Canada dials up trade diversification efforts

As the US hosts G20 trade ministers in Wisconsin, Canada is taking the opportunity to strengthen its ties to other countries.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer reiterated on Wednesday that he is in “fairly frequent contact” with Canadian negotiators like Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, adding that Washington’s “door is always open” amid the countries’ spiraling trade war.

But it’s International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu’s job, not LeBlanc’s, to meet with G20 counterparts — and Sidhu is spending his time huddling with officials from the EU and India as Canada prepares to announce a sweeping partnership with the former.

Thursday’s EU talks come after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed Canada become a de facto EU member earlier this month, riling Trump administration officials.

The Canadians “will stab you in the back [and] stab you in the front,” President Donald Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, said Wednesday.