A United States (U.S.) top trade official disclosed that the Trump administration isn’t inclined to give Canada credit for its trade concessions. This is due to official negotiations between Ottawa & Washington remaining stalled.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Wednesday, 15 July ’26, that he’s glad Canada dropped its digital services tax and rolled back its online streaming act. Greer added, however, that Canadians do not receive credit for initially implementing harmful measures and then reversing them.
At the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colo, Greer added that it’s good practice on the part of Canada.
Prime Minister Mark Carney dropped the tax last June. The decision was hours before payments from tech giants were likely due. The move was in a bid to resume suspended trade talks. The tax required the enterprises to pay tax on some of their revenues earned from Canadian users.
The effort seemed to steady the Canada-U.S. relationship briefly. A limited deal on some of U.S. President Donald Trump’s sector-specific tariffs appeared imminent last October ’25.
However, the U.S. froze talks again that month after Trump was angered by an Ontario-funded advertisement quoting former president Ronald Reagan criticising tariffs.
In June ’26, Ottawa directed the CRTC to reconsider its decision to triple streamers’ financial contributions to Canadian content. This was as part of its work to implement the Online Streaming Act. The decision came down after protests from American interest groups besides the U.S. ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra.
The relationship between Canadians and U.S. trade officials gradually thawed this year. Greer said that he’s in weekly contact with his Canadian counterparts. Also, he has offered Ottawa proposals to put both parties in a better position.
Greer also acknowledged that they just haven’t seen a lot of movement.
At the start of July ’26, the U.S. formally announced that it was not renewing the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known as CUSMA.
