Ottawa, ON – Stephanie Kusie, Conservative Shadow Minister for International Trade, and Shuvaloy Majumdar, Conservative Shadow Minister for Canada-US relations, issued the following statement on Minister Sidhu’s meeting with Jamieson Greer, U.S. Trade Representative at the G20 Trade Ministers’ meeting:
“Just days after U.S. import bans on select Canadian items like alcohol, dairy, motorcycles and molasses took effect, Canada’s Minister of International Trade, Maninder Sidhu, met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer yesterday at the G20 Trade Ministers’ meeting.
“The Minister should have taken this opportunity to fiercely advocate for Canada and our workers, businesses and producers threatened by President Trump’s latest unjustified trade attack.
“Instead, the Minister spoke to Representative Greer about ‘multilateral initiatives’ such as WTO reforms and rules-based trade. While these are important issues, the Minister failed to do what should be of utmost importance to the Carney government: making progress toward a deal for the 2.6 million Canadian workers whose livelihoods rely on U.S. trade.
“For months, the Prime Minister and his negotiating team offered concessions in trade talks and negotiated from a position of weakness rather than strength. These unilateral concessions secured nothing for Canadian families while further emboldening the U.S.
“In fact, after meeting with Minister Sidhu, Representative Greer described outstanding disputes with Canada as ‘quite difficult to resolve.’ This further highlights the importance of Canada being at the negotiating table and using every opportunity to advocate for Canadian jobs and our trade relationship.
“Conservatives will never stop fighting for Canadian workers and businesses. As our Leader, the Honourable Pierre Poilievre, has shown through his trips to the United States, we will continue reminding our American neighbours of the mutual benefits of a strong, tariff-free trade relationship.”