Why U.S. tariffs for Canada and others won’t go away anytime soon

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s team arrived in Washington this week with high hopes for a trade breakthrough, but even with Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, still in talks late into the week before heading home on Friday, Canada’s bid for tariff relief appears to remain out of reach. So why is Washington insistent on a tariff-laden trade framework?

For answers, National Post turned to Mark DiPlacido, the policy adviser to American Compass, a D.C.-based think tank that promotes a labour-friendly conservative agenda.