USTR Greer US Trade Representative Greer says that Canada wanted more tariff relief and that he's had a couple of texts and outreach with Canada, but haven't had negotiations with Canada

Remarks of this kind sit in the familiar rhythm of bilateral trade spats: one side signals it wants relief, the other plays down the channel to preserve leverage before any formal engagement. USTR statements have historically functioned as temperature-setting rather than policy; the instances that moved CAD and tariff-exposed sectors durably were those where informal outreach converted into scheduled talks or a published negotiating framework, not the acknowledgement of texts and calls. The operative distinction here is between outreach and negotiation: the former is routine and tends to fade, the latter marks the start of a process with deadlines, lists, and retaliatory triggers. The peer pattern across past tariff episodes is that headline-driven CAD softness on stalled talks has often reversed once a meeting is confirmed, so the tell to follow is whether either government names a date, a venue, or counterpart ministers. Also worth noting is the background rate structure: which Canadian goods sit under existing tariffs and which are exempt, since that determines whether any relief eventually granted touches autos, metals, or energy flows. As an official comment with no negotiating content, the signal is that the friction persists, not that it is resolving.