly 87,000 Canadian jobs are at risk from 50 percent US tariffs. Employment and Social Development Canada has extended its tariff related Work Sharing special measures to March 31, 2027, a sign that Ottawa expects the pressure to last well into next year regardless of who controls Congress.
What happens next will be measured in calls and text, not in headlines. LeBlanc conversations with Lutnick and Greer will show whether the softer American tone survives the election, and whether the progress Carney described becomes a sector by sector deal that businesses can plan around. Until then, Canada strategy remains what Carney outlined: strengthen domestic capacity, expand export markets and seek a fair deal with Washington, in that order.
