Poilievre's letter to Carney: 'No more caving' to U.S. demands in trade, tariff talks

Canada prepared to halt booze bans, meet other U.S. demands to get tariff relief: sources

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is urging the prime minister to not concede to U.S. President Donald Trump's demands during trade negotiations.

Poilievre says in a letter to Mark Carney that Ottawa has given in to several of Trump's demands in the last year, including getting rid of the digital service tax and removing counter-tariffs on the United States.

The Opposition leader says Canadians deserve a government with a backbone, and that the Conservative Party supports Carney's attempts at building domestic strength and leverage to secure a tariff-free deal.

"For the past year and a half, you have backed down to one American demand after another while getting nothing in return, with concession after concession," Poilievre tells Carney in the letter.

"Worse, you have lost ground with American tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum doubling and broadening and tariffs on lumber tripling."

WATCH | Canada weighs ending U.S. booze bans for tariff relief. Not so fast, say provinces:Poilievre said Canadians deserve a "good deal" that includes zero tariffs on softwood lumber, an end to sectoral tariffs on steel and aluminum, a tariff-free auto pact and full exemption to Buy America rules on infrastructure projects at all levels of government.

"No more pursuing policies of a managed decline at home. No more caving."

A new round of 50 per cent U.S. tariffs on a range of Canadian goods is set to take effect in about 10 days.

The U.S. has cited the supply management system that protects Canadian dairy as a key trade irritant, and Trump has repeatedly complained about the level of U.S. dairy farmers' access to Canada's market.

Dairy farmers urge PM against making concessions

Carney said Thursday his government is loyal to the supply management system as the group Dairy Farmers of Canada urged the government not to offer concessions regarding its industry in trade talks.

The dairy group has also said Canada has already made several concessions, only to be met each time with fresh demands.

WATCH | U.S. senator says there's 'momentum' toward trade deal after LeBlanc meeting:According to industry sources who spoke to CBC News, the Canadian government is preparing to meet some U.S. demands — including ending bans on American alcohol sales — in exchange for tariff relief.

In addition to ending the booze bans, the Canadian side is considering lifting retaliatory tariffs on U.S. autos and making some changes on dairy, the sources said. They didn't say what changes were on the table in regards to the dairy sector.

In exchange, Canada is pushing for the U.S. to drop the new 50 per cent tariffs, as well as relief from the sectoral tariffs on industries such as steel and aluminum, and a joint announcement that talks on the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) will resume in the fall.

With files from CBC News