Conservatives call on government to release U.S. trade offer details

OTTAWA - Federal conservatives are urging the government to disclose the complete terms of the U.S. trade offer that Canada declined this week. Shuvaloy Majumdar, Canada-U.S. relations critic for the opposition party, wrote to Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc expressing his party's support for rejecting the deal. However, he emphasized that Parliament lacks knowledge about the specifics of the offer.

Majumdar did not request "negotiating secrets," but rather information that both nations are already aware of. Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended trade talks with the United States on Friday after claiming the U.S. administration introduced measures in the final stages of negotiations that limited Canada's ability to engage in deals with other countries.

According to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in an interview with The New York Times on Saturday, the Americans proposed reducing the 10% tariffs on softwood lumber and decreasing steel tariffs from 50% to 25%. Carney mentioned on Saturday that the U.S. also added terms near the end of the negotiations that restricted Canada's protections of language and culture.