After Ottawa Visit, US Delegation Says Cooperation on Trade, Security Looks Promising

(L-R) U.S. Senators Tim Kaine, Jeanne Shaheen, Kevin Cramer, Amy Klobuchar, and Peter Welch at a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa on May 23, 2025. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

A delegation of U.S. senators say they believe Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Donald Trump will be able to work out trade and security deals between the two countries, following a meeting with Carney and his cabinet on May 23.

The group of five consisted of Democrat Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Amy Klobuchar, Tim Kaine, and Peter Welch, and Republican Senator Kevin Cramer. They said they were the first U.S. delegation to meet with a Canadian prime minister in five years.

During a news conference in Ottawa, Cramer said he was impressed with Carney in a way he had not been with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“It’s a new day,“ he said, referring to Trump and Carney being ”two business guys.”

“They know business. They know economics. They know how to work a deal and they had an encouraging first meeting. We want to come and continue that momentum,” Cramer said.

Shaheen said they had the opportunity to meet with Carney and his ministers of Industry, National Defence, and Foreign Affairs to discuss trade and security.

“We had a good discussion, talking about tariffs, talking about ways in which we are cooperating, militarily and in the national security space, talking about the importance of the economic relationship that we have,” she said.

“We hope that this meeting will continue very positive discussions toward ensuring that some of the cracks that have appeared in the relationship in recent months are healed and we move forward together.”

Carney said in a social media post that was pleased to meet with the senators and U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra to “discuss immediate trade pressures and getting back to business”

“We’re building a new economic and security relationship with the U.S.,” he wrote.

Level Playing Field

The Canada-U.S. relationship has been rocky over the past several months, after Trump introduced tariffs on Canadian exports, including automobiles, steel and aluminum. Many products that fall under the United States Canada Mexico agreement have been exempted from the levies. Canada has imposed counter-tariffs on billions of dollars in U.S. imports.

Cramer, who was described by Klobuchar as being close to the president, said he believes Trump’s goal with the tariffs is to level the playing field, not to harm Canada.

“I wouldn’t say that he’s out to destroy the Canadian industry. What he’s out to do, in my view, is to sort of level the playing field, to make sure that across all sectors the United States and Canada are treating each other with the same equal respect, whatever tactics he uses or strategies deployed,” he said.

Cramer also said he could see the two countries working together to face what he called their common adversary: China.

“That our number one adversary is China, and that, in fact, therein lies what I believe to be one of the greatest opportunities to heal this relationship, because we can unite around that common adversary with our integrated supply chains and the some of the unique qualities of each country.”

Klobuchar said there’s still work to be done to fix the relationship between Canada and the United States.

“I think right now, our goal is to get this relationship back on track as we go into the summer season. I personally want Canadians to visit Minnesota as well as the rest of the beautiful states in our country, and I’m hopeful that we will be able to get this back on track soon,” she said.

Her comments come after data shows that fewer Canadians are travelling south of the border in recent months.

‘Most in Common’

Discussion topics between the senators and ministers ranged from the Golden Dome missile defence project to NATO, to artificial intelligence and energy infrastructure, according to Kaine.

Kaine has been able to get a resolution through the senate that would have prevented Trump from using the fentanyl crisis and the drug’s movement across the Canada-U.S. border to impose tariffs on the two countries. However, the resolution is unlikely to make it through the house, Kaine’s office said.

During the news conference in Ottawa, Kaine said he hoped a deal between Canada and the United States would resolve the issue.

“If you think about it, the administration is doing negotiations with countries all over the world, but Canada’s in the top three, and in the top three—China, Mexico, Canada—Canada is the one where we have the most in common,” he said.

“It should be the easier deal to land because Mexico and China have all kinds of other complicators. So I am going to continue to insist that we should turn off this emergency mechanism when it’s timely to do so. But I hope I don’t need to. I hope we get to a resolution point before we bring it up again,” he said.

Also on May 23, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she spoke with her American counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on the phone. She said they “had a productive conversation on our shared economic and security priorities and the path forward.”